Advice needed for Wiring 12 volt System

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  • hillbilly
    hillbilly Solar Expert Posts: 334 ✭✭
    #32
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    Re: Advice needed for Wiring 12 volt System

    Crystal,
    You two would also probably benefit from Home Power Magazine, either in hard copy or online. If you go to their website, they have tons of back articles relating to all sorts of off grid living. Some of the "code corner" pieces by John Wiles in particular could be of great help to get your system set up safely.
    On the buss bars, sorry if I misread what you were using them for, I was envisioning that you were making some sort of a disconnect set up... OR were you looking for something to connect the batteries to...OR...?
    You definately don't want any buss bars to be energizing any boxes or structures, so in most electrical panels if you look inside you'll notice that anything "hot" is insulated from the metal enclosure itself.
    As far as building a disconnect enclosure, it's certainly easy enough to construct; it's more a matter of making sure that everything is properly set up so that you don't get currents where they are not wanted, and to keep from having multiple ground/neutral bonds etc. This is why I hesitate to go into great detail on this, as grounding is an important issue that I'm not comfortable trying to describe to a beginner over the internet (others may be more willing/able to go into more details here).
    Judging from your questions you're entering that stage where "a little bit of knowledge can get you into a lot more trouble than no knowledge at all". Not to discourage you in this endeavor; just take some time to keep learning a bit more before jumping in head first here. That book in particular should clarify many of the important concepts. In the mean time like Mike said if you can hook up a basic battery charger to those batteries that should be ok.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,447 admin
    #33
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    Re: Advice needed for Wiring 12 volt System

    Here is www.homepower.com

    By the way... Home Power is like every other magazine (or anything on the web--including here). Read, research, and understand.

    Verify everything. Home Power is advertising supported too. And everyone makes a few mistakes in their lives/writing.

    -Bill "including me" B.
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • Crystal
    Crystal Solar Expert Posts: 128 ✭✭✭
    #34
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    Re: Advice needed for Wiring 12 volt System
    On the buss bars, sorry if I misread what you were using them for, I was envisioning that you were making some sort of a disconnect set up... OR were you looking for something to connect the batteries to...OR...?
    You definately don't want any buss bars to be energizing any boxes or structures, so in most electrical panels if you look inside you'll notice that anything "hot" is insulated from the metal enclosure itself.

    I was looking at the midnite disconnect had an aluminum chassis, but didn't know if a wooden enclosure would work.
    Just to be safe we'll get the Midnite disconnect box, as well as,the Outback TBB-X busbar. This way I know that it will be up to code.

    We'll get a charger on the batteries tomorrow...we've only had them a few weeks, so I hope they will be ok.

    Thanks!
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