I just completed an electrical upgrade on my rig.
It consisted of new batteries, cables, electrical monitor, inverter/charger, and solar panels.
This is my first attempt at posting pictures so hopefully it all works.
I did the project in 2 phases.
First was 4 new Trojan T-125's and a plastic (starboard?) battery box from fisheries supply
Positive and negative leads come from opposite ends of battery bank for balancing the load.
Upgraded battery wiring and distributions posts laid the groundwork for the larger inverter to follow in phase 2
I'm still working on the above wiring so the fuse and post protective caps are off. I'm going to put a shutoff switch in the 4/0 gauge for the inverter.
I also installed an Electrical monitor - a Trimetric 2025 - at this point. We then took off for almost 3 months. The EMON allowed me to precisely determine my electrical needs in a real life situation. This helped me to finalize my design when we returned.
Phase 2 consisted of Installing an AC Subpanel to accept the inverter loads, installing the inverter/Charger, and the panels.
I first pulled the AC panel and relocated 5 circuits (room for 8) that I wanted to power from the inverter.
the location under the desk in my rig was perfect as it allowed me to easily relocate the circuits.
Here is the new sub-panel next to the original one
After the sub-panel was done and tested ok I set out wiring the inverter. I was able to do some pre-wiring on the inverter and the Solar Controller & Circuit breakers inside the house on the bench where there was room and COOL air... (its been hot and humid here on the NC Coast this summer!
Prewiring the inverter. A Magnum MS2012
I installed the inverter on top of a wooden box I had laying around. I modified it a bit and it allowed me to get the inverter up off of the floor and out of the way in the basement. You can safely fit 6 6-packs of your favorite drink under the inverter.
I mounted the inverter on an aluminum plate with an air space under it for some additional cooling if needed.
After testing the inverter and charger I moved on to mounting the prewired Controller and fuse box.
My Panels consist of 3 series wired strings of 2 panels per string. A 144w + 68w Uni-Solar panel. Each string puts out about 49v. Total output of the array is approx 636w The 3 strings are then paralleled before the controller.
NEC requires that 3 or more series wired strings be protected by fuse or circuit breaker so I brought all 6 wires (a pos and neg from each string) down thru the Bathroom Grey tank vent.
The 3 negatives were then combined and run using 6awg wire to teh controller.
The 3 positives were led singly to the above circuit breaker box where each went thru its own 10amp dc breaker, then the 3 were combined, and run to the Controller.
From the Controller the positive then went back to the circuit breaker box and thru an 80amp (sized per the NEC) breaker then to the positive distribution post.
Here the cables go down the grey tank vent.
Getting the 6 #10PV wires out of the vent at first had me scratching my head. My concern was that if I filled up the grey tank - the shower not draining would be my first indication and the level of the shower pan is above where the wires would exit the vent so I had to make sure that it was waterproof or else water could escape around the wires.
I have to admit that I think my solution to the problem was quite ingenious!
I took 2 ABS end caps and some water tight cable fittings
I cut out a section of the vent line where the wires would come out and installed a couple of sanitary T fittings. Here is a picture of the parts - what it would look like once in place
The T on the left would be glued into the removed section of the vent tube.
The rest of the assembly would carry the wires (positioned to drain if they filled with water) with one branch of the second T carrying the 3 positives and the other the 3 negatives.
Here it is glued in place with the wires exiting. All water proof!
I ran the last wires up thru the wall and installed the Controller Remote and the Inverter remote, and finally the weather cooperated so that DW and I could get up on the room and do the peel and stick dance.
The finished product
The Gauges inside. Bottom left is the Trimetric 2025 installed in Phase1
Bottom Right is the Controller Remote and the Top (black) the inverter remote
Last but not least is the wiring diagram that I put together before I even started the project.
I obtained all the parts, read all the install instructions, and diagrammed the whole mess so that I would be sure that when I threw the breakers that we didn't go up in one big flash of light!
Before I finish here - I want to thank Joe Brown, John Walker, and John Kohl for your assistance, advice, ideas, and feedback. You all were a big help - graciously answered my emails and put up with my questions. Thanks to you all!
Now that I've done that - lets see if when I throw the "breaker" on this post if all the pictures show up.... that's the hard part of this project.