Solar install - Check my work?

[Starscream]

Oh, and make sure you check the wire gauge for each line carefully. BoatUS has some good wire sizing info here: https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/ex ... -wire-size

You can use their chart as a quick guide:

[Be Free]

Yeah, I can't find a surge rating at all but I suspect around 800 because people have mentioned using 650 watts through it while testing to an electric heater. in any case, I think I understand. Will post my latest diagram in a bit. I'm working on it now.

Thanks!

BESTEK 500W Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter

It goes into over-current protection mode when you are drawing 500-550W for more than 20 seconds. At 400W your fan is running full speed and you are right on the edge of a thermal shutdown. You should not expect much over 350W continuous and even then the fan is going to be running pretty fast. Make sure it is mounted in an area with good ventilation.

[Be Free]

Chumpy36,

You mentioned earlier that your refrigerator draws 4.8 amps. Is that when it is running AC or DC? I'm guessing that it is DC.

4.8A on a nominal 120V AC circuit is is close to 600W. Your inverter probably can't keep up with this and it would be drawing around 50A from the battery even if it could keep up.

4.8A on a nominal 12v DC circuit is around 60W. Assuming a 50% duty cycle that's over half of your battery capacity. It's doable but you are going to need a way to recharge it every day.

On a side note, 4.8A sounds more like a DC startup draw. I'd expect your running amperage to be around half that. That would bring your daily AH for the fridge to about 1/3 of your battery capacity (a much better place to be).

[Chumpy36]

Chumpy36,

You mentioned earlier that your refrigerator draws 4.8 amps. Is that when it is running AC or DC? I'm guessing that it is DC.

4.8A on a nominal 120V AC circuit is is close to 600W. Your inverter probably can't keep up with this and it would be drawing around 50A from the battery even if it could keep up.

4.8A on a nominal 12v DC circuit is around 60W. Assuming a 50% duty cycle that's over half of your battery capacity. It's doable but you are going to need a way to recharge it every day.

On a side note, 4.8A sounds more like a DC startup draw. I'd expect your running amperage to be around half that. That would bring your daily AH for the fridge to about 1/3 of your battery capacity (a much better place to be).

4.8 amps at DC and that’s on start up max cool. Reviews said 80watts at first if you have a bunch of stuff in there. Turn it settles down to 40watts ish.

. No plans to use the fridge on AC unless I have shore power.

So the eco mode uses 3.3 amps or 40 watts and runs roughly 30 min out of every hour. So it seems my 100ah battery should last something like 30hrs continuous eco mode. But with a duty cycle of 30 min per hour that doubles to 60 hours which seems reasonable but I still see more storage in my future once I get this all worked out.

Thank you

[Chumpy36]

Ok, I think I've incorporated all the tips and knowledge etc.

Anything glaring out there that I missed?

Thank you all for the help!

J

[Starscream]

Looks much better. I have questions about the 30A fuse between the motor and the start battery; wasn't there a discussion that this line didn't need to be fused? If it IS going to be fused, 30A doesn't seem enough, to me.

Also, any luck researching the requirement to ignition-tie the DC to DC charger? The Renogy website says their DC to DC charger won't work unless the ignition wire is connected to the motor ignition circuit.

[Starscream]

And I'll add a comment about the 120V circuit:

Did you plan to have your inverter power the AC outlets that are shown on shore power? In that case, you need some sort of a transfer switch to allow the inverter to take over from shore power.

For future reference it may be worth updating the drawing to show the battery charger wired to the 120V panel?

[Chumpy36]

Looks much better. I have questions about the 30A fuse between the motor and the start battery; wasn't there a discussion that this line didn't need to be fused? If it IS going to be fused, 30A doesn't seem enough, to me.

Also, any luck researching the requirement to ignition-tie the DC to DC charger? The Renogy website says their DC to DC charger won't work unless the ignition wire is connected to the motor ignition circuit.

The output of the alternator is 12amps max and is fused at the motor. Still not enough?

Will research the ignition thing tonight. I forgot about that
Thx!

[Chumpy36]

And I'll add a comment about the 120V circuit:

Did you plan to have your inverter power the AC outlets that are shown on shore power? In that case, you need some sort of a transfer switch to allow the inverter to take over from shore power.

For future reference it may be worth updating the drawing to show the battery charger wired to the 120V panel?

I plan for the shore power to be its own system and panel and not connect to the inverter. The inverter ac loads will only be underway or when shore power is not available.

Which charger do you mean? I am planning on using an ac charger to charge battery (a noco) but only when connected to shore power. The charger in the diagram is only dc to dc charging from the alt. Am I
Missing something?

Thanks much!

[Be Free]

Looks much better. I have questions about the 30A fuse between the motor and the start battery; wasn't there a discussion that this line didn't need to be fused? If it IS going to be fused, 30A doesn't seem enough, to me.

Also, any luck researching the requirement to ignition-tie the DC to DC charger? The Renogy website says their DC to DC charger won't work unless the ignition wire is connected to the motor ignition circuit.

Starscream,
I'm the one who mentioned that ABYC does not require a fuse between the battery and the outboard. I also pointed out that a dead short in that wire could set the boat on fire. The only argument I've heard for not having it is that a nuisance blow of the fuse might keep the engine from starting in an emergency. It is my feeling that an engine that was going to start is not going to blow the fuse and that an engine that blows the fuse probably was not going to start anyway.

Regarding the 30A fuse: remember, he's cranking a 20HP engine. He should not trip a 30A fuse starting that engine under normal conditions.

[Starscream]

And I'll add a comment about the 120V circuit:

Did you plan to have your inverter power the AC outlets that are shown on shore power? In that case, you need some sort of a transfer switch to allow the inverter to take over from shore power.

For future reference it may be worth updating the drawing to show the battery charger wired to the 120V panel?

I plan for the shore power to be its own system and panel and not connect to the inverter. The inverter ac loads will only be underway or when shore power is not available.

Which charger do you mean? I am planning on using an ac charger to charge battery (a noco) but only when connected to shore power. The charger in the diagram is only dc to dc charging from the alt. Am I
Missing something?

Thanks much!

Ah, Bill clarified things for me regarding the 30A fuse for the motor. In my head it was fine for the alternator charging the batteries, but too small for starting the motor, when the current flows the other way. In my case I'm cranking a 90HP and probably hitting over 200amps on a start.

For the charger comment, for some reason I thought you had a normal battery charger to connect to the 120V shore power. That doesn't seem to be the case, though, so my comment was silly. Sorry!

[Chumpy36]

Thank everyone. Will post pics when I have it all wired up and such.



J

[Chumpy36]

Finally got to work on it some today

Got the wood mounting panels installed and the charge controller mounted and wired up. Ran the cables to the batteries. Will finish up the wiring if the batteries and panels tomorrow and should have power on the boat finally