Recent content by DougfromdaUP

Wire and fuse sizes should be determined by the current your devices will draw, not the current a device is capable of delivering. That kind of defeats the purpose of a fuse.

It's normal for the current to slowly decline as the batteries approach the fully charged voltage. My five LiFePO4s only draw a few watts each after they're charged to 55.9 then go to float at 53.9. I've never seen the draw spike after that point. I don't believe that it's a good idea to...

I don't think that the batteries should really draw a few thousand watts when they're fully charged. I've never seen mine draw more than a few watts each. So unless something like a cell overvoltage protection is shutting off the charge to a battery long before it reaches full charge and then...

An M4 screw is 4mm in diameter, and the standard clearance would need a 4.8mm hole. But through a thin aluminum panel I think you could easily get a screw through a 4mm hole. A little screwing action, or tappy-tap-tap. edited to add: most screws are a few thousandths smaller than nominal, too.

Go to the website of the cable manufacturer. It will give you all the certifications, etc. For examplehere's the southwire I mentioned earlier

The DLO number 10 doesn’t have hundreds of strands, only 27

I don’t think the connector victron uses is robust enough to properly grip solid or low strand count wires. South wire makes many #10 wires with 105 strands and high temp insulation. You will pay a lot for them. Wireandcableyourway has diesel locomotive cable for about a buck a foot, for sale...

I’ve never heard anyone claim that LiFePO4 batteries need a high charge rate, and that a slow charge will harm them. I believe that may be true of lead batteries.

The size of your array depends on your energy needs, not just battery size. Lithium batteries work well at low charge rates, so any charge rate below the maximum is fine.

And don't forget the overpotential voltage. It's way larger than the voltage drop internal resistance and the resistance of connections and cables causes unless you have done something really, really bad. And it tends to equalize the current flow to and from batteries. A battery sourcing...

Many people think that. It’s a shame that that chart is so often replicated without titles clarifying what it is. As soon as voltage drop is expressed as a percentage you know that the chart is voltage specific. Of course higher voltages and lower current leading to less loss doesn’t depend on...

i just ran 13.3 amps, 72 volts for a 65 foot circuit using #10 and got 2.5% voltage drop. Are we talking about the same thing? Again, that chart is for 12 volt wires exposed in engine rooms. It is useless for anything else.

That chart is wrong. It’s for 12 volts. Go to the south wire (or any other calculator) and run it using the actual voltage.

As I understand it, everything inside the house has to be in metal conduit. Flexible is ok too, not just emt.

6% difference in estimated SOC isn’t significant. Heck, it’s probably a rarity that they’re that close.. I’ve been open loop with my 12 k for two years, and for the first year and a half the SolArk was great at estimating SOC. Then it started being really bad, but it’s not a supported...