Catastrophic Fuse

[1L243]

I have had my Solar setup for almost a year now. 500 watts on the roof (maybe more in the future), 2000 watt inverter, 340ah lead acid battery bank. The largest amperage items I run are my microwave and drip coffee maker. Everything works as it should

I installed a 250amp ANL fuse 5 feet from the batteries before the inverter or positive fuse block.

I am using 2.0 cable for the jumpers between the batteries and 4.0 cable to the inverter and positive fuse block.

I did not install a Catastrophic fuse at the primary positive battery terminal. Should I? And Why?

[Bobbo]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Why different size wire ? Stick with one size. There are people on eBay that will custom make battery cables. You choose the wire size, color, type if end and length.

https://www.customcableusa.com/

(Used to be called Genuinedealz.com)

[2oldman]

Since DC travels from - to +, I would think the fuse should be on the battery -

[theoldwizard1]

time2roll wrote:
The fuse was apparently installed at the wrong end of the battery cable. Swap that fuse and cable end to end. The risk is a short to ground at some point along that 5' connection.

Like time2roll said, the fuse should always be as close as possible to the battery.

Why different size wire ? Stick with one size. There are people on eBay that will custom make battery cables. You choose the wire size, color, type if end and length.

[Skibane]

time2roll wrote:
The fuse was apparently installed at the wrong end of the battery cable. Swap that fuse and cable end to end. The risk is a short to ground at some point along that 5' connection.

Yep.

With the fuse located right at the battery post, all of the cable beyond that point is protected.

[pianotuna]

Catastrophic failure fuse always at the battery post (I chose positive).

Why? Because they used to use batteries to weld. 1200 watts of energy being dumped in a second is enough for a quite nice fire and just for good measure the battery may explode. A fine thing to have hot acid all over.

This is an IMPORTANT and easy fix. I would make the change asap.

[time2roll]

The fuse was apparently installed at the wrong end of the battery cable. Swap that fuse and cable end to end. The risk is a short to ground at some point along that 5' connection.

[2oldman]

one cat fuse is enough