Question(s) about my solar setup

[RLKBOB]

First, I have done extensive research(including Handy Bob's write ups and many more) since buying the MH and deciding to add batteries and solar. I just got a Xantrex Prosine 1800W inverter with the built in transfer relay and remote mountable display panel(sweet setup). I am going from the single 12V battery to 3 12V batteries(Sams Club Duracells which are made by Deka, group 27, 90AH and 200 min RC). Need to stick with 12V due to space considerations. Got a Morningstar charge controller. Changed out all the lights to LEDs. Using 4/0 cable on the dc side of the inverter.

Now for the questions:
1: Do I have to use the specific solar cable with MC4 connectors to go from the panels to the charge controller or could I use any equivalent copper wire? I understand I want it to be waterproof and UV resistant. Apparently the MC4 connectors handle up to 10 AWG wire. If I were to add enough panels where I needed bigger than 10 AWG wire how would I accomplish this?

2: The Xantrex manual didn't answer everything. The way I read it, it sounds like they say(on the ac side) I'm supposed have a ckt breaker on the line going to the inverter(for the transfer relay) and a ckt bkr on the line going out of the inverter to the load(s). I can kinda picture what they mean but I'm not sure. Any help here?

3: Does the ac input actually pass through the transfer relay to the output and to the circuit or does it just keep the relay energized so the inverter is not producing power? Guess I'm asking if the ac input is just a sensing voltage?

4: How have others wired their inverters in similar situations? With the hardwire I can only supply one circuit. Should I just pick one circuit(which would be very limiting) or supply the breaker panel and just shut off the breakers that I don't want to chance using, because they would lead to exceedeing the limit of the inverter(like the ac and microwave only if everything else is off)?

5: Does anybody here have any pics or diagrams of their wiring on the ac side of their inverter wiring that they could share?

Sorry if this is a lot but I'm sure there are others here that have been through the same thing and like I said I have done a lot of reading and just cant seem to find the answers to these.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Wanderman]

RLKBOB,
You're in Luck! I have a very similar setup and I did a long article (6 Parts!) it can be viewed here:
WanderMan: A Better Solar Charging Mouse Trap.PART 1

As for the Panel to controller wiring, are you wiring multiple panels in series or parallel? Somewhat depends on which Morningstar controller you have. Is it MPPT?

Rich "The Wanderman"

[RLKBOB]

Thanks for the reply Rich. Your 6 part series was one of the many articles I read during my research. I just took another look at it and noticed your DC wiring diagram that I didn't remember the first time. That helped but my biggest question was the AC wiring. I guess I should've also had 'inverter wiring' in my title.
As for my wiring, I plan on using 12V panels in parallel. My controller is a Morningstar Sunsaver Duo 25 amp PWM controller with the remote panel. I have no problem going to MPPT if I find decent a deal(s) on 24 or 36 volt panels. I can move the Sunsaver controller to my boat in this case.
Like you, I'm limited on roof space. My biggest problem is shadowing. I have a 29' class C, with the a/c, tv antenna, plumbing and fridge vents and 5 roof vents with the max air vent covers I too need to use narrow panels.
I noticed from your elec diagram that you used 8 awg wiring from your panels to the controller. This brings up my first question in my first post about wiring. Can I use wire other than the solar specific wire? the MC4 connectors are only good for 10 and 12 awg. So if you used 8 awg what kind of wire and connectors did you use?
Did you just wire the ac side of your inverter to supply your entire ac panel and just open the breaker for the air cond and monitor what ac loads you're powering or did you only supply a couple ac circuits?

Sorry about firing all these questions at you but like I said I've done a lot of reading and searching and just haven't been able to find the answers to these specific questions.

[Wanderman]

RLKBOB,
Not to put too fine a point on it, the wiring diagram shows the inverter wiring as well..

My Xantrex with auto transfer switch is wired to energize one side of the coach. I hard wired my inverter into the circuit. When it senses shore power or generator (or is off/disconnected via switch) it sends 120V to the outlets. When on battery it sends 12v converted to 120v to those same outlets.

This may not work if you do not have a built in transfer switch on your inverter.

As for panels....shading is always an issue on the roof. I went with 36v nominal panels wired parallel into an MPPT controller so I could take advantage of the earlier and later day sun to mitigate the shadow effects (and being flat mounted)

As for wiring, I didn't use any MC4 connectors at all. Just the junction boxes on the panels "home run" wired to a separate fuse panel then to the controller.

Rich "The Wanderman"

[RLKBOB]

Thanks again. My Xantrex is also an 1800 Watt(pure sine wave) with a built in auto transfer switch. I will be hardwiring some ac to it just not sure yet exactly how I want to do it. I had already planned on running all my DC wiring just like yours just wasn't sure where to put each component. Your diagram helped alot with that. Good to know that I can use regular wire where needed. I'll post up pics of mine when I get to install phase.
Anybody else got anything to share?

[BigV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLKBOB 1: Do I have to use the specific solar cable with MC4 connectors to go from the panels to the charge controller....

What I've done is buy premade MC4 extension cables and cut them in half. SolarBlvd.com has these already made up. Run those into some type of combiner box even if you only have one panel. Makes future expansion much easier.