Thread: Solar panell 12volt wiring

Currently been building a portable hut and want to put 12v power in it. Have a solar panel to go on the roof etc but just want to run cable in the walls before lining.
All am want is a couple of points with usb for charging and i will also put in a female cigarette plug and a single light on the ceiling. Hopping i can just get a standard light bulb in 12v to fit a bayonet light fitting??
So what size 12v wiring do i need?? right back to the battery. Will sort out cable from solar panel etc at a later date

LED lights only way to go.

Wiring will depend on maximin output of panels.

sorry its hard to read. Panels about six years old. dont know how long they last but could look at a new panel before committing to fitting to new roof.

do you have the regulator for it ???

Speaker wire will be fine. Don't need much from panel to battery. depends mostly on how much you what to draw from the 12V socket.

Click

Originally Posted by gonetropo

do you have the regulator for it ???

Not as yet. Just want to get wiring in the walls and get it lined.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Speaker wire will be fine. Don't need much from panel to battery. depends mostly on how much you what to draw from the 12V socket.

the 12v socket will only be used to charge up the likes of charging hand hold radio etc. Want be use for a big spot light etc

2mm or higher cable from panel to regulator/charge controller. make sure you run the wiring from outside thru a proper sealing gland.
always fuse the output from the battery , plenty of bulkhead and strip lights available in 12V. i wouldnt use a bayonet fitting one as you are likely to hit your head on it.
this stuff is good quality and they have all the alloy extrusions and plastic covers for it.
https://www.wavetech.co.nz/products/...hting/?sortby=

Will put up better pictures when all finished

Unless you want the lights on during the daylight, you'll need a 12V battery too, and a "solar regulator" gizmo to charge the battery from the panel when the sun shines, and supply your lights, phone chargers etc. whenever you need them.

The wiring is fairly simple ... but be very careful to avoid any possibility of short circuits setting the place on fire. There's a lot of energy in a fully-charged battery, enough to weld steel. Be sure to fuse each of the circuits with suitably-rated fuses. For example, if your LED lights need 50 watts, total, they will draw about 4 amps at 12 volts, so a fuse of 5 to 10 amps should be OK normally but blow if there's a problem. Your wiring should be more than sufficient for the fused rating ... otherwise the wiring becomes the fuse, and stringing a plastic-covered hotwire inside your walls is a bad move!

Bellwire is probably not suitable unless you only need very low power (~10 watts). It may only cope with an amp, maybe two or three if you're lucky. Heavy duty speaker wire has more current capacity, generally, but check the specs. Car & boat repair, electronics and electrical shops can supply whatever you need, all the way up to 100 amp+ "jumper cable" wire.

Oh and it's a bad idea to charge wet lead-acid car batteries indoors, without good ventilation, as they emit hydrogen and corrosive acid.

I will end up with a battery box on the deck and mount a water proof box on the outside wall with all bits in it. Just been up and looked at our internet solar set up for the hill. I am sure all our neighbour's want mind me borrowing all the bits i need

I would run 1mm TPS. (Standard house lighting cable). It’s cheap and can be used for 230v if ever the need arises.

Set my cell phone on fire the other night with a Promate pack, really impressive and expensive. Dont under estimate what a 12volt battery and high amps can achieve, A fused board such as is made for a boat would make a good distribution board

car audio power distribution boards are cheap and available. as others have mentioned the short circuit output of a battery is huge, once saw a spanner dropped over the terminals of a car battery. blew the spanner in 1/2
so fuse your outputs !