Solar Panel Extension Cord

[Vedette]

Please give me your feedback ASAP........the more the merrier!
I need to make a connector cord to plug into my new Solar Panel Kit ( 50 amp Anderson on one end and a reworked plug that plugs into my 6 pin on my trailer tongue)
My questions are: - How long should this cord be and what gauge?
- Should I have two? (one long, one short)
- Should I make up extras?
My Solar panel came with a 15' long cord that plugs into an adaptor that has alligator clips on one end.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[bdosborn]

My cord is about 15' long.



12/2 marine cable means it's flexible and voltage drop isn't an issue for my 80 watt portable panel.

Bruce

[bdosborn]

P.S. I made a 15' cable out of 12/2 landscaping light cable for the neighbor's panel and it works quite well also. I've daisy chained a 15' and a 10' cable and it also worked fine.

[Vedette]

Thanks Bruce
Our 90 W Solar Panel Kit came with a 15' 14ga wire.
I was hoping to go 12ga for my extension, but am having trouble finding 2 wire in that size.
Can get a 50' length of 14ga 2 wire, but wonder if I will have a current drop???
Brian

[bdosborn]

4.7% VD for a 15' long #14 cord, assuming you get about 6 amps out of your panel. I try to stay to 3% or less but it's not the end of the world at 4.7%. You'll just waste 1.7% more of 90 watts in the cord rather than charging your battery.

http://www.nooutage.com/vdrop.htm

Bruce

[noseoil]

What about something like this for the wire? It's 30' of 12 gauge wire with the ends for $12. You could just cut back the ends and attach what you need. It's too long the way it is, but it is 12 gauge wire. Voltage drop with a shorter length would be negligible for your panel's output.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control ... &A=details

[desertmoose]

I used a 6 ga set of jumper cables in my setup. 15 foot long.
it's copper plated aluminum cable, but the connectors soldered on easy.
Fairly inexpensive also.

Sam

[lrrowe]

How about this dual wire from Geniune DealZ, as posted by Jerry, OTTCT in this post?

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=44951&p=1103733#p1103733

http://www.genuinedealz.com/marine-wire ... -duplex-dc

[Dale M.]

How about a 20 or 30 foot 12 gauge (or 10 gauge) common extension cord and only use the two wires necessary.... Cut back unused 3rd wire ...

Key issue here is larger the gauge wire the less loss....

Dale

[Vedette]

Thanks Guys
Not worrying so much about voltage loss now.
And as for length? Guess one can never have enough extension cord.
We carry a couple hundred feet of extension cord with us all of the time! It has really come in handy for stealing power from those campsites that have power????
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[tony.latham]

Thanks Guys
Not worrying so much about voltage loss now.
And as for length? Guess one can never have enough extension cord.
We carry a couple hundred feet of extension cord with us all of the time! It has really come in handy for stealing power from those campsites that have power????
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

Brian: I think mine is 25' long and (so far) has always been too long. I used 12 ga marine "romex" (as per Burce). http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-2-AWG-Gauge- ... 58afe5eef2 It's good, quality stuff but not as flexible as an extension cord.

I should cut mine down and use connectors so I've got a 10', 15' and a joined 25'. Perhaps I'll do that this winter. No sense having 25' of cable when you're parked in the sun.


T

[Shadow Catcher]

All of my extension cords for the tear are 10ga from Harbor Freight. I made up a set of male and female plugs with Anderson Power Poles, that connect with the solar panel and the controller. You do have to make sure you do not plug into 120 but there is little chance of that when you are using solar. I carry a number of short cords and a 25' as well as an adapter for the 30A (once in a site too far from the pedestal).

[MtnDon]

minimum on wattage you need to keep one normal deep cycle battery up

That is near impossible to answer as how many watts of panel you need depend on variables that change and may be different for different people
- how many hours of good quality (bright) sun?
- how depleted the battery is at the beginning of the day?
- do you want or need to bring the battery to 100% charge before nightfall?
- how much power (watt-hours or amp-hours) are going to be used during the daytime hours, while the battery still needs recharging?


One way to look at sizing the panels is to first look at the amp-hour capacity of the battery(s). Say one 12 volt, 100 amp-hour battery (rated at the 20 hour rate) Such asthis Trojan... Take 10% of the capacity, 100 amp-hours x 10% = 10. We would be well served by a PV panel or array that put out 10 amps maximum at the voltage appropriate to the battery. That is about as high an amperage to not harm the batteries and high enough to effect as quick a charge as safely possible.

Since the really good sun hours may only be 4 to 5 that (in theory) could supply 40 to 50 amp-hours of charge. In the real world that will fall short for many reasons. But there is also the before and after "good sun" hours that help out. If one is real lucky maybe up to 90% of that power produced by the panels will be pushed into the battery.

If you are just running some LED lights you don't need solar recharging unless you take extended trips and always boondock. IMO.

If you have larger power needs, like for running a 12 volt refrigerator or cooler you still might not need any solar, depending on length of time away from grid power or a generator source.

The big thing everything hinges on is how much power is withdrawn from the battery. Note: if the battery has been brought down to less than 70% charge, it is best for the battery life for it to be brought back up to at least 90%, preferably 100%, within a short time (less than 24 hours), otherwise irreversible sulfation may occur.

[MtnDon]

You need a charge controller when you have more than a very small panel (5 - 15 watts). Very small panels never make a lot of power so will never damage a battery if left connected for long periods. They are good for maintaining a battery at full charge when the TD is sitting idle, as long as the panel is not on the TD in a garage.

I don't yet have panels on the trailer but have them on the cabin and house; if I was using just one battery for the trailer like the one mentioned in my prior post, I would have 100, maybe even 200 watts.

Ask questions; you will get a lot of answers. One thing I have learned about solar is there is no one size fits all. And when planning it helps avoid waste or over expenditure to first know exactly what electrical devices are going to be used and for how long. Do that before buying anything. And, IMO, stay away from Harbor Freight.

[tony.latham]

Mt Don if you don't go to harbor freight for solar then where's a
Better source to shop at for solar parts and stuff? Slow

Slow:
Harbor's 45 watt folding panels at $200 are overpriced in my opinion. Take a peek at these: https://www.solarblvd.com/product_info. ... ts_id=2756

I put together a folding 60 watt system using panels I got from eBay (and a $25 Morningstar controller) but find that I seldom use them while camping since most of our trips are two or three nights with a bit of towing during the day (and we don't use much juice anyway). However the 'drops all put to bed for the winter about sixty yards from the nearest outlet and instead of pulling the battery and keeping it on a 120V maintainer, I've got the panels out keeping it up to snuff.

T