Solar Wire - Everything You Need To Know About Wires & Cables For Use With Solar Power
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- Опубліковано 31 лип 2024
- *This video has been updated and re-uploaded with fixed audio here: • DIY SOLAR BASICS - Sol... *
In this video, I will attempt to explain the main things you need to keep in mind when purchasing wire for your solar panel system. There are numerous kinds and sizes of wires so it can be confusing and making a mistake can be expensive or hazardous to your health. #solarwire #wiresizing #pvwiring #batterywiring
To check out the wire size calculator I mentioned:
www.freesunpower.com/wire_calc...
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Thumbs UP right away! I subbed 2 years ago. MASSIVE info for solar projects planned and the...UPGRADES.
Thanks Dave! I appreciate the support.
thanks for all the info. please do one on the insulation of the wires.
Your videos are super helpful thanks
Thanks, Clark! I appreciate that.
It helps a lot, thanks
Glad it helped
Very helpful thanks!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
this the best xplaination about wire thrs a lot of vedios about wire but this great wow nice make more video about solar. .
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback.
Another good video, and good advice with respect to using the thickest cable size.
Thanks man! I appreciate it.
Great, thank you
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
You might want to correct this statement mate: AC tends to flow on the outside of the conductor due to an effect known as skin effect. If the wire conductors are not insulated from eachother like in what's known as Litz wire then the effective current carrying area of both solid core and stranded wire is more or less the same assuming AC flow and identical wire diameter. For DC skin effect does not apply as the frequency is 0.
Yes that is true but that goes well beyond the scope of this video. I would lose 95% of the viewers at that point as that would be way over their head. The main point was to steer folks toward stranded wire as opposed to solid core.
@@LDSreliance Are you saying we're a bit thick?
At 60 Hz in copper, the skin depth is about 8.5 mm[0.33"] (at 50Hz in copper it is about 9.3mm[0.37"]), so unless the diameter of the solid wire is greater than 17 mm[0.67"] (18.6mm[0.73"] for 50Hz) I do not see why @LDSreliance is steering folks towards stranded wire (and unless it is litz, it still would not make sense). The main advantage that I can see for stranded wire is that it is more flexible and far easier to install.
@@LDSreliance I don't understand your logic here....mentioning skin effect is just plain wrong...if you assume most of your viewers would be put off....then don't talk about it at all
@@itsevilbert where did you get those no.s from? I will check my facts but I believe you are at least an order of magnitude out ..if not 2...apology if I am wrong in next message
SO TRUE THANKS
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Great video
Thanks!
Can you please tell me what power cord is best for a 40ft distance from solar panels to in home Bluetti generator? I am needing advise can't find anyone... please help! 7/19/21
tcach love u that’s success be grateful :)
Thanks👍
You are welcome! Thanks for watching.
thank you!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Pls make a video on how to know if your solar panel,battery and inverter is compatible
can wire stripped from a house extension lead be used?
THKS
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Waiting for next video from LD series
Thanks! I appreciate the support.
Thanks for the most valuable information. But can I use 4mm wire for 16.4V and 0.6Amps?
Yes you can
Thanks for the insight on solar wire , what’s you’re thoughts on I have 4 Rich Solar 100W 5.41A Solar panels and I was going to put the inside the house behind a sun roof & 2 windows and my breaker box is 3 stories down on the other side of my house it’s a spilt level ranch “ I bought 40’ of 10 gauge wire & 40’ of 8 gauge wire which do you think to wire the first length the 8 gauge or the 10 AWG ? I’m going into the Solar Grid Tie inverter plugs into the Closest plug to the breaker Box !
You could do #10AWG for each of the panels for 40 feet. But if you are talking about wiring them in parallel into a combiner box or 4 to 1 branch and then going 40 feet that would not be anywhere close to thick enough.
You didn't mention "welding cable". So many sell welding cable in the larger sizes for off grid systems since we are usually dealing with low voltage. Are there problems with using such cable for solar?
No problem at all. I use welding cable for battery banks all the time. It is highly flexible and comes in heavy gauges.
Welding cable is for cutting corners. Pay a little extra for the tinned copper PV wire.
I’m a building automation tech so I get 100% of everything you spoke of in the video. I’m adding two 100 W solar panels Y together at approximately 5 amps each and have a 35 foot run to the controller. 10 amps x 12 volts x 35’ This is going to take a six gauge wire the problem is the connectors. I see premade eight gauge but nothing down to a six and have no idea other than cutting conductors out how to connect it to the smaller fittings. Any thoughts?
great advice, I have 4 water fountains 12v solar I use I have made with wine barrels
Interesting project! I love wine barrels.
@@LDSreliance I have people all the time ask me to build a solar water fountain for them.
Sounds like a fun Etsy business!
2:06 "current tends to flow on the outside of a conductor". IIRC that's only true for AC current.
Whether AC or DC a major advantage of stranded wire is that it is flexible so it's better for wires that will be moved a lot (extension cord, USB cord, etc.).
edit: 2020-10-28 added the part about stranded being flexible.
I stand corrected. Thanks
Correction: "current flows on the outside of a conductor, for AC & DC". The physics reasons for flow on the outside are unaffected by change in direction of flow.
@@PeterLawtonfrom Wikipedia: "skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current (AC) to become distributed within a conductor such that the current density is largest near the surface of the conductor and decreases exponentially with greater depths in the conductor."
@@JohnSmithZen it holds true for AC and also static charge, such as on a sphere. We did the math on that in PHYS 102. It stands to reason that it holds true for DC, which is in between static charge and AC.
Please indicate what type of
wiring should be used between
ongrid solar inverter 5kwa and
net meter.Also what is better
copper or aluminium.
Copper is much better. It will suffer much less from voltage drop.
The type of wiring depends on the application. For liability reasons, I can't tell you a specific type for your application I can only help educate you so that you can make that decision for yourself. In general, you need to consider what the wire will come in contact with, which will determine the jacket material. So if your wire will be outside exposed to rain and sun, you would use a different wiring than if it were only indoors, for example. Also, if you live near the coast and have to contend with exposure to salt, that needs to be part of the equation, too.
Hi, what length of wire do you suggest I use from 12v battery to charge controller please because my waterproof charge controller is attached to the back of the 100w panel? I'm using the solar panel when caravanning (trailer) and camping. Thanks.
It depends on how many amps the cable will be carrying. If you look at the specs of your solar panel, you should see an amp rating for the panel, which will be the maximum current it can produce. Then take that number and use a wire size chart or calculator to tell you how long you can safely run on various gauges of wire (example: www.wirebarn.com/Wire-Calculator-_ep_41.html).
@@LDSreliance Thank you, I've worked it out and recalculated to be absolutely sure and its coming up as 1m and a half (150cm) Can you guess my panels maximum 👍
Haha, not enough info! If you give me the wire gauge I could.
Great information! Very helpful my friend! Liked and Shared on my channel. - Danny
Thanks, brother! Always appreciate the support.
i have a question for you if i may? voltage at the panels is 22.7v but by the time it gets to the conroller 3m max voltage has dropped to 17.5v. Any ideas? thanks
Yes, you are either using too small of a gauge of wire (too thin) or the material in the wire is not the best conductor (aluminum). That is a massive voltage drop in only 3 meters. So something is very wrong there.
That is probably the charge controller that's doing that. If you determinate the wire I am guessing that you're voltage will be 22.7. also remember that the charge controller pulls the voltage down to battery voltage. So you may not be getting an accurate reading when doing those measurements. 22.7 open circuit and 17.5 when the panel is actually flowing current to the battery sounds pretty much spot on and nothing is wrong there.
I got pure copper but it wasn't wound of fibers, just long thick sticks.....annoying. Hey can i take an extension cord and convert that to a solar cable on 256 watt panel?
It depends on the amps and the gauge of wire. But in general any copper wire can be used for solar. Whether it is the best for the application is the question.
Excellent. It goes to show, thinking of buying a Product is one matter, though even more complicated is the Product's components to judge by. Is there ever such a thing as a perfect Product and a resulting perfect buy ?? the more one reads of choice ( the phrase Spoilt for choice is nothing more than a Product being manufactured at a cheaper cost than the competitor, which is a compromise on quality (read Product serviceable life), ambiguity & equivocation in advertising, a Government that supports the Seller rather than the Buyer(hence no strictures), the oft publicised Use and Throw AND THE PRACTICE FOLLOWED BY EVERY MANUFACTURER OF PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE, all of which the very more confusing it becomes for a layman to take the ultimate decision, whether to buy as per availability, to defer or to shun thought of purchase either because of ignorance of the technicalities of the Product, lack of faith in the Product's claims or drawing a comforting psychological conclusion 'nothing ventured everything gained'. In summary I'm stumped !!!.
Hey lds I have a question, I plan to use 4awg wire for my 24v battery bank, it should draw a max of 167amps, would that be acceptable at 24v? Most ratings I see are at 12v
It depends on the length of the wires. Have you measured that?
@@LDSreliance yeah around 2-3 feet
For 170ish Amps you would need 2/0 gauge wire.
www.omnicalculator.com/physics/24v-wire-size
Could you answer a question? I have a 30A solar charge controller, with 2 separate inputs, for 2 150w panels, what AWG cable would be needed for this. Thank you.
You need to know the length of the cable required to reach from the solar panels to the charge controller to be able to answer that question.
@@LDSreliance I'm looking to have a length of 3 meters.
I would use AWG #10 cable for each run from a solar panel to one input of the charge controller.
@@LDSreliance Thanks buddy.
You are welcome. Good luck and thanks for watching!
I bought a solar panel with 1m of 2.5mm2 cable. I need an extension. Can i use 4mm2 extension cable?
Of course. It won't improve anything but it certainly won't hurt, either.
Is 2g wire from the battery to a 2000w inverter okay?
100w 12v panel
10g wire to the 30amp controller
10g wire to the 36ah 12v agm battery
It depends on how many amps you are going to pull on that inverter and the length of the wire run from the battery to the inverter.
LDSreliance the length is maybe 2 feet but I have 2g wire so what’s the max length
The inverter is 850 continuous
I wanna know DC Copper Cable Length Sizing Formula. Please tell me the Formula.
Long=big diameter. You're welcome
ok so i have another question. My portable solar 340 watt came with 16 gauge wire and i want to upgrade to an 8 gauge wire, is there a vid that shows how to do this. i know that i need some kind of transition from the 16 to the 8 but i don't know what.
What do you mean by upgrade? Replace the whole wire? Can you access the junction panel behind the solar panel?
@@LDSreliance like i said, i want to replace the 16 with 8, is it possible? idk about a junction panel.
Yes, it is possible. You would have to locate the junction panel, open it up, de-solder the original cable from the positive and negative terminals, and then solder in the new cable to the terminals.
What you left out is solar cable size from panels to combiner boxes comes in 4mm and 6mm respectfully,
just get the 6mm, it "future proofs" your installion
Yes if they are going to use a combiner box. Not everyone does. Some kits or installations may just use an MC4 Y adapter from a couple panels or a couple strings of panels and then run it to the controller/inverter.
@@LDSreliance same as me, but I run them to isolator switch to test strings and for maintenance
I bought 0 Gauge Wire that claimed to be copper but is copper plater aluminum. I wanted to get pure copper welding leads but I couldnt find them at the time in the gauge i needed. I have a 15 foot length going from my alternator to a battery isolater thats conected tp my small solar setup in my trunk with a 100 ah amg battery and a 100 watt solar pannel with the aproprate breakers on the positive leads.
Yeah it can be hard. Usually the ones that say they are OFC (oxygen free copper) will be pure copper. I'm not saying there aren't companies that outright lie, but, in my experience, the ones that say OFC are usually good. It is the ones that just say they are welding wire or solar wire or something and have a nice picture and all but don't give more specifics that are the ones that are fooling people.
@@LDSreliance I have the install gear CCA and it has really good reviews, it wouldent be that much for me to just buy their copper cable
Yeah it is usually about 30% more or so to get OFC instead of CCA. So it is up to you whether it is worth it or not.
What size do i need for 2 165w panels 19v/10amps each and are about 60ft from roof to battery the person the installed it used only 2.5mm wire ! Which is like 14 AWG.. im only getting 8-9 amps i should be getting double that and only getting 13v not 20v
Yes, that is a very poor install. It should be 4 Gauge (5.2mm/21.2mm2) wire to keep the voltage drop under 3%.
@@LDSreliance its weird sometimes the voltage goes up to 15v and amps to around 13 , but still way off the mark of 20v and 20,amps . He wired them the wrong configuration correct, like series instead of parallel ?
For that long of a run I definitely would have wired the two panels in series to make a 24V (36-38V) string. 24V will suffer much less from voltage drop than 12V.
@@LDSreliance but the power supplies i have are 12v not 24v
Many solar charge controllers can input 24V from the solar panels and output 12V to the battery bank.
Can i use stranded wire for 100wats solar panel?
Yes.
So The 10 AWG Wires 20 ft long Renogy Sells are only Good For how Many amps, Wts, and vts ??? They Sell Wire that looks to not Support very many Panels ?
Correct. Those cables would only support one 100W solar panel (7A @ 12V). So you would need a serious upgrade if you are going to use multiple panels.
@@LDSreliance Someone Needs to do a Video on That, LOL Buying those For More than one Panel is a Waste of money ! Renogy Does not tell you this !
Renogy is not my favorite.
how does thick wire fit on a mc4 connector ? That is the problem
It doesn't. So you have to manage your voltage and run lengths such that you can use #10AWG wire. That may require you to run to a combiner box so you can collect all the strings and convert to a thicker gauge cable to then run to the controller or inverter.
👍
Thanks Rory!
PV cable...10ga wire capable of voltages up to 2000volts. Next video please. Our cables go over 300 feet with no significant loss.
I have literally never seen a PV system operating at 2000V. Certainly nothing off grid or residential. The more common voltage limit for 10 gauge PV wire is 600V.
Almost all newish homes in the US have 200A service available at the breaker, which is 24,000W. So, to provide that much power, lets look at some scenarios. At 600V DC you would need 40A. A #10AWG cable will have a 4.75% voltage drop over the 300 feet you specified. That is well beyond unaccaptable. And that is at the absolute maximum voltage of the cable.
At a more modest 400V DC you would need 60A to feed the breaker. At the 300 feet you specified, you are looking at 10.7% voltage drop which is out of the question.
You should never really need more than 10AWG wire for anything solar if you do solar right. Except if it’s bare copper grounding which must be at least 6awg. Also, just get PV wire for most aplications & cover you wires with conduit or solar material if any wiring is exposed.
What if your small panel comes with small 16 gauge wires out of the back....still use 12-14g for the run to the controller? Let’s say it will be 30-40 feet to the roof.
Panel only outputs a little over 1 amp.
If you are only using just the one panel it should be fine. Just keep in mind you will be getting more than the standard 3% voltage drop from such a long wire run.
LDSreliance Thanks. Seems to be working fine. Used 40 ft of 14 gauge. video on LonestarWorms. Thanks for your videos.
You are welcome. Glad it is working for you.
Very surprised at the lack of information for solar use...
I think there are only 3 types of wire that have UV protection for outdoor use, PV and USE2 are the common ones. If you are going to make your own connectors, The multi strands in PV wire are very easy to crimp where the USE2 are thicker 7 strands I think are really difficult to crimp for MC4 connectors. You will likely want to stop halfway into the crimp, clip one strand and place the 3 strands into each side of the crimp before finishing the crimp. The 21(?) strands of PV wire are no problem crimping.
Thickest you can afford also makes little sense, as beyond some gauge connectors won't fit. Better to look for low voltage drop along the length of wire. When Panels were expensive, we use to shoot for no more than 1.2% for the length needed, today with cheap panels 2-3% is often consider acceptable. Though the 1.2% would work for system expansion.
Total wrong calculator on web link given. calculation of wire size for PV array is based on calculated voltage (VOC) and amperage based on a combination of a series/parallel configuration of panels. Case in point: my panel array produces (in theory) 225.6v DC/16.4 amps. The calculator on the weblink provided has a locked in DC system Voltage of the battery side. This will never work for the PV side.
Except 95% of off-grid solar panel installations use one of those voltages. And if you are one of the few who is going to DIY your own rooftop, grid-tied solar where a higher array voltage is likely then you would just use a different calculator. The calculator was not the point of the video.
Do you think there could be an economic argument for planting lots of Light Tubes in the ground under High voltage cables and then putting lots of Solar Panels on either side of the cable run as a means of capitalising on the cable loss due to the High voltage electric field.
They will all light up through induction.
Looks like free wasted energy waiting to be recouped.
I don't know if the maths is laughable but it seems to me over time this could lower costs of transmission.
Tubes are cheap and the energy is free.
The Solar Panels are the expensive item but it comes down to how long they can last.
This is a half baked Idea made on a whim but i thought I'd put it out there anyway just in case it's a drunken genius moment that's never been thought of.
Longshot.
:-)
Luv and Peace.
If it works call em EdShift collectors.
I want to wire my shed to put solar power
#VOLTINU
Set speed to x1.25 for best experience.
Isn't that the same for every UA-cam video?
@@LDSreliance Haha oddly that's very true, excellent video nevertheless, definitely subscribed!
Thanks! I appreciate that.
The electro-motive force is allmost non-existence in wires with this level of current. Therefore the comment about electrons flowing on the surface of wire making multi-stranded superior in this regard is essentially non-existent in this application.
Not entirely true. The skin effect still exists.
You made one big mistake solar is DC and you need to use non twisted wire for DC as DC flows through the wire straight stranded wire provides less resistance as is clearly obvious when you go to look at a vehicle all wiring in a car is done with non Twisted wire including what's most important is your battery. AC current is an alternating current which flows on the outside of wire Twisted wire works best for alternating current as it helps the electrons to flow more freely over the outside of the wire creating less resistance.
I am a master electrician with 30 years of experience. If you look at a car the wire that's going to your battery is huge and that is just for one battery imagine having a battery Bank in your running small gauge wire between them or a large solar system and your running small gauge wire to charge but yet you have supposedly a hundred or more amps capability of charging and yet many people are using 12 or 10 gauge wire coming off of a hundred amp solar charger which is completely wrong. If you have more than three 200w solar panels you must use a number 10 wire because it can only carry the equivalent of 600 watts 80% of what the wire is rated at per national electrical code. THHN and XHHW are twisted wire in our only rated for AC current not DC
I respectfully disagree. Straight cable may be ideal but the difference is negligible and the slight benefit is vastly outweighed by the lack of flexibility. I've tried pulling #0 stranded, straight cable through conduit and it is a nightmare. Plus, I have quite a bit of experience in solar and car audio and all wire in car audio applications are stranded, twisted cables and most cables sold as solar cables are also twisted except for massive gauge interconnects. Another application that is DC and uses massive current is welding. Welding wire is all twisted. And car audio and welding use FAR higher current than anything in a vehicle except for the starter.
Who is talking ? Sounds like Dak Sheppard
At the end, . Cool pun..... He say something to keep an eye on! Ion Like ions. Hahahhaha
Dude, skin effect is only true to AC and even then you need like kiloherz of shit for it to be significant.