Parallel vs Series, 10awg wire
My truck camper has OEM wiring for a solar panel, the problem is that it's only 10awg wire. I don't really want to remove the fridge if i don't have to so I'm trying to figure out the best way to jus...
Forum Discussion
How well secured is the existing wire? If it's kind of loose, perhaps you can use it to pull new heavier wires down.
Purely from a wiring safety point of view, you can go up to at least 30A and probably somewhat more with 10 AWG wire. Since the voltage drop is proportional to the current in the wire, you lose a lot less power by increasing the voltage where feasible.
You should not use AC (only) breakers or switches for higher voltage DC circuits. AC switches and breakers are designed with the assumption that the voltage (and hence current) waveform will have zero crossings regularly, and hence any arcing have a "gap" and a chance for the ionized air to dissipate. DC switching is much harder on contacts than AC switching. Higher voltage DC circuit breakers are available, for example this 3 pole 10A 125 VDC breaker, or you could just use a plain old fuse and possibly a suitable switch or something (maybe a knife switch) since you presumably won't need to be disconnecting the solar panels frequently.
Purely from a wiring safety point of view, you can go up to at least 30A and probably somewhat more with 10 AWG wire. Since the voltage drop is proportional to the current in the wire, you lose a lot less power by increasing the voltage where feasible.
You should not use AC (only) breakers or switches for higher voltage DC circuits. AC switches and breakers are designed with the assumption that the voltage (and hence current) waveform will have zero crossings regularly, and hence any arcing have a "gap" and a chance for the ionized air to dissipate. DC switching is much harder on contacts than AC switching. Higher voltage DC circuit breakers are available, for example this 3 pole 10A 125 VDC breaker, or you could just use a plain old fuse and possibly a suitable switch or something (maybe a knife switch) since you presumably won't need to be disconnecting the solar panels frequently.
