Voltage drop from solar controller
or: Here we Go Again. Still trying to get my 420 Watts of solar to fully charge my 484 AH of battery. (Currently in southern Mexico.) Layout: 2 80 Watt panels and 2 130 Watt panels in paralle...
Forum Discussion
Canadian Rainbird wrote:Yup, missed the wire upgrade at home, my bad.
You must have missed me saying in earlier posts, that that is what I will do, when we get home. Meanwhile, down here in Mexico, I am trying to see how I can improve things without tearing everything out. This will NOT be an easy job:
I will have to remove the 4 GC batteries and their cables, remove the inverter (a MAJOR chore) then run new cable down alongside the sewer vent pipe, somehow through the floor, across to the other side of the rig, through and around the frame with attendant chafe resistant covers etc. I think. I may be able to go through the floor in the galley. I'll have to pull a cabinet or two to see just where I can go with what. There may be room for a controller in the same compartment as the Xantrex.
And being less than fit, I'll have to pay someone to do 90% or more of the work. (Unless I can con one or another of my nephews to help!)
You must have a much larger rig than we do, or carry a lot less stuff! Or both! You have more vacant space in that compartment than mine does when empty, and it contains the 50A cable, the Xantrex Inverter and the transfer switch. Oh, and the 30A extension cord and TV coax!
I would think about the situation a bit. It may be easier to run wire on the roof from your modules and make a straighter drop to the new controller location. If you use a roof-top junction box, you can position the through-roof entry point anywhere.
My rig is on the small side, 22'. The compartment that is pictured is in the inside of the trailer under the kitchen counter. I use the compartment like a standard kitchen cupboard while under way. The wiring from the switches/controller/inverter are all behind the panel and lead down to bus boxes and then a few inches to a bank of AGM batteries. My second bank of batteries is directly across the floor from the AGM's, two GC2 6V in their own vented box. The 6V bank is wired through an ABS pipe below the floor and connects to the bus boxes underneath the mounting panel, about 6'--two runs of 1/0 welding cable. Engineering and installing all of this is rather complicated but I had weight distribution considerations in mind, the 250lbs. of batteries are right in front of the wheel wells. I didn't want to add that much weight directly on the tongue.
