Solar panels and 10 GA wire?

360 watts is going to be about maxed out for that wire.

See the WindyNation wire chart at https://www.windynation.com/jzv/inf/choosing-right-wire-size

Another "cheapout" on wire.

Are the voltages on the panels within 1 volt?

Yes they are. I don't have the numbers now, but I checked that , and they were very close.

Mike

I calculated a 2.1% voltage drop, less than .4 Volts on your system .....which is not going to be a significant issue for you. I based my calculations on your panels’ output being 18Volts with a maximum current of about 19 Amps.....on your 10 foot run of 10AWG cable. You will be getting away with using 10AWG because of the short run.

It should cause no problems at all. Though as someone said, that is about the max for that wire.

The only POSSIBLE issue, and this is why they use heavy wire on solar panels, is VOLTAGE DROP. since, in the unlikely case those panels actually put out the rated power of 360 Watts. at 12 volts you are at 30 amps. which is the rating for 10GA wire in bundles or conduit. OF course you won't be looking at 12 volts. but more likely 13-14.6 (Reduces current) or even higher on the pre-controller side. and you can usually only count on about 1/2 the panel rating.

So you should be good.. Heavier wire might result in a slightly faster charge on the batteries is all.

The issue remains for me...Artic Fox and Grape saving...what a buck...on cheap wire instead of doing it properly.

If OP overloads the Fox they will scream to high heavens but on solar wire they cheap out.

You can run hundreds more watts through that wire but you'll need to step up the voltage. Ie.. panels in series.

Thanks for the replies.

Mike

2oldman wrote:
You can run hundreds more amps through that wire but you'll need to step up the voltage. Ie.. panels in series.

Not for very long, probably less than a second. Maybe you meant watts.