✅ BougeRV MPPT Charge Controller (Highly Recommended): geni.us/sunflow30 ✅ My New choice for LifePo4 Battery (Wattcycle): geni.us/wattcycle12v100ah ✅Check out my NEW Solar Deals RUclips Channel: youtube.com/@solardeals to find great deals on my recommended solar products
Finally, a solar charge system build vid that answers the question 'what is a bus bar for and when should it be applied.' Believe it or not I've struggled to get the answer to this. Sometimes creators have one, sometimes not, and some even say that you can add one as an option but, no one was explaining the whys or whens. Also for the first I understand where the breakers should be in the layout. Thank you for the thoroughness and clarity.
Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful. I'm working on some more videos similar to this with a bit more detail on specific components and whatnot for various sized systems.
OK SOME SAFETY TIPS: Always use heavy duty DC breakers at the positive battery terminals before the wires go anywhere else. Always use a heavy duty breaker between your inverter and your batteries. Always use a breaker between your solar panel and your solar charge controller.. These breakers should be rated for the max current that will be drawn though those devices.. Keep your cables as short as you can and use the proper size wire that is rated for or even higher than the current that will be drawn through those devices. Check "amperage capacity for wire" charts (online) to determine what gauge wire that is required for your system.. You would be surprised at the number of DYI people who do not know what they are doing and end up with inverter cables heating up like a toaster element. Keep it safe.. do the research, use correct and safe wiring to avoid issues and a possible fire. More importantly, if you don't know what you are doing.. FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES
Nice little quick build there. I just got into solar about a year ago and basically did the same build in a 20 inch Craftsman toolbox on wheels. Thanks for taking time to teach others. Liked and subbed.👍
Where is the ground? To chassis? Isn’t that necessary for the entire system? And a fuse just off the + battery post before the switch? Everything I see shows these… just curious thanks
Just a great,clear video. I would have liked it if you mentioned the rating of your fuses, breakers ,etcetera ( I think you covered wire sizes). Not an explanation of why you chose those sizes ( that’s another video in itself) just the ampacity ratings they were. TU.
Great job and good explanations on the whys and hows. Im putting together a setup in the back of my 4WD and will use your methods here for reliability and safety. Great video and subbed for more vids like these.
Subscribed!! I've watched this video twice. Great explanation of all components. Beginner can follow along. Great content good luck and keep bringing more videos like this one. Thanks
I really love this video. I have watched many on here and I like yours the best. I do have some questions. I noticed that you do not have all the parts that you used listed??? I have an 2000watt inverter pure sine wave and it can go to 4000 in for a very short time. Everything that I have read tells me that I need 4/0 cable??? I have an Victron 100v/50amp controller, I will run 6awg to the battery from it. That is the max size it takes. Battery is the same size you have. Running 8awg solar wire from panels to charge controller.
Why did you use two fuses between the inverter and your positive bus bar. And why did you put a fuse before a breaker on the positive bus bar to the charge controler?
great video...10/10!...i am a total newbie from the UK just doing my first small off grid project for a cabin ..have watched a million you tube vids and yours is one of the best for a newbie...great job...keep up the clear and easy style...one request...could you please list all the wire gauges and fuse / breaker / DC breaker fuses you have used in each section...or a diagram...it would really help...thanks a lot...
Thanks for the comment, it always makes me feel good to know people are getting value from my videos. Its funny you mention this suggestion because that's the video I am working on right now is going over wire gauges and fuse/breaker sizing, so look forward to that in the next few days.
The video is Good but it seems the list of items to purchase is missing a few of the items shown in the video. That makes it a little tough for the newbies the video is designed for.
If your solar panel array is fully grounded, then you could get away with a single pole breaker. But even then, I'd still use a double pole personally. Pretty much every switch that's specifically marketed as a "solar disconnect switch" is a double pole breaker to make sure the array is completely isolated from the rest of your system.
@@enigmascape Thanks for your answer... One last question. For four 100W panels in series-parallel putting out about 14 amps max and going to a 40amp controller over 10AWG cables, what amperage do you recommend for the breaker-switch? ... And, would you bother to use a 10amp inline fuse on the positive of each of the two 200W panel series - 6amps each - going to the two-into-one parallel connector? ...
I'm confused on how you determine the amperage for both the inline fuse to the 12v fuse panel and circuit breaker from solar panels. I've seen your links to amazon but as a noob I'm still a dummy. I can't be the only one. Hope to see more of your channel for my skills
Really good and simple explanation. Can someone explain why there is a fuse between the inverver and not just use a dc breaker like on the charge controller?
You could substitute a properly sized breaker in place of this fuse if you wanted. I only chose to use a fuse in this location because I feel a fuse is more reliable than a breaker, and this is the primary load and most vulnerable, and they are generally cheaper. It is possible for a breaker to stick if they get gunked up with dirt or bugs or rust or just poor manufacturing, but I do prefer breakers for most things because they are so functional, and I think you would be just fine using a descent quality DC breaker there if the environment is relatively clean and not exposed to moisture.
@@enigmascape i appreciate the quick and concise answer. Im building my system and have a 250amp breaker(like the 40amp in the video) between the 2k watt inverter but every video or diagram i see, people are using inline fuses so i was confused as to why.
In between your positive buss bar and the 12v fuse assembly, you have a fuse. I'm wondering why since every output of that assembly is fused... Also, shouldn't have you a fuse between the battery positive and the buss bar? Just wondering! Thanks
The reason is because its a way to limit the max load of the entire fuesblock, sort of like how you have a 100a main breaker on your house, but then have 10x 20a circuits. If too many things are on at the same time you want it to throw the main if the wire cant handle it. As for the other fuse at the battery, it would probably be a good idea to have a catastrophe fuse there. I usually use a DC breaker instead of that disconnect switch which serves that purpose, but I didn't have an extra one on hand when I made the video. IMO it's not entirely necessary, but you can never be too careful.
For a super simple system you could get by just putting a dc breaker between the battery and the inverter. Sonething like one of these amzn.to/4ez6mQw but make sure you get the right amp rating first your wire.
Yes, but if you put them in series, it would become 48v and you would need a 48v inverter. But you could wire the batteries in parallel to keep them at 12v and it would certainly work. In fact, I never actually use a single battery on any of my actual systems unless i'm just building a little power station or something. 4x 100ah Batteries is a pretty capable system, and for any type of living type of situation, that would be my minimum capacity I would suggest that would meet the basic needs.
@@douglasmiller8940 Amazon... If you look in the description box on the video towards the bottom I have listed out some recommendations and provided links to find the stuff.
Hey is it better to have a (shunt) or actual battery monitor with the device the wires run through to help with knowing the life of battery and charging it??
The shunt is more accurate than the hall sensor kind (the kind where the cable runs through it). One of my videos next week I'm gonna go over the shunt I use, which is this one : amzn.to/4cjYMcq if you don't need the bluetooth and all that you can find something cheaper, but I like having the Bluetooth. I'd like to have the Victron one but it's a bit steep for me at the moment, but I got my eye on it.
What would I need to do to setup a mini fridge and one WiFi camera for a curbside egg stand to run on solar power instead of running 100ft of extension cord from the house to power it for 8hours a day
When I raised chickens, I did not put the eggs in a fridge. I know this is sort of a controversial topic in the chicken/egg world though, but my eggs lasted a lot longer on my counter than the ones I put in my fridge... but... to answer your question, you need to know the power consumption on the mini fridge (probably 75-100w while compressor is running, and it will run longer if it's in direct sunlight). There's probably a 300+ watt surge to get the compressor started. So you will need a 500+ watt inverter, and a 100ah lifepo4 battery would last at least 12 hours. And then you need to decide how you want to charge that battery back up for its next use. So, you will either need solar panels or a lifepo4 battery charger. May be able to get by with a 100w panel, but maybe go 200w if you want to be sure. Or put the whole setup on a handtruck and just charge it up from the grid using a charger. They make a device called a "Kill-a-Watt" that you can use to track the usage of the fridge and know more precisely what you would need. You may be able to get by with just a 50Ah battery, but I am hesitant to recommend that without knowing more about the consumption of the fridge.
A bit confused on why the battery wires from the charge controller goes to the bus bars and not directly to the battery. Even with the main battery switch off the solar controller will still supply some power to the inverter through the busbar, if forget to turn off the breaker? Maybe its just me over thinking it
I intend to make more videos like this one, and go over certain parts in a bit more detail because I am seeing where I could improve the explanations and reinforce various safety precautions or protocols in shutting down a system and things like that. But, the first thing that should be turned off is always your solar panels, then the battery. It's very important to do that as a first step to always make sure no power from your solar panels are flowing through your system without a battery connected and ON because that power from the panels needs someplace to go and it can damage your solar charge controller if you have panels hooked up and live without a battery hooked up and live. What you describe is a secondary reason to always make sure to shut down the panels as step 1 of shutting a system down, and the LAST step when turning a system ON because that power you are referring too would be coming from the panels. You could wire the charge controller directly to the battery instead if you wanted. The bus bar is simply acting as an extension of the battery terminals.
The purpose of a fuse is to protect a wire really. Think of this fuse like a main breaker in a house. Say you have 5 items hooked to the dc fuse box and they all have 15a fuses and the sum total of that is 75a. If your main wire coming into the fuse box cannot handle 75a then we want to throw that fuse to protect that wire from melting or potentially catching on fire. In the example video I used 6awg wire which is rated for only 55a. If the sum total of all the dc loads coming off the fuse box exceed the rating of this wire then you want to blow the fuse, even tho no 1 item exceeded their individual fuse rating. I hope this makes sense.
The purpose of a fuse is to protect a wire really. Think of this fuse like a main breaker in a house. Say you have 5 items hooked to the dc fuse box and they all have 15a fuses and the sum total of that is 75a. If your main wire coming into the fuse box cannot handle 75a then we want to throw that fuse to protect that wire from melting or potentially catching on fire. In the example video I used 6awg wire which is rated for only 55a. If the sum total of all the dc loads coming off the fuse box exceed the rating of this wire then you want to blow the fuse, even tho no 1 item exceeded their individual fuse rating. I hope this makes sense.
There’s a standard 120V AC connection coming off of the inverter. It might even have a usb port or two. Plug in a usb charger into the 120V connection.
@@hamilton7012 Some inverters have usb ports - mine do. Sometimes when all the usb ports on the charge controllers are being used, we use the ports on the inverters. Seems strange to convert from DC from the Solar panels to AC through the inverter and perhaps convert back to DC with the inverters - or perhaps the inverter skips this step? Still the inverter has to be turned on. Are others using usb ports on inverters to charge their usb devices? How do you charge your family's phones? I've wondered if should run the inverter, plug in a usb charge bank into the AC output and convert back to DC. I gather that we may be able to plug in multiple charge controllers to the the battery if the charge controllers are cheap enough to have usb ports - not sure of the ramifications of such.
I assume you mean an AC breaker. I’ll probably get into that in a future video, but this inverter is small and doesn’t have a way to direct wire into a breaker box like so me others do.
Hey had one more question if u could help when hooking up your system to a car for the power when hooking up to the dc to dc charger from when u find the right fuse to jump off of is a 20a charger the highest u can use or can u safely utilize a 40a dc to dc charger and not keep popping the 20a fuses or am I thinking of that wrong??
for either a 20a or a 40a DC to DC charger I think you would be better off running a wire directly from the battery to the charger and using an inline fuse. For a 40a one its the only way to do it really... And I would use either a 40 or 50a fuse that's designed for something like car audio, and be sure to use a wire gauge thick enough to handle that 40a at the length of your wire run too. Fuses are meant to protect the wire more than anything, so if the fuse is gonna blow at 20a, then the existing wire cannot handle it. You'll probably want at least an 8awg wire, if not even 6awg, which is much thicker than most wire that leads into your fuse panel.
Alrighty makes sense but don’t u only want to pull power from the battery when the vehicle is turned on rather than draining the battery it’s being hooked to not the one it will be charging?
@@joshh9003 Not sure which model you have, but my understanding of most of them is they only come on when the volage of the vehicle battery is over 13 volts or something like that to prevent that problem, but If you are concerned about that you could always install a disconnect switch and flip it off when you're not driving.
Sorry I forgot to mention that in the video, its a 25W 30ohm resistor. It would work fine for your 2000w inverter as well. I Just added the exact one I bought to the description box to make it easier for people to find. Thanks for the comment!
The video suggests 4 gauge to better support the full load of the inverter. 1000W at 12.8V would be nearly 80A, and if the battery has a significant drop in voltage, it could be under 11V, which would seriously bump the ampdraw. Upping to #2 or even #1 would be a good idea.
When he was assembling the automotive fuse box, he put a washer UNDER the negative wire, NEVER do this. All wire lugs should always be in direct contact with the bussbar. Washers are a high resistance obstruction, that can cause massive heat.
It wouldn’t hurt to have a fuse there too for redundancy, but I don’t think it’s really necessary because every load coming off the bus bar has its own fuse., but you can never really go wrong adding more fuses just in case.
@@enigmascape In your configuration, if you dropped something and it shorted out the positive and negative buss bars. Your system would catch fire. Moving your fuse from between the buss bar and the inverter. To the positive post of the battery would protect the entire system from a short circuit.
After trolling the internet for ages I just happened upon your video, Wow I thought you might be the man to help me? I am planning to take my sailboat off to sunnier climes later this year but power on a sailboat is always an issue. I already have 2x80W panels into 1 x 80ah starter battery and 1x 80ah house battery. these batteries I might use for an anchor windlass at a later stage. I have not seen this displayed anywhere else, in the marine environment, multi solar panels 2x 80W + 2x 200W into 1x130ah Starter battery + 3x130ah house AGM batteries I want to have the one 130ah starter battery charged by the high output Alternator, but the 4 solar panels into the 3x130ah AGM batteries via 2x30AMP victron charge controllers, I have very little experience of boat electrics, maybe you can help with a video or even a diagram would help me please? Many thanks.
Currently there are 2x lead acid 80 ah batteries being supplied by 2x 80W solar panels. I want to disconnect the 2 batteries and save them for a later date when I aquire an electric anchor winch. Then I want to install 3x 130ah batteries, 1 AGM 130ah battery to use as a starter battery, the other 2x130ah batteries i want supplied by the 2x 80Wsolar panels with the 2x200W solar panels giving me a total of 560W solar power through 2x Electron 30amp solar charge controllers and yes the entire system is 12V I also have a 2000W inverter, as I say I am not electrically minded so any help would be greatly appreciated.@@enigmascape
@@petercrane2065 you said you wanted the starter battery charged via the alternator. Do you already have a DC-DC charger now that's handling that with your existing start batts? And, unless you have a good reason for wanting to use AGM batteries for your house batteries, I would highly recommend using LifePO4 batteries instead. AGM is fine for start batteries cuz they generally have a higher cranking amps to start an engine, but with AGM batteries you can only discharge them to 50%, so your 130ah batteries essentially are only 65ah of usable capacity, while a LifePO4 you get the full rated capacity as usable energy. Lastly, having mixed solar panels is tricky, but if you have 2 controllers already then you would connect the 2 80w panels to 1 controller and then to the battery bank, and the 2 200w panels to the other charge controller and then connect that to the same bank.
DC-DC charger? There is a battery charger which takes shore power is that the same thing? As for installing LifePO4 Batteries, is this what you mean? LiFePO4 Battery 12V 100Ah Lithium leisure battery, Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery instead of car AGM battery These are about $250 each but it looks like they are made in china, but on the reviews they have a 5star rating, I also think I would need 3 instead of 2, but then I am limited for space space, that is why I was trying for a total of 3 batteries.
I don’t see why a person would need a fuse on the conductor going to a fuse box ( the 12 volt automotive one). The fuses in the fuse box protect the conductors that are on any one of those circuits. Think I’d omit that one.
The reason it is there is similar to having a main breaker on your house in that it protects from complete overload. The combined amps of all the circuits on the DC fuse box combined. if you have 10 things all drawing say 10a, and each of those things has a 15a fuse, and all were on at the same time, none of the individual fuses would blow, but would be too many amps for the main wire leading to that fuse box. Since the DC fuse box is designed to connect all sorts of things, it is sort of an unknown how many amps it would all be combined, and the fuse in question is designed to protect the main wire, which is what a fuse is designed to do, protect the wire. Simlar to how you have have 10 circuits in your house, all rated at 20a, but the main line only supports 100a you would want it to throw the main breaker if you turned on too many things in the house all at the same time. In this same way, I probably should have put a large fuse in the line from the battery to the disconnect switch as a last line of protection really. As long as you are fully aware of what the max load will be, it's not entirely necessary, and in my case I do know the max load at that location so I am not all that worried about that one.
سلام میشه از خروجی دیگه استابلایزر برق ACداد به ادابتور تا خروجی DC ازش گرفت تا به کنترول کننده شارژر باتری داد تا این روند در چرخش باشه بنظر شما این عمل امکان پزیر است?
Am I really the only one to see this ??? When you tried to pre charge the Inverter you didn’t have the battery switch on so no power was exchanged and the inverter power was already on which you don’t want to have before it is powered fully… Nice video but get more sockets or wrenches. Have fun stay safe.
Your inverter is too small in my opinion. A lot of people have these units like a Ecoflow or Bluetti so if you try and charge one of those with that setup your inverter will trip because these "all in one" units charge at 1200 or more watts.
It's a very small system for demonstration of wiring purposes. It only has a single 12v battery with a 100a BMS which could not handle much more than a sustained 1000w anyway, if you need to run more than 1000w then yea, you will want a bigger inverter, add more batteries to increase the BMS capacity, and use heavier gauge wire to handle the increased amps. But, I appreciate your comment, every system has it's limitations.
You could get by with something as small as a 4 awg if all you were running is the 1000w inverter, but this layout includes a 12v fuse block as well. Always better to over-size wire. I consider wire not only a safety thing, but also future-proofing your investment in it by leaving headroom for upgrades, or unknown variables (like the 12v fuse block). I am upgrading my inverter to a 2000w soon, and when I do I will be using 1/0 from the bus bar to the inverter too.
![FNAF vs TF2 - Episode 2 [SFM]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z5b3V2-VLb0/mqdefault.jpg)
✅ BougeRV MPPT Charge Controller (Highly Recommended): geni.us/sunflow30
✅ My New choice for LifePo4 Battery (Wattcycle): geni.us/wattcycle12v100ah
✅Check out my NEW Solar Deals RUclips Channel: youtube.com/@solardeals to find great deals on my recommended solar products
Finally, a solar charge system build vid that answers the question 'what is a bus bar for and when should it be applied.' Believe it or not I've struggled to get the answer to this. Sometimes creators have one, sometimes not, and some even say that you can add one as an option but, no one was explaining the whys or whens. Also for the first I understand where the breakers should be in the layout. Thank you for the thoroughness and clarity.
Thanks, I'm glad you found it useful.
The best diy solar power system I have seen yet without too much unrelated talking. Simple enough that a rock like me can follow. Thank you.
It’s always great to hear that something is helpful for someone. Thanks so much for the positive feedback!
This is true. I went through many videos over many months until I found exactly what I needed and understand it through this video.
GREAT JOB! Been watching over a dozen YT vids on how to do this. This is the most clear AND most safe presentation.
Pretty nice. Nice and slow and gives us time to absorb the diagram.
So many just, "I did this." at a hundred miles an hour
Thanks, yea that hyper speed content is hard to follow for me too!
Been watching DIY solar gen videos for two weeks. Yours by far the easiest to follow and understand.
Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful. I'm working on some more videos similar to this with a bit more detail on specific components and whatnot for various sized systems.
OK SOME SAFETY TIPS: Always use heavy duty DC breakers at the positive battery terminals before the wires go anywhere else. Always use a heavy duty breaker between your inverter and your batteries. Always use a breaker between your solar panel and your solar charge controller.. These breakers should be rated for the max current that will be drawn though those devices.. Keep your cables as short as you can and use the proper size wire that is rated for or even higher than the current that will be drawn through those devices. Check "amperage capacity for wire" charts (online) to determine what gauge wire that is required for your system.. You would be surprised at the number of DYI people who do not know what they are doing and end up with inverter cables heating up like a toaster element. Keep it safe.. do the research, use correct and safe wiring to avoid issues and a possible fire. More importantly, if you don't know what you are doing.. FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES
Thank you for such a thorough and very simple DIY, compared to so many others that tend to be more complicated for beginners like me.
Nice little quick build there.
I just got into solar about a year ago and basically did the same build in a 20 inch Craftsman toolbox on wheels.
Thanks for taking time to teach others.
Liked and subbed.👍
Most clear explanation of the solar connections I’ve seen yet. Nice job!
Awesome, thank you!
Excellent best step by step I've watched spot on!
Great to hear!
Thank you. Easy to understand and informative.
Glad it was helpful!
Where is the ground? To chassis? Isn’t that necessary for the entire system? And a fuse just off the + battery post before the switch? Everything I see shows these… just curious thanks
Thank you. You did the best diy video. Easy to comprehend with out all the bs. Thank you. I'm now subscribed
Glad you found it helpful, thanks for the sub!
Hi thanks for the video, this one is ideal for us newbie’s very easy to understand and not to fast. I hope you do well all the best Jon🇦🇺AUSTRALIA
Glad it was helpful!
Just a great,clear video. I would have liked it if you mentioned the rating of your fuses, breakers ,etcetera ( I think you covered wire sizes). Not an explanation of why you chose those sizes ( that’s another video in itself) just the ampacity ratings they were. TU.
Thanks for the video; it would be more helpful if you commented on the cable and fuse sizes.
Great job and good explanations on the whys and hows. Im putting together a setup in the back of my 4WD and will use your methods here for reliability and safety. Great video and subbed for more vids like these.
Glad it was helpful! More on the way...
Cool video, nice you doing a step by step and talking about each component 👍👍
great detailed video. Thanks
Very informative for newbies!
Glad it was helpful!
New sub...Great tutorial. New to solar, and looking for some tips..thanks
Thanks for the sub! Glad you found it helful.
Subscribed!! I've watched this video twice. Great explanation of all components. Beginner can follow along. Great content good luck and keep bringing more videos like this one. Thanks
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I really appreciate the support!
Nice job.
I really love this video. I have watched many on here and I like yours the best. I do have some questions. I noticed that you do not have all the parts that you used listed??? I have an 2000watt inverter pure sine wave and it can go to 4000 in for a very short time. Everything that I have read tells me that I need 4/0 cable??? I have an Victron 100v/50amp controller, I will run 6awg to the battery from it. That is the max size it takes. Battery is the same size you have. Running 8awg solar wire from panels to charge controller.
Great for beginners to watch
Nice video 💯
Awesome thanks for the reply and look forward to the video I here ya on the cost thankfully been reading all reviews possible
No problem 👍
Just awesome man
Why did you use two fuses between the inverter and your positive bus bar. And why did you put a fuse before a breaker on the positive bus bar to the charge controler?
I gave you all 👍👍👍👍 brother I thought your video much more detailed than the other video
Thanks! I really appreciate the positive feedback.
Very Helpful, Thanks
Excellent video Thank you
Like your setup, mine was similar on my channel.
great video...10/10!...i am a total newbie from the UK just doing my first small off grid project for a cabin ..have watched a million you tube vids and yours is one of the best for a newbie...great job...keep up the clear and easy style...one request...could you please list all the wire gauges and fuse / breaker / DC breaker fuses you have used in each section...or a diagram...it would really help...thanks a lot...
Thanks for the comment, it always makes me feel good to know people are getting value from my videos. Its funny you mention this suggestion because that's the video I am working on right now is going over wire gauges and fuse/breaker sizing, so look forward to that in the next few days.
Brilliant...i look forward to it..i am getting ready to hook up soon@@enigmascape
Great video, very simple to follow, thank you.
Thanks for this. Are the fuses etc all 30Amp? Brilliant video.
Thanks i would like to try this in Jamaica
The video is Good but it seems the list of items to purchase is missing a few of the items shown in the video. That makes it a little tough for the newbies the video is designed for.
At 16:30, why do you need a double breaker-switch for the panel lines? Wouldn't a single breaker-switch just on the positive line do the job? ...
If your solar panel array is fully grounded, then you could get away with a single pole breaker. But even then, I'd still use a double pole personally. Pretty much every switch that's specifically marketed as a "solar disconnect switch" is a double pole breaker to make sure the array is completely isolated from the rest of your system.
@@enigmascape Thanks for your answer... One last question. For four 100W panels in series-parallel putting out about 14 amps max and going to a 40amp controller over 10AWG cables, what amperage do you recommend for the breaker-switch? ... And, would you bother to use a 10amp inline fuse on the positive of each of the two 200W panel series - 6amps each - going to the two-into-one parallel connector? ...
nice video thank you for the info
I'm confused on how you determine the amperage for both the inline fuse to the 12v fuse panel and circuit breaker from solar panels. I've seen your links to amazon but as a noob I'm still a dummy. I can't be the only one. Hope to see more of your channel for my skills
I'll be making a video soon that goes over wire sizes and fuse recommendations pretty soon.
@@enigmascapeI cannot find the video where you cover fuse and wire size explanations
I was thinking about doing this but after seeing the video and all the numbers I think I will pass. More expensive than I thought it would be.
Really good and simple explanation. Can someone explain why there is a fuse between the inverver and not just use a dc breaker like on the charge controller?
You could substitute a properly sized breaker in place of this fuse if you wanted. I only chose to use a fuse in this location because I feel a fuse is more reliable than a breaker, and this is the primary load and most vulnerable, and they are generally cheaper. It is possible for a breaker to stick if they get gunked up with dirt or bugs or rust or just poor manufacturing, but I do prefer breakers for most things because they are so functional, and I think you would be just fine using a descent quality DC breaker there if the environment is relatively clean and not exposed to moisture.
@@enigmascape i appreciate the quick and concise answer. Im building my system and have a 250amp breaker(like the 40amp in the video) between the 2k watt inverter but every video or diagram i see, people are using inline fuses so i was confused as to why.
In between your positive buss bar and the 12v fuse assembly, you have a fuse. I'm wondering why since every output of that assembly is fused... Also, shouldn't have you a fuse between the battery positive and the buss bar? Just wondering! Thanks
The reason is because its a way to limit the max load of the entire fuesblock, sort of like how you have a 100a main breaker on your house, but then have 10x 20a circuits. If too many things are on at the same time you want it to throw the main if the wire cant handle it. As for the other fuse at the battery, it would probably be a good idea to have a catastrophe fuse there. I usually use a DC breaker instead of that disconnect switch which serves that purpose, but I didn't have an extra one on hand when I made the video. IMO it's not entirely necessary, but you can never be too careful.
Thanks, that makes perfect sense...
I'm planning on a more simple system with just a battery and inverter do you have any recommendations like safety switch?
For a super simple system you could get by just putting a dc breaker between the battery and the inverter. Sonething like one of these amzn.to/4ez6mQw but make sure you get the right amp rating first your wire.
Nice video. What are the stud size of the red and the black bus bars? 5/16"?
No, the ones I got are 3/8, but 5/16 would be fine for this small system.
Could there be 4 - 12 volt batteries connected in a series for increased power hours with this system? Thanks
Yes, but if you put them in series, it would become 48v and you would need a 48v inverter. But you could wire the batteries in parallel to keep them at 12v and it would certainly work. In fact, I never actually use a single battery on any of my actual systems unless i'm just building a little power station or something. 4x 100ah Batteries is a pretty capable system, and for any type of living type of situation, that would be my minimum capacity I would suggest that would meet the basic needs.
@enigmascape Yes I meant parallel not series. Thanks !😊
Where do you suggest to buy these switches, breakers, bus bars, ect? Thanks in advance! This information is a great help!
@@douglasmiller8940 Amazon... If you look in the description box on the video towards the bottom I have listed out some recommendations and provided links to find the stuff.
@enigmascape Great thank you!
How did you calculate the values for the breakers and fuses?
Hey is it better to have a (shunt) or actual battery monitor with the device the wires run through to help with knowing the life of battery and charging it??
The shunt is more accurate than the hall sensor kind (the kind where the cable runs through it). One of my videos next week I'm gonna go over the shunt I use, which is this one : amzn.to/4cjYMcq if you don't need the bluetooth and all that you can find something cheaper, but I like having the Bluetooth. I'd like to have the Victron one but it's a bit steep for me at the moment, but I got my eye on it.
👍
What would I need to do to setup a mini fridge and one WiFi camera for a curbside egg stand to run on solar power instead of running 100ft of extension cord from the house to power it for 8hours a day
When I raised chickens, I did not put the eggs in a fridge. I know this is sort of a controversial topic in the chicken/egg world though, but my eggs lasted a lot longer on my counter than the ones I put in my fridge... but... to answer your question, you need to know the power consumption on the mini fridge (probably 75-100w while compressor is running, and it will run longer if it's in direct sunlight). There's probably a 300+ watt surge to get the compressor started. So you will need a 500+ watt inverter, and a 100ah lifepo4 battery would last at least 12 hours. And then you need to decide how you want to charge that battery back up for its next use. So, you will either need solar panels or a lifepo4 battery charger. May be able to get by with a 100w panel, but maybe go 200w if you want to be sure. Or put the whole setup on a handtruck and just charge it up from the grid using a charger. They make a device called a "Kill-a-Watt" that you can use to track the usage of the fridge and know more precisely what you would need. You may be able to get by with just a 50Ah battery, but I am hesitant to recommend that without knowing more about the consumption of the fridge.
A bit confused on why the battery wires from the charge controller goes to the bus bars and not directly to the battery. Even with the main battery switch off the solar controller will still supply some power to the inverter through the busbar, if forget to turn off the breaker? Maybe its just me over thinking it
I intend to make more videos like this one, and go over certain parts in a bit more detail because I am seeing where I could improve the explanations and reinforce various safety precautions or protocols in shutting down a system and things like that. But, the first thing that should be turned off is always your solar panels, then the battery. It's very important to do that as a first step to always make sure no power from your solar panels are flowing through your system without a battery connected and ON because that power from the panels needs someplace to go and it can damage your solar charge controller if you have panels hooked up and live without a battery hooked up and live. What you describe is a secondary reason to always make sure to shut down the panels as step 1 of shutting a system down, and the LAST step when turning a system ON because that power you are referring too would be coming from the panels. You could wire the charge controller directly to the battery instead if you wanted. The bus bar is simply acting as an extension of the battery terminals.
Why use a fuse to protect a fuse box? Isn’t that redundant? Just curious because I’m learning about small solar systems.
The purpose of a fuse is to protect a wire really. Think of this fuse like a main breaker in a house. Say you have 5 items hooked to the dc fuse box and they all have 15a fuses and the sum total of that is 75a. If your main wire coming into the fuse box cannot handle 75a then we want to throw that fuse to protect that wire from melting or potentially catching on fire. In the example video I used 6awg wire which is rated for only 55a. If the sum total of all the dc loads coming off the fuse box exceed the rating of this wire then you want to blow the fuse, even tho no 1 item exceeded their individual fuse rating. I hope this makes sense.
The purpose of a fuse is to protect a wire really. Think of this fuse like a main breaker in a house. Say you have 5 items hooked to the dc fuse box and they all have 15a fuses and the sum total of that is 75a. If your main wire coming into the fuse box cannot handle 75a then we want to throw that fuse to protect that wire from melting or potentially catching on fire. In the example video I used 6awg wire which is rated for only 55a. If the sum total of all the dc loads coming off the fuse box exceed the rating of this wire then you want to blow the fuse, even tho no 1 item exceeded their individual fuse rating. I hope this makes sense.
How do you charge your USB devices ??
There’s a standard 120V AC connection coming off of the inverter. It might even have a usb port or two. Plug in a usb charger into the 120V connection.
@@hamilton7012 Some inverters have usb ports - mine do. Sometimes when all the usb ports on the charge controllers are being used, we use the ports on the inverters.
Seems strange to convert from DC from the Solar panels to AC through the inverter and perhaps convert back to DC with the inverters - or perhaps the inverter skips this step? Still the inverter has to be turned on. Are others using usb ports on inverters to charge their usb devices? How do you charge your family's phones?
I've wondered if should run the inverter, plug in a usb charge bank into the AC output and convert back to DC.
I gather that we may be able to plug in multiple charge controllers to the the battery if the charge controllers are cheap enough to have usb ports - not sure of the ramifications of such.
Could you implament a beaker box in the design?
I assume you mean an AC breaker. I’ll probably get into that in a future video, but this inverter is small and doesn’t have a way to direct wire into a breaker box like so me others do.
Hey had one more question if u could help when hooking up your system to a car for the power when hooking up to the dc to dc charger from when u find the right fuse to jump off of is a 20a charger the highest u can use or can u safely utilize a 40a dc to dc charger and not keep popping the 20a fuses or am I thinking of that wrong??
for either a 20a or a 40a DC to DC charger I think you would be better off running a wire directly from the battery to the charger and using an inline fuse. For a 40a one its the only way to do it really... And I would use either a 40 or 50a fuse that's designed for something like car audio, and be sure to use a wire gauge thick enough to handle that 40a at the length of your wire run too. Fuses are meant to protect the wire more than anything, so if the fuse is gonna blow at 20a, then the existing wire cannot handle it. You'll probably want at least an 8awg wire, if not even 6awg, which is much thicker than most wire that leads into your fuse panel.
Alrighty makes sense but don’t u only want to pull power from the battery when the vehicle is turned on rather than draining the battery it’s being hooked to not the one it will be charging?
@@joshh9003 Not sure which model you have, but my understanding of most of them is they only come on when the volage of the vehicle battery is over 13 volts or something like that to prevent that problem, but If you are concerned about that you could always install a disconnect switch and flip it off when you're not driving.
Beware with bussbars, be sure you buy plated pure copper models, not the high resistance brass ones.
What gauge wire would be needed to connect a 30A charge controller to 12v batterie?
10awg is good, but if the wire run is a good distance from your battery (more than 10 feet) then I'd go with 8awg.
@@enigmascape Thanks for replying.
Hey what size of resistor do u use to touch from the power wire to battery when setting up I’m setting up a 2000 watt inverter system?
Sorry I forgot to mention that in the video, its a 25W 30ohm resistor. It would work fine for your 2000w inverter as well. I Just added the exact one I bought to the description box to make it easier for people to find. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for the information and video was helpful!!
The bleed resistor can be pretty much any size. Heck, a pencil lead will work. I use a 50W light bulb.
The video suggests 4 gauge to better support the full load of the inverter. 1000W at 12.8V would be nearly 80A, and if the battery has a significant drop in voltage, it could be under 11V, which would seriously bump the ampdraw. Upping to #2 or even #1 would be a good idea.
When he was assembling the automotive fuse box, he put a washer UNDER the negative wire, NEVER do this. All wire lugs should always be in direct contact with the bussbar. Washers are a high resistance obstruction, that can cause massive heat.
Hum 🤔, aren't you supposed to have the fuse at the battery between it and the buss bar?
It wouldn’t hurt to have a fuse there too for redundancy, but I don’t think it’s really necessary because every load coming off the bus bar has its own fuse., but you can never really go wrong adding more fuses just in case.
@@enigmascape In your configuration, if you dropped something and it shorted out the positive and negative buss bars. Your system would catch fire. Moving your fuse from between the buss bar and the inverter. To the positive post of the battery would protect the entire system from a short circuit.
After trolling the internet for ages I just happened upon your video, Wow I thought you might be the man to help me?
I am planning to take my sailboat off to sunnier climes later this year but power on a sailboat is always an issue.
I already have 2x80W panels into 1 x 80ah starter battery and 1x 80ah house battery. these batteries I might use for an anchor windlass at a later stage.
I have not seen this displayed anywhere else, in the marine environment, multi solar panels 2x 80W + 2x 200W into 1x130ah Starter battery + 3x130ah house AGM batteries
I want to have the one 130ah starter battery charged by the high output Alternator, but the 4 solar panels into the 3x130ah AGM batteries via 2x30AMP victron charge controllers,
I have very little experience of boat electrics, maybe you can help with a video or even a diagram would help me please? Many thanks.
So you want to remove your starter battery from the solar setup and just connect the solar to the 3 house batteries? I assume this is all 12v?
Currently there are 2x lead acid 80 ah batteries being supplied by 2x 80W solar panels. I want to disconnect the 2 batteries and save them for a later date when I aquire an electric anchor winch.
Then I want to install 3x 130ah batteries, 1 AGM 130ah battery to use as a starter battery, the other 2x130ah batteries i want supplied by the 2x 80Wsolar panels with the 2x200W solar panels giving me a total of 560W solar power through 2x Electron 30amp solar charge controllers and yes the entire system is 12V I also have a 2000W inverter, as I say I am not electrically minded so any help would be greatly appreciated.@@enigmascape
@@petercrane2065 you said you wanted the starter battery charged via the alternator. Do you already have a DC-DC charger now that's handling that with your existing start batts? And, unless you have a good reason for wanting to use AGM batteries for your house batteries, I would highly recommend using LifePO4 batteries instead. AGM is fine for start batteries cuz they generally have a higher cranking amps to start an engine, but with AGM batteries you can only discharge them to 50%, so your 130ah batteries essentially are only 65ah of usable capacity, while a LifePO4 you get the full rated capacity as usable energy. Lastly, having mixed solar panels is tricky, but if you have 2 controllers already then you would connect the 2 80w panels to 1 controller and then to the battery bank, and the 2 200w panels to the other charge controller and then connect that to the same bank.
DC-DC charger? There is a battery charger which takes shore power is that the same thing?
As for installing LifePO4 Batteries,
is this what you mean? LiFePO4 Battery 12V 100Ah Lithium leisure battery, Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery instead of car AGM battery These are about $250 each but it looks like they are made in china, but on the reviews they have a 5star rating, I also think I would need 3 instead of 2, but then I am limited for space space, that is why I was trying for a total of 3 batteries.
I don’t see why a person would need a fuse on the conductor going to a fuse box ( the 12 volt automotive one). The fuses in the fuse box protect the conductors that are on any one of those circuits. Think I’d omit that one.
The reason it is there is similar to having a main breaker on your house in that it protects from complete overload. The combined amps of all the circuits on the DC fuse box combined. if you have 10 things all drawing say 10a, and each of those things has a 15a fuse, and all were on at the same time, none of the individual fuses would blow, but would be too many amps for the main wire leading to that fuse box. Since the DC fuse box is designed to connect all sorts of things, it is sort of an unknown how many amps it would all be combined, and the fuse in question is designed to protect the main wire, which is what a fuse is designed to do, protect the wire. Simlar to how you have have 10 circuits in your house, all rated at 20a, but the main line only supports 100a you would want it to throw the main breaker if you turned on too many things in the house all at the same time. In this same way, I probably should have put a large fuse in the line from the battery to the disconnect switch as a last line of protection really. As long as you are fully aware of what the max load will be, it's not entirely necessary, and in my case I do know the max load at that location so I am not all that worried about that one.
سلام میشه از خروجی دیگه استابلایزر برق ACداد به ادابتور تا خروجی DC ازش گرفت تا به کنترول کننده شارژر باتری داد تا این روند در چرخش باشه بنظر شما این عمل امکان پزیر است?
I'm sorry, I'm using translation software and I'm not understanding your question because I don't think it's translating well.
Am I really the only one to see this ??? When you tried to pre charge the Inverter you didn’t have the battery switch on so no power was exchanged and the inverter power was already on which you don’t want to have before it is powered fully… Nice video but get more sockets or wrenches. Have fun stay safe.
How does he have 45k views and only 1.9k subscribers? Subscribe folks, it's good informative content.
God Bless
Your inverter is too small in my opinion. A lot of people have these units like a Ecoflow or Bluetti so if you try and charge one of those with that setup your inverter will trip because these "all in one" units charge at 1200 or more watts.
It's a very small system for demonstration of wiring purposes. It only has a single 12v battery with a 100a BMS which could not handle much more than a sustained 1000w anyway, if you need to run more than 1000w then yea, you will want a bigger inverter, add more batteries to increase the BMS capacity, and use heavier gauge wire to handle the increased amps. But, I appreciate your comment, every system has it's limitations.
Dang really? A 1 gauge?
You could get by with something as small as a 4 awg if all you were running is the 1000w inverter, but this layout includes a 12v fuse block as well. Always better to over-size wire. I consider wire not only a safety thing, but also future-proofing your investment in it by leaving headroom for upgrades, or unknown variables (like the 12v fuse block). I am upgrading my inverter to a 2000w soon, and when I do I will be using 1/0 from the bus bar to the inverter too.
Annoying uptalk but straight forward tutorial
Good
Using a eb3a but does not last need to extend the life.help.winter is coming.solar cabin.