Tripping solar panel breaker
Last fall I installed two Solarland 180w PERC panels. I had ordered three 100 watt but changed my mind and bought the two 180’s. Unfortunately I didn’t resize my order for the panel breaker which is 1...
Forum Discussion
I’m using the Midnite solar baby box and breakers. I usually leave the RV plugged in but I decided to leave it unplugged a couple of days to run on solar during our sunny spring days. I guess it’s a good thing because the panel breaker opened at day 2 and I didn’t notice until day 7. That when I finally had no power. I used the lights and awning during that time. We boondocked last fall but we were in partial shade so never tripped the breaker. Should have checked the batteries. I have a Victron Cerbo. It keeps a history of solar production and battery charge because those two are Victron products. If I had bought the more expensive Victron inverter it would monitor that too. (I have mifi in the RV that reports these readings to the app.) They are lithium so I don’t think they will have lasting harm. The BMS just shuts them down at 11.4 volts.
I think the panels have 10 ga lead wires. I know I checked when I bought them that they were heavier wire than cheaper panels. I used 8 ga from the leads to the breaker. And 2/0 for the system side even though the breaker box was not really built for that big wire. I used brass reducers to connect to the breaker. I had to drill a second set of holes for the 8 gauge wire. It was flexible enough to connect to the panel side breaker.
So I’m set for up to a 40 amp fuse on the panel side.
I wired in parallel so I did increase the amps. Maybe they expected serial so the recommended breaker is smaller than I need. An oversight on my part. I liked parallel to maintain best power in less than ideal conditions.
I think the panels have 10 ga lead wires. I know I checked when I bought them that they were heavier wire than cheaper panels. I used 8 ga from the leads to the breaker. And 2/0 for the system side even though the breaker box was not really built for that big wire. I used brass reducers to connect to the breaker. I had to drill a second set of holes for the 8 gauge wire. It was flexible enough to connect to the panel side breaker.
So I’m set for up to a 40 amp fuse on the panel side.
I wired in parallel so I did increase the amps. Maybe they expected serial so the recommended breaker is smaller than I need. An oversight on my part. I liked parallel to maintain best power in less than ideal conditions.
