Solar Panels
I have a factory installed 100 watt solar panel on my Artic Fox fifth wheel and would like to add another 100 watt panel. The manufacture tell me the solar charger will handle another 100 watt panel. ...
Forum Discussion
RJsfishin wrote:
You are talking 10-12 amps on a good day. How undersized could the wire be ???
And even if it was 14 gage instead of 10 gage, what we loose, 1 amp ??
Assuming 200 watts and 20 feet of wire, you lose about one volt and roughly 11 watts between the panels and controller. About 6% voltage drop. Add that to the losses between the controller and batteries, which could be significant.
The NEC states voltage drop should not exceed 5%, but in solar systems even that is way too high, IMO. By saving a couple of bucks on wire you end up throwing away watts and amp hour capacity. Do you still get a charge? Yes, probably. But not a full charge, and after paying for x number of watts and x number of amp hours, why throw away any of that to save a couple of up-front bucks on wire? No thanks.
