Advice on upgrading solar

[DaveS]

Our van is a year old and the dealer fitted an Avtex 100w solar panel before we picked it up.
I’ve since put a 280ah lithium battery in and switched the Avtex solar controller to a Victron Smartsolar 100/20 which has a lithium profile. The lithium battery has given us far greater flexibility, but as expected we’re now trying to get more input in to charge without having to visit hookup every so often.
I think the smartsolar should be fine with 300w of solar from what I’ve read.
How do I tell if the wiring the dealer put in is fine for 300w of solar? Running new wiring to the battery will be a pain.
My plan was to add another 1 or 2 100w panels on the roof and link them to the existing wiring.
Thanks for any input or comments.

 

[TrudeandDall]

Our van is a year old and the dealer fitted an Avtex 100w solar panel before we picked it up.
I’ve since put a 280ah lithium battery in and switched the Avtex solar controller to a Victron Smartsolar 100/20 which has a lithium profile. The lithium battery has given us far greater flexibility, but as expected we’re now trying to get more input in to charge without having to visit hookup every so often.
I think the smartsolar should be fine with 300w of solar from what I’ve read.
How do I tell if the wiring the dealer put in is fine for 300w of solar? Running new wiring to the battery will be a pain.
My plan was to add another 1 or 2 100w panels on the roof and link them to the existing wiring.
Thanks for any input or comments.

Dave, you could check on the sales info for your van. It's German, so its possibly pre wired for solar, which you dealer then utilised. If so, then the cable is likely to be 6mm2, which would cope okay with you proposed plan.
My Hobby was pre-wired with 6mm2 cables.

 

[DaveS]

Dave, you could check on the sales info for your van. It's German, so its possibly pre wired for solar, which you dealer then utilised. If so, then the cable is likely to be 6mm2, which would cope okay with you proposed plan.
My Hobby was pre-wired with 6mm2 cables.

Good thought but they didn’t provide any cabling. The dealer put their own in, drilled through the floor and came out underneath the van and to the back where the LB is.

 

[TrudeandDall]

Good thought but they didn’t provide any cabling. The dealer put their own in, drilled through the floor and came out underneath the van and to the back where the LB is.

Ahhh. Then you will have to measure the cable size, somewhere such as the solar controller connection and go from there. Hopefully they used 6mm2..

 

[Bobby-gg]

What's the maximum sized cable that fits into the terminals on the victron?
Is your cable the same size, or is it much smaller than the terminals?

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[Tombola]

Take a pic and post here if you can

 

[DaveS]

3 keyed alike still for sale in classifieds in case you decide to fit some !

Ahhh. Then you will have to measure the cable size, somewhere such as the solar controller connection and go from there. Hopefully they used 6mm2..

What's the maximum sized cable that fits into the terminals on the victron?
Is your cable the same size, or is it much smaller than the terminals?

Take a pic and post here if you can

The cable is all very tight and hidden, but I've found an accessible bit and I’ve measured the outside cable diameter with a digital vernier gauge and it’s 3.9mm.
Not sure what that’s capable of handling amps wise??

 

[DaveS]

The cable is all very tight and hidden, but I've found an accessible bit and I’ve measured the outside cable diameter with a digital vernier gauge and it’s 3.9mm.
Not sure what that’s capable of handling amps wise??

After googling that seems to be 12awg which seems to have a rating of 20 amps.
Does this seem right?

 

[oldiesontour]

Should be double insulated DC wire will be either 4mm2 or 6mm2 ..if you are only going to 300 watt solar then 23amp maximum (but very rarely so 4mm will just about be ok as it's unlikely to see even 20amp.Ideally 6mm2 though

 

[oldiesontour]

Should have also said this is carrying panel power so maximum output is stated on each panel that will differ with panel voltage and total current will depend on panel configuration (parallel or series)

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[DaveS]

Should be double insulated DC wire will be either 4mm2 or 6mm2 ..if you are only going to 300 watt solar then 23amp maximum (but very rarely so 4mm will just about be ok as it's unlikely to see even 20amp.Ideally 6mm2 though

I think I'm going to drop the van down to VanBitz as they are local and get them to upgrade the solar.

 

[DaveS]

Should have also said this is carrying panel power so maximum output is stated on each panel that will differ with panel voltage and total current will depend on panel configuration (parallel or series)

Sorry to confirm I'm talking about the wiring from the solar controller, which on my van is in a cupboard at the front of the vehicle to the leisure battery which is at the rear.

 

[oldiesontour]

Sorry to confirm I'm talking about the wiring from the solar controller, which on my van is in a cupboard at the front of the vehicle to the leisure battery which is at the rear.

In that case it needs to be at least 6mm2 ,poor design to put them at opposite ends of the van