Electrical Wiring Help

HI Dick,

They are showing the Victron 100/30 in their initial drawing.

The Panasonic panel is a good one, just a bit heavy for me to lift up on top of a van at my age. ( I can just hear Dave Orton muttering - I am older and got mine up there - lol)

The controller listed can support 1 of the panels at 12 volt and 2 of them (wired in parallel) if the batteries are wired 24 volt.

Since the Voc is above 60 volts, it is ideal if they wire the panel frame(s) to ground / van body. It is always a good idea, but in this case fairly important.

_____

Coming back to the isolator question - IMHO, use a battery to battery charger from day one. If you can't afford it, just use solar until you can and don't tie the LiFe pack to the main van electrical system at all.

AltE on lithium battery and Xantrex inverter: “It can be paired with our KiloVault batteries as the BMS in it monitors the whole battery, not just the cells so it is perfectly safe to use with the Xantrex. It can be set up as you would any other AGM battery.“

Hi friends! Setting everything up and it's all making a lot more sense.

For the battery disconnect switch do I connect the negative battery wire to the switch prior to the shunt or after the shunt and before the dc fuse block?

?? "negative battery wire to the switch" ?? and ?? "prior to the shunt or after the shunt and before the dc fuse block" ??

The last drawing you posted was:



The first question is: what are you trying to disconnect via the switch?
(i'll assume it's to pull the battery out-of-circuit)

Most people (except MB's starter battery disconnect) put the switch on the positive cable to the battery bank.
But that's merely "convention", not really necessary. (it may be why the switch's plastic is colored Red).

If it were me, and i was going to switch Negative, i'd put it between the battery and the shunt.
That allows you to remove the shunt from the game in the highly unlikely case that *it* was having problems.
The switch's purpose is to remove (disconnect) the *battery* , not the "battery AND shunt".

At least, that's how'd i'd do it.

--dick

Okay perfect thank you!

ON THE OTHER HAND... if putting the switch between the shunt and the battery makes for absolutely silly wiring arrangements, then putting it on the only external cable coming *to* the shunt is "close enuf".

I kind'a remember someone's photo of their battery box had the switch hiding in there, too.

Asking yourself "how frequently am i going to want to flip that switch?" should also contribute a vote.

--dick

I have enough space still

Any recommendations for the AC main panel? I am connecting the cooktop directly into the inverter, but need two single pole breakers for my two gfci outlets. So far I only know of the Blue Sea AC panel.

I haven't played with "real" AC distribution in an RV, but i'd certainly start by looking at BlueSea
(just 'cuz... and i've got a local marine store that carries them, thus letting me go eyeball and assess the choices)

--dick

WandoTales13 said:

I have enough space still

Any recommendations for the AC main panel? I am connecting the cooktop directly into the inverter, but need two single pole breakers for my two gfci outlets. So far I only know of the Blue Sea AC panel.

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Might be over kill for an inverter rated for less than 20 amps.

Usually the GFCI plugs are wired in series and one plug will protect all of the others downstream.

Keep in mind, your entire system is still only the power equivalent of what is wired to (1) home wall outlet.

Your van = 2 kW wiring

1000 - 1500 ft2 home = 24 kW wiring

2000 - 2500 ft2 home = 36 kW wiring

Approximately of course.

Okay that makes sense. So how would you recommend connecting the GFCI to the inverter?

HarryN said:

HI Dick,

The Panasonic panel is a good one, just a bit heavy for me to lift up on top of a van at my age. ( I can just hear Dave Orton muttering - I am older and got mine up there - lol)

Click to expand...

My muttering: One does have to use the right approach. Got old panel down by myself. Admit I did have wife steady the new panel on the tailgate while I got up onto the temporary platform. Just put blanket on the roof to slide panel into position.

Note the 80/20 on the edge of the pickup bed. First place I had used 80/20.

HarryN said:

Might be over kill for an inverter rated for less than 20 amps.

Usually the GFCI plugs are wired in series and one plug will protect all of the others downstream.

Click to expand...

Output from inverter wired to first duplex outlet which should be GFCI. First outlet is GFCI and the rest of the outlets do not need to be GFCI. No distribution panel required in a small van. One string of outlets. The inverter normally has a circuit breaker on it's output. I installed a two pole circuit breaker between the inverter and the first outlet. Easier to access than the inverter circuit breaker and is handy to turn off the power. If you have a combination inverter/charger/transfer switch then the same string of outlets is also used with shore power.

Okay got it!! Thank you!

Another question (of course! ha)

Could I run my DC fuse blocks in series? I want to have one fuse block in the bedroom, and another in the kitchen. Can I connect the positive from one fuse block to the other, and then connect the positive into the circuit breaker or should I get two circuit breakers? I currently have a 30amp and a 40amp breaker - altE says to put the 40amp to the 30amp MPPT, your suggestions were 30amp to the MPPT and 40amp for my DC load instead. Either would be enough for my DC load if they were in series

Actually, if the first outlet is GFCI, all of the other plain-jane outlets can "piggy-back" onto it and be GFCI functional.

The only (tiny) drawback is that if the GFCI trips, you have to walk to the first outlet to reset it.

The sheet of paper packed into a GFCI retail box shows how to wire it for that.



--dick

I already purchased both outlets I just don’t know how to wire them to the inverter. Do they need their own breakers?

WandoTales13 said:

Another question (of course! ha)

Could I run my DC fuse blocks in series? I want to have one fuse block in the bedroom, and another in the kitchen. Can I connect the positive from one fuse block to the other, and then connect the positive into the circuit breaker or should I get two circuit breakers? I currently have a 30amp and a 40amp breaker - altE says to put the 40amp to the 30amp MPPT, your suggestions were 30amp to the MPPT and 40amp for my DC load instead. Either would be enough for my DC load if they were in series

Click to expand...

Yes. I have a 12 position Blue Sea DC fuse block on the driver side of the vehicle. From that DC fuse block I powered a 6 position fuse block that is located on the passenger side of the vehicle. The reason for the two fuse blocks was to limit the DC power cords in the floor and reduce the cord lengths for the 6 powered losds. Instead of 6 cords in floor to power the DC loads on the passenger side, I only need one cord to power the 6 position fuse block.

WandoTales13 said:

Could I run my DC fuse blocks in series? I want to have one fuse block in the bedroom, and another in the kitchen. Can I connect the positive from one fuse block to the other, and then connect the positive into the circuit breaker

Click to expand...

The correct term for that hookup is "in parallel"

If you're connecting the positives to positives, it's parallel.

Yes, you can certainly do that.
=====
On the AC question:
If the inverter is internally protected as to how much current it will deliver to its outlets, then yes, you probably don't need an external breaker on the AC side.
(he sez, without referring to the manual (yet))

Weeelllll... i'd add a breaker.

The Xantrex manual says:

Overload Shutdown: When the Freedom HFS’s AC load increases to near ~1100 W (for Freedom HFS 1055 models) and ~2100 W (for Freedom HFS 2055 models), the audible alarm beeps every second and the display screen shows a fault code . The Status LED turns solid RED and in 30 seconds, both the unit and the display screen will shut down to prevent damage to the inverter and protect the battery from being over-discharged.

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I read that as "if you have an electrical issue, it may stop delivering power (if it notices)... but then it may turn it back on!" Not safe.

If you have a breaker in place, the power will *not* return to the outlet until *you* take the positive action of resetting the breaker.
Much safer.

...and the manual doesn't appear to say what happens if you're connected to shore power and something happens on/in your AC outlets. At that point you're trusting the shore power's breaker to operate properly.

--dick
p.s. plug strips have integral 15 amp breakers

autostaretx said:

...and the manual doesn't appear to say what happens if you're connected to shore power and something happens on/in your AC outlets. At that point you're trusting the shore power's breaker to operate properly.

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I installed a 15 amp 2 pole circuit breaker inside van in preference to trusting someone else's shore power breaker.

So far so good guys!!! I can’t believe everything is running and all the breakers are working! Right now I have my positive DC load wire on the lower end of the 250amp breaker for the inverter with the battery connection. For my AC wires from the outlets, do I connect the negative to my shunt and the positive to the inverter side of the 250amp breaker (it will also have its own breaker as recommended)