Solar Wire Management

[allen8106]

For those of you who have installed solar on your RV I would be interested in hearing what you have done with the rooftop wire management issue.

I'll have four panels with two #10 wires each needing to run between 10-14 feet to the combiner box so a total of eight #10 wires to manage. Outside of the obvious "conduit" answer what have you done to manage these wires? I'm planning on a tilt option so any wire management scheme needs to consider this issue.

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

LEARNING MOMENT

Not familiar with the stuff. Is it easy to remove if the panels need to lift, like if futzing with terminals or connections? I like the part about snipping a cable tie and then zip on a new one and wait one tenth of a second for it to "cure". 🙂

[Almot]

CA Traveler wrote:
X2

X3 to series. Scrap the combiner box, those are for PWM installs.

A blob of Dicor every 3ft or so will keep it on the roof.

With 14ft run there will be (probably) roof A/C unit in the middle of this run, tuck/clip the cable to the A/C tray.

[CA_Traveler]

All you need is a dab of Dicor.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

[jplante4]

Any real world equivalent of a "spootch"? 😄

[westend]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:




Use BLACK parts which is UV resistant.

The mounting pads are adhesive but cannot be used without help.

Put a dime-size spootch of Goop on the pad and press it onto a cleaned roof.

Every 12" or so is stout enough.

Let pads set for 24-hours for maximum adhestion

Snip the cable-tie to fool with the wires to the panels.

Exactly what I did five years ago and everything is like the day I installed it.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Use BLACK parts which is UV resistant.

The mounting pads are adhesive but cannot be used without help.

Put a dime-size spootch of Goop on the pad and press it onto a cleaned roof.

Every 12" or so is stout enough.

Let pads set for 24-hours for maximum adhestion

Snip the cable-tie to fool with the wires to the panels.

[TechWriter]

allen8106 wrote:
Outside of the obvious "conduit" answer what have you done to manage these wires?

Eternabond tape. It should last at least 5 years in SouthWest sun, so longer up North. On the other hand, zip ties/plastic tie downs will only last a few years before turning very brittle.

[CA_Traveler]

time2roll wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
Yes but wired in series if one panel gets blocked they all shut down.

Parallel wiring at least keeps the other three operational.

You mean shaded? Bypass diodes take care of that. They are built into the panel.

X2

[time2roll]

allen8106 wrote:
Yes but wired in series if one panel gets blocked they all shut down.

Parallel wiring at least keeps the other three operational.

You mean shaded? Bypass diodes take care of that. They are built into the panel.

[allen8106]

2oldman wrote:
You can have simpler wiring if you wire them up in series. One wire.

Yes but wired in series if one panel gets blocked they all shut down.

Parallel wiring at least keeps the other three operational.

[time2roll]

I used relatively stiff and UV resistant MC4 wire to put mine in series.
A few zip ties to minimize stress on the panel connectors. Nothing else.

[2oldman]

You can have simpler wiring if you wire them up in series. One wire.

[CA_Traveler]

I used Dicor several feet apart on my panel wires. Used some temporary tape to hold the wires until the Dicor set. No need for conduit with UV wires.

[Joe417]

I ran the wire neatly and then put Dicor 501 every foot or so. I only have a single panel.

That idea came from a previous RV where the factory bonded coax on the roof that way.

Once the Dicor sets, it's fairly tough, is compatible with the rubber roof, and requires no holes.