Cab lighting and solar panel
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:19 am
In another thread I posted pictures of my new battery meters.
I also threw in a switch for some under-cabinet residential LED strips I had left over. They have sticky-tape that works great on the square tube of the bulkhead. Stayed stuck all winter (without power). Finally some cab lighting! These thing run 24vdc and are really bright.
I also finished my 200W solar setup with inverter. I mounted the panel with rubber isolation bushings so vibrations would be less jarring.
Wiring is seriously stout: 6awg double insulated cable from the panel to charger/inverter. 2-awg from the batteries to the inverter. This stuff is cool; made for diesel locomotives. Handles vibrations and continuous flexing without any problems. The conductors are tinned, making recycling scrap relatively expensive which is how I picked it up cheaply.
Wiring should be big to reduce voltage losses. If you are building a solar setup, do not skimp on wiring. You could loose up to 30% of that valuable sun energy by trying to squeeze current through a 14 awg wire. Inverters can eat a lot of power too, and for that reason they also should have massive wires. If you have skinny wires to an inverter, your battery capacity (that the inverter can use) is effectively reduced by that amount of resistance.
My inverter is mounted on the back wall outside of the cab.
Happy trails!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I also threw in a switch for some under-cabinet residential LED strips I had left over. They have sticky-tape that works great on the square tube of the bulkhead. Stayed stuck all winter (without power). Finally some cab lighting! These thing run 24vdc and are really bright.
I also finished my 200W solar setup with inverter. I mounted the panel with rubber isolation bushings so vibrations would be less jarring.
Wiring is seriously stout: 6awg double insulated cable from the panel to charger/inverter. 2-awg from the batteries to the inverter. This stuff is cool; made for diesel locomotives. Handles vibrations and continuous flexing without any problems. The conductors are tinned, making recycling scrap relatively expensive which is how I picked it up cheaply.
Wiring should be big to reduce voltage losses. If you are building a solar setup, do not skimp on wiring. You could loose up to 30% of that valuable sun energy by trying to squeeze current through a 14 awg wire. Inverters can eat a lot of power too, and for that reason they also should have massive wires. If you have skinny wires to an inverter, your battery capacity (that the inverter can use) is effectively reduced by that amount of resistance.
My inverter is mounted on the back wall outside of the cab.
Happy trails!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
