firstly happy new year to all,,, now to the question,, when i bought my 80 series land cruiserit had two solar pannels on the roof rack,, but had no wiring or anything just the 2 black boxes on each panel, now since i have taken them off the roof rack (wasn't really a good look) i need to wire them up so i can charge a battery that i have in my camper trailer,, my question is how do i go about running wires, i want to run wires from the pannels to clips that i can connect to the battery terminal posts,, is it just as simple as posative and negative to same or what,,, haven't had much to do with solar panels as you might tell........
Happywanderer said
04:23 AM Jan 2, 2013
Yes it is just the pos and neg clips go on to the battery. I went to an auto electrician last week and had the wiring redone to a bigger size for about 50.00. Maybe you could do something similiar.
jetj said
04:26 AM Jan 2, 2013
Hi BB,
You generally need a regulator between the panels and battery. Not hard to connect at all but best to come from the fellas who have more experience than I do.
justcruisin01 said
04:34 AM Jan 2, 2013
beachball57 wrote:
firstly happy new year to all,,, now to the question,, when i bought my 80 series land cruiserit had two solar pannels on the roof rack,, but had no wiring or anything just the 2 black boxes on each panel, now since i have taken them off the roof rack (wasn't really a good look) i need to wire them up so i can charge a battery that i have in my camper trailer,, my question is how do i go about running wires, i want to run wires from the pannels to clips that i can connect to the battery terminal posts,, is it just as simple as posative and negative to same or what,,, haven't had much to do with solar panels as you might tell........
The black boxes on the back of the panel will be the terminal box. Your wiring goes from this box, positive & neg as per connections which should be marked, these go to a regulator & then the regulator is connected to the battery bank .
For the best performance from the panels place the regulator as close as possibile to the batteries. Regulators are also called controllers..
Buy a good quility reg, & use 6mm wire. The wiring loom from the panel to the reg can be connected via a anderson plug system & hard wire the reg/controler to batteries.
JC.
justcruisin01 said
04:39 AM Jan 2, 2013
Happywanderer wrote:
Yes it is just the pos and neg clips go on to the battery. I went to an auto electrician last week and had the wiring redone to a bigger size for about 50.00. Maybe you could do something similiar.
RE- read the post, there's no regulators, black box is a terminal box, direct connection to battery from these is a great way to stuff batteries instantly, not to mention that they may explode all over every thing, you included.
JC.
Happywanderer said
05:57 AM Jan 2, 2013
Sorry should have mentioned I have the regulator and all the bits required. Was just confirming the positive and negative bit on to the battery, not talking about the back of the panels which in my case have all the block boxes and regulator.
wasn_me said
07:37 AM Jan 2, 2013
Dougwe wrote:
Another way is run that 6mm cable to a Ctek Smartcharger then connect that direct to battery. If you get a double Charger you can connect the car to the charger as well and keep the battery charged by car or Solar Panel. I am about to start a re-wire of my Avan Camper and Prado, doing it that way. I am also considering putting the 120W Solar Panel on the racks on top of the Prado and charge the Avan Battery via that as driving along or stationary, I can't see why that wouldn't work.
The "Ctek 250S Dual" is a DC to DC charger & solar regulator in one. Ctek also make just a DC to DC charger. Mounting it in the battery compartment is best (if possible) as it is temperature sensitive & will adjust charging voltage accordingly. Mounting as close to the battery as possible eliminates voltage drop between regulator & battery (mentioned previously by JC)
Cheers Pete
-- Edited by wasn_me on Wednesday 2nd of January 2013 07:39:10 AM
-- Edited by wasn_me on Wednesday 2nd of January 2013 08:33:31 AM
Dougwe said
02:05 PM Jan 2, 2013
Another way is run that 6mm cable to a Ctek Smartcharger then connect that direct to battery. If you get a double Charger you can connect the car to the charger as well and keep the battery charged by car or Solar Panel. I am about to start a re-wire of my Avan Camper and Prado, doing it that way. I am also considering putting the 120W Solar Panel on the racks on top of the Prado and charge the Avan Battery via that as driving along or stationary, I can't see why that wouldn't work.
EllenajoeL said
05:52 AM Jan 3, 2013
@beachball57, (apologies if this is obvious to you but...) IMHO the answers already posted are all good, providing that the individual panels and the battery are both rated as 12volt. This is most likely and, if so, the wiring is 'simple' (as stated) providing the regulator is of suitable input capacity, usually rated in Amps (A).
beiffe said
04:54 PM Jan 3, 2013
I use a special plug similar to a cigarette plug obtained from most auto places such as Supercheap. They have a central positive post and negative contacts all around the outside so gives a much better contact than the normal cigarette plug. Once these plugs are connected then it is just a matter of plugging into the side of your RV. No worries about what clip goes where. A better option if you want to be sure and have a secure connection then an Anderson plug setup is the best. Depends on the power flowing from the panels to the controller. Even though I carry what would be considered a lot of solar on my roof I still retain my old potable solar panels in case I need them during bad times and also if I want to hide under a tree. No good getting rid of them when I paid good money for them and I am used to the movement every few hours to get better charge. One set is for my dinghy so serves many purposes. Regards brian
firstly happy new year to all,,, now to the question,, when i bought my 80 series land cruiserit had two solar pannels on the roof rack,, but had no wiring or anything just the 2 black boxes on each panel, now since i have taken them off the roof rack (wasn't really a good look) i need to wire them up so i can charge a battery that i have in my camper trailer,, my question is how do i go about running wires, i want to run wires from the pannels to clips that i can connect to the battery terminal posts,, is it just as simple as posative and negative to same or what,,, haven't had much to do with solar panels as you might tell........
Hi BB,
You generally need a regulator between the panels and battery. Not hard to connect at all but best to come from the fellas who have more experience than I do.
The black boxes on the back of the panel will be the terminal box. Your wiring goes from this box, positive & neg as per connections which should be marked, these go to a regulator & then the regulator is connected to the battery bank .
For the best performance from the panels place the regulator as close as possibile to the batteries. Regulators are also called controllers..
Buy a good quility reg, & use 6mm wire. The wiring loom from the panel to the reg can be connected via a anderson plug system & hard wire the reg/controler to batteries.
JC.
RE- read the post, there's no regulators, black box is a terminal box, direct connection to battery from these is a great way to stuff batteries instantly, not to mention that they may explode all over every thing, you included.
JC.
Was just confirming the positive and negative bit on to the battery, not talking about the back of the panels which in my case have all the block boxes and regulator.
The "Ctek 250S Dual" is a DC to DC charger & solar regulator in one. Ctek also make just a DC to DC charger. Mounting it in the battery compartment is best (if possible) as it is temperature sensitive & will adjust charging voltage accordingly. Mounting as close to the battery as possible eliminates voltage drop between regulator & battery (mentioned previously by JC)
Cheers Pete
-- Edited by wasn_me on Wednesday 2nd of January 2013 07:39:10 AM
-- Edited by wasn_me on Wednesday 2nd of January 2013 08:33:31 AM
Another way is run that 6mm cable to a Ctek Smartcharger then connect that direct to battery. If you get a double Charger you can connect the car to the charger as well and keep the battery charged by car or Solar Panel. I am about to start a re-wire of my Avan Camper and Prado, doing it that way. I am also considering putting the 120W Solar Panel on the racks on top of the Prado and charge the Avan Battery via that as driving along or stationary, I can't see why that wouldn't work.
@beachball57, (apologies if this is obvious to you but...) IMHO the answers already posted are all good, providing that the individual panels and the battery are both rated as 12volt. This is most likely and, if so, the wiring is 'simple' (as stated) providing the regulator is of suitable input capacity, usually rated in Amps (A).
They have a central positive post and negative contacts all around the outside so gives a much better contact than the normal cigarette plug.
Once these plugs are connected then it is just a matter of plugging into the side of your RV. No worries about what clip goes where.
A better option if you want to be sure and have a secure connection then an Anderson plug setup is the best. Depends on the power flowing from the panels to the controller.
Even though I carry what would be considered a lot of solar on my roof I still retain my old potable solar panels in case I need them during bad times and also if I want to hide under a tree. No good getting rid of them when I paid good money for them and I am used to the movement every few hours to get better charge.
One set is for my dinghy so serves many purposes.
Regards
brian