Solar Wire Size..??? Fuses on panels...??
Ok, ready to install my solar system and I need to buy wire to go from panels to the solar controller Two, 140W panels, wired in parallel Here are the specs on the panel: The wire lengt...
Forum Discussion
Your panels will provide about 15 amps maximum current and you have a 35 foot run. To hold your maximize voltage loss to 5 percent you should use 6 gauge cable.
Up at the panels you should fuse for 20 amps.
You must also fuse at the battery for 20 amps on the cable over to your charge controller.
Since the charge controller should be as close to the battery bank as possible perhaps within a few feet and no more than 5 say you could probably get away with 6 gauge cable there too or if you wanted to go to 4 and it wasn't too difficult do it.
if you were a solar installer company or a RV manufacturer you would very carefully trim every penny possible off the cost by using cable that was as small as possible and probably not quite adequate for a good installation.
But you are doing this one time on a run that will probably be difficult to snake a cable through so the last thing in the world you want to do is nickel dime yourself with too small of a cable.
If you have a difficult cable run you might look into super flexible cable but that stuff is real expensive.
Up at the panels you should fuse for 20 amps.
You must also fuse at the battery for 20 amps on the cable over to your charge controller.
Since the charge controller should be as close to the battery bank as possible perhaps within a few feet and no more than 5 say you could probably get away with 6 gauge cable there too or if you wanted to go to 4 and it wasn't too difficult do it.
if you were a solar installer company or a RV manufacturer you would very carefully trim every penny possible off the cost by using cable that was as small as possible and probably not quite adequate for a good installation.
But you are doing this one time on a run that will probably be difficult to snake a cable through so the last thing in the world you want to do is nickel dime yourself with too small of a cable.
If you have a difficult cable run you might look into super flexible cable but that stuff is real expensive.
