Where is fuse for Solar panel to controller?

[plarkin]

AnrewInSeattle - No I am not the original owner. When I purchased the camper last year there was no Solar and the house battery was shot. I drove to Fresno to have the battery replaced and added 2 x 115 watt Zamp Solar panels and the Zamp Solar Controller / Battery Charger. So I have no idea why there was a blow 30A fuse in the Blue Sea fuse box labeled Solar. But I did find a fused lead from the Solar Controller wire directly to the battery side of the large fuse before the inverter. It has a 30A fuse and the voltage reading is 13.5V, which is the same as the leads out of the back of the Solar Controller. The voltage of the wires from the Solar Panels is 21.2V, and it is the fuse for these leads from the Solar Panel that I am looking for.....and it does not exist. Zamp Solar strongly recommends that you place a 40A inline fuse for the ZS-30A on the positive wire on both the "Solar" and "Battery" circuits (As close to the Battery/Panel as possible). Which does raise the issue, did SMB put the fuse above the ceiling that you cannot get behind with out removing all the bolts through the roof....surely not!!

I do have an idea now about the blown fuse....the van was probably prewired for solar a wire shorted and blew the fuse. Now why did SMB not use the slot on the fuse boxed they labeled on the initial build, but did not use when installed the solar system.

[plarkin]

Klompen - That is the fuse I am looking for....it was not installed by SMB when they installed the Solar system on my camper. Hope you didn't fry your controller!

[Klompen]

Originally Posted by plarkin

Klompen - That is the fuse I am looking for....it was not installed by SMB when they installed the Solar system on my camper. Hope you didn't fry your controller!

Fortunately, the controller is fine (thanks to the fuse).

FWIW, the problem that I contacted Zamp about was understanding why the controller was showing a cycling of amps when I had both panels connected. It would show 6+ amps as expected, then count down to zero, then do it all over again. It also showed very rapid flashing of the bar graph. I asked Zamp why the controller did this and what this meant.

After replacing the fuse, I figured out that this behavior was because my battery was close to full charge. Once it achieved full charge, the behavior stopped. I was appalled that Zamp could not explain how their own controller operated (and it wasn't in the documentation).

[freeagent]

plarkin, did SMB use the Zamp roof port box for connecting the panel wires? Or did they just run the wires down through the top with cable clams?


The reason I ask is because the old Zamp roof port cap wired all of the input connectors into a 40a thermal circuit breaker (auto reset). The positive wiring to the controller was wired directly to that circuit breaker but that connection is made in the roof cap, above the roof. The old Zamp roof caps were white and had 3 SAE style connector ports.


If you have the white Zamp roof cap I can send you a pic of the inside so you can see how it's wired.



The new Zamp roof caps are black and come in a 1, 2 or 3 port variety, but I'm not certain if they also have the integrated thermal circuit breaker or not and their site doesn't specify for the new units.

[plarkin]

freeagent - SMB did not splash for anything fancy as you can see:

[freeagent]

Originally Posted by plarkin

freeagent - SMB did not splash for anything fancy as you can see:

I've never seen an SMB with the Zamp roof cap, but just thought I'd check. I guess we've definitely ruled that out, although I'm not familiar with the type of penetration they used on yours. However, seems safe to say that the fuse is definitely below the roof if there is one.


Good luck with the hunt!

[plarkin]

Klompen - Surprised the fuse you described saved you controller since it was on the output side not the input where you reversed the polarity - but happy for you!!!

[plarkin]

Finally found the fuses, a 10A for each panel of the 2 panels. The panels are wired in parrallel. So apologies to SMB for accusing them on not installing fuses for the panels. However they are extremely difficult to reach. Fortunately, or not, all the tie warp sticky pads had detached from under the panels, so I was able to use a coat hanger to pull the wire closer to the edge and pop the cover of the fuse holder. The standard Zamp clamps were used of course not the ones you can easily undo to remove the panels. The two clamps on the leading and trailing edges have 1 bolt with butyl sealer in the other two holes for each clamp. The two clamps on each side of the van have that butyl sealer in all 3 holes, so not sure how those are attached to the pop top. Will check with SMB once they are open again, but would like to replace with the Omni-Mount Feet with Quick Release mounting option - added to the list to prioritize. Thanks to all for assistance! Note: I initially missed the inline Fues holders due to all the square tie wrap holders with the useless double sided sticky tape. There was one every 2 inches!
-Lance

[Klompen]

Impressive detective work! Glad you found them!