Cable and Fuse Sizing

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Scalf77

The cold weather really prevented me from taking the battery to 50% SOC, but here is a chart of my startup and alternator starting to charge house battery at 65% SOC (Horizontal Axis is in 10 sec increments) , Start and idle in driveway, I believe the same alternator you have.



-greg

Cool! ....One test is worth a thousand expert opinions.......

[DCHitt]

Originally Posted by Flux

My guess on shore power is 30 AMP plug -> Breaker (GFCI??) -> Transfer Switch? -> GFCI receptacles -> Loads. I am unsure how to ground etc. 120V is nothing to mess with and I don't want to electrify the van!!

If you think you are going to need more than 15 amps you might want to consider a really good plug. This was my experience.

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...tor-17137.html

[daveb]

There is the Smart Plug that is worth looking at.
https://smartplug.com/
Have yet to burn my plug up that came with the van.

[J.Spicoli]

Just saw this thread, great info in here. I too am starting my electrical and have been on weather delay and lack of planning delay....maybe some laziness delay too.

Anyway, I'll tell you what I'm doing but I don't have a diagram. What are you guys using to draw up your wiring diagrams?

So I have the Lifeline 4D and 300w Renogy MPPT solar kit. I will be connecting the starting battery to the house battery through the BlueSea 7622 via 2/0 gauge wire (Amazon link for the wire), I have both red and black. I'm also using a BlueSea 5026 fuse block to connect my two lights and a couple accessories. To help monitor the system I have a Xantrex link lite.

If I knew the program I'd try to draw up how I plan to connect everything. If anyone has ideas or input about what I've got so far please let me know as I'm totally winging it here and still within return dates for most of my stuff, lol.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by J.Spicoli

Anyway, I'll tell you what I'm doing but I don't have a diagram. What are you guys using to draw up your wiring diagrams?

In my case.....nothing.....I just wired the starting and house batteries together with a Blue Sea ACR and a couple of circuit breakers then connected a couple fuse blocks on either side of the rear of the van for power distribution.

The whole thing evolved/morphed along with a few other things during the build, like when I ended up with the neighbor's leftover charger from his RV...that's when I added the shore power plug.

The solar connects to the battery with a simple fuse, just like the diagrams above. Since my solar controller is located next to the fuse block, it's connected to the +/- battery there since there is no reason to run another pair of wires to the house batteries.

Originally Posted by J.Spicoli

So I have the Lifeline 4D and 300w Renogy MPPT solar kit. I will be connecting the starting battery to the house battery through the BlueSea 7622 via 2/0 gauge wire (Amazon link for the wire), I have both red and black. I'm also using a BlueSea 5026 fuse block to connect my two lights and a couple accessories. To help monitor the system I have a Xantrex link lite.

Your choices above look sound to me......depending on your build complexity you may need another one (or two!) fuse blocks......probably a good reason to make a wiring diagram!

Are you planning on an incorporating an inverter?

[Scalf77]

Originally Posted by Flux

Greg, that is awesome!! And definitely answers a big big question!

So I take it the Batt Amps are what is flowing to the battery from the alternator. And the 100 seconds was when your ACR clicked over.

You can see the van voltage increase to 14.7 volts as the engine starts, followed by the ACR connection about 30 seconds later.

Originally Posted by Flux

This definitely is in line with what the guy from Lifeline said, that it would suck up a big spike for a minute and then calm down. In this case 20 seconds.

The data is collected in 10 sec increments, it is possible it could be close to 40 seconds if it really aligned itself that way.

Originally Posted by Flux

I take it this is all data collected from the Pentametric??

Yes, it was logged over my wireless router network connection to the Pentametric. The interface is a little slow, which makes resolution less then 10 seconds difficult. The good thing is the data correlates wit itself, as you can see the van voltage drops as the ACR connects the two battery systems the lower voltage equates to higher alternator output.

It is very possible that a higher rated alternator could put out more current, but I suspect that the duration would be very close to the same.

-greg

[J.Spicoli]

Originally Posted by boywonder

Your choices above look sound to me......depending on your build complexity you may need another one (or two!) fuse blocks......probably a good reason to make a wiring diagram!

Are you planning on an incorporating an inverter?

The BlueSea 5026 fuse block has 12 individually fused hookups, so far I have a fan, two lights, a USB charging outlet, and need a 12v cigarette lighter adapter to plug in my fridge. I'm sure I'll add to it later but so far I'm using only 5 out of 12 hookups. No plans on an inverter at the moment.

[Flux]

Thanks again Greg for the great info. I am grateful for all your help on this


I use Adobe Illustrator to do my wiring diagrams, do it for work on our lights as well. I'm proficient at it so I can move things around pretty quick. I'm glad I did as I need to be pretty efficient with my time or this will never happen. I can't exactly take a quick trip to the marine store either, so I gotta make decisions and get on amazon and make it happen.

I'm sure I am in for it anyway.