saltydawg wrote:MickinOz wrote:8 awg is around 10mm2.
Way overkill, in my opinion, assuming you are using copper wire. (All bets are off if you are using aluminium wire.)
My Renogy 20 amp solar charge controller will accept maximum wire size of 6mm2. That's 10awg.
12 AWG is 4mm2. I'm using that to connect battery, solar panel and fuse block.
Sorry I am an electrician who used to do a lot of work on electrical for sailboats, so lots of solar and batteries. I always tended to make it future proof and as safe as possible.
The one that used to get me was people wanted solar on their boat, stores would tell them here is you 200 watts of panels and hook it up with 12 gauge. I measured at the panels around 17 to 18 volts, 30 feet of wire later 15 volts, thats in full sun. Amazing after I would run new wire and the system started working better I never had more than a half volt drop.
I have seen people run 50 feet of 18 gauge wire to the other end of the boat for a 2 amp fan, and then wonder why it never worked right. Of course it was only seeing 10 volts at the fan.
Dropping 3 or 4 volts on a 120 volt circuit, which is the max legal is one thing. dropping 2 volts on a 12 volt system is another.
godskid wrote:Thanks for all the help! New battery is finally wired up and powering the teeny teardrop quite nicely.
Got any English translation for the monitor's instructions for setting values? The only part I can interpret is to press % to view percentages, and then pres % again for 3 seconds to set it to 100%. I've somehow managed to set the A value to 100, rather than the 60 max of the battery. Oh well!
godskid wrote:Urk. Is it possible I have plateaued my expensive LiFePO4 battery at 80%? I installed it almost exactly a year ago. Haven't had a chance to run the trailer, though.
But I've been faithfully charging it up to 100% the first of every month, and then running a light to bring it down to the 80% desired storage value, plus or minus a few percent. Then I disconnect the A/C power cord, so it shouldn't have been affected by any house power glitches.
Now it seems to be shutting down *AT* 80%, as if that's as low as it can go. While it's above 80%, it'll output power. At 80%, it cuts out. Have I re-baselined it to the 80% level?
Maybe running the lights from 100% down to 80% isn't "exercising" it enough? Was I supposed to take it down to 15% or so, occasionally?
Most importantly: IS THERE A WAY TO FIX THIS? I'm taking a trip in 7 days (of course).
Deb
godskid wrote:Would the meter as described above register current flowing into the battery?
godskid wrote:
Almost 2 hours after start: meter says 13.99V - 14.00V toggling. And yes, the current shows about 9A of current flowing. AND the charger's non-power LED is supposed to be red for charging, green for done-charging. It's still red.
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