Kyocera 325w: good choice for the van?

[SternWake]

If you plan on using the alternator in addition to the Solar, then the house batteries have to be grounded.

Ideally, they would be grounded to the alternator(-) stud, or a bolt at the foot of the alternator.

One can just ground them to the frame nearby. Do not use just thin sheet metal. Frame grounds tend to be problematic. The steel should be super shiny and the ring terminal mating with the prepped steel perfectly flat. One should pretend the screw itself cannot carry any current, and that the electrical contacts are the surface area where ring terminal and steel frame meet. A bolt which will not loosen up on its own, and smearing it with grease after tightening it fully should keep it problem free for a good amount of time.

Sheet metal screws might not be as good as drilling and tapping the frame for a machine screw/bolt. It is too easy to strip a sheet metal screw in thick metal.

If mounting to Alternator(-) or its mounting bolts, account for engine flex, and leave some slack. Preventing chafing is paramount.

 

[Luisafernandes]

I'm not using the alternator, just the solar. That means I don't have to ground them?

 

[SternWake]

No, not to the vehicle frame as long as there is no alternator contribution intended.

You should consider it though. 325 watts is respectable, however the Alternator can make 1000 watts and the depleted batteries can accept that much.

You can do so at a later date, add the alternator to the house battery charging loop. It really is a great source to have available, even if it is not ideal on its own.

 

[GotSmart]

I wasn't sure, do I need to ground the batteries? Both or just one! Will a screw to the side rib will do?

Without a ground, the circuit is not complete.  Mine is grounded to the frame underneath.  Click on the picture.  The positive is on the top, (upper part of the picture) and the negative on the bottom. The ground goes through a hole in the side of my hanging battery box.  

The box is mounted in a hole through the floor of my van.  

 

[Luisafernandes]

Ok, so I don't have a hole in the floor of my van for the batteries like GotSmart, and I have wood floor with polysio under it. Accessing the frame to ground the batteries won't be easy.
SternWake, you say I'll be ok for now, and that's good to know. I would ask the question; where would I be able to ground the batteries to? I'm placing them on the driver's side, next to the wheel well and before the gas pipe.

 

[Luisafernandes]

As you can see, the bent in the panel is all but gone. I have 6 Z brackets on each side of the panel which no doubt help straighten things up.

 

[highdesertranger]

dang luis that thing is huge. lettuce know how it works. highdesertranger

 

[GotSmart]

Drill a hole in the floor, and run a wire. Get a plastic insert to keep the wire from scraping. Use some sealant to plug it so fumes can not get back in. If you only have access to a strut/rib, make sure you clean the connection down to bare metal.

The most common problem with an electrical system is the ground.

 

[Luisafernandes]

dang luis that thing is huge. lettuce know how it works. highdesertranger

I knew the measurements before I got the panel, but those were my words also: "this thing's huge!"
I'll keep everyone posted. [emoji106]?[emoji1][emoji604]

 

[Luisafernandes]

Drill a hole in the floor, and run a wire. Get a plastic insert to keep the wire from scraping. Use some sealant to plug it so fumes can not get back in. If you only have access to a strut/rib, make sure you clean the connection down to bare metal.

The most common problem with an electrical system is the ground.

If at all possible I would prefer not to drill through the floor. I do have two ribs right behind the batteries though.
If I use the ribs, and only having two batteries, do I ground both or just one?
Do I ground from the positive or negative? Or both?
And what gauge wire should I use?
A lot of questions, I know. One of these days I'll be teaching a class on 12v and solar systems from everything I've learned from you kind folks![emoji106][emoji106]

 

[SternWake]

If Luis is keeping his solar system and house circuits separate from all vehicle circuits, then he does not need to ground his house batteries to the frame of the vehicle.  It would then effectively be two separate circuits, but all house loads would have to be grounded to house batteries and not the frame or any other sheet metal.


If he grounds any circuit house circuit to the frame, and the frame is not grounded to house batteries, then that circuit would not work.

He could ground house batteries to the frame too, BUT, if he has no plans on hooking any house ground to the frame, but only to house batteries, then he does not have to ground house batteries to the frame, but, he still can.

If he ever wants to take advantage of the alternator to charge house battery, then he needs to ground house bank to frame, or to the Alternator (-) which is basically the same thing, just a little better if maximum alternator contribution is desired.

The bent panel frame I would be unhappy with.  Just because it is now dead flat when mounted, does not mean the sealant between frame and panel glass was not compromised when it was bent.  I'd at least hold onto documentation that the panel arrived bent.  If it does let in water and is compromised, then this could be a make or break situation as to whether warranty is honored.  Try to get something legal to hold onto should the worst happen and you need to use that warranty.

 

[Luisafernandes]

Thanks SternWake!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If I use the ribs, and only having two batteries, do I ground both or just one?
Do I ground from the positive or negative? Or both?

Wow.  If you hook both positive and negative up to ground, you have a dead short that will quickly start an electrical fire.

Up until the sixties, the British used positive ground on their vehicles.  ( I know.  The British do EVERYTHING backwards)  Everything else in the world was all ready negative, and the Brits eventually switched over too.  So ground your negative terminal.

If your two batteries are tied together, then you only need to ground one or the other,

As for wire size, if you are going to run a 4 gauge wire back from the alternator, then your ground wire should be 4 gauge also, or it becomes the limiting factor in how much charge your house batteries would get from the alternator.

Regards
John

 

[Luisafernandes]

[emoji23] good thing there's only positive and negative terminals on the batteries eh?
I just ordered 1/0 gauge to connect the batteries together, does that mean I should by 1/0 gauge for grounding?
I'm not using the alternator, just the solar.
Thanks!

 

[GotSmart]

[emoji23] good thing there's only positive and negative terminals on the batteries eh?
I just ordered 1/0 gauge to connect the batteries together, does that mean I should by 1/0 gauge for grounding?
I'm not using the alternator, just the solar.
Thanks!

If your house system is completely separate, then I suggest this, 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P6FTHC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and just ground to the negative of the battery, not the body.  It will keep things nice and clean. 

All wires go to this D~box, except the one coming from the battery, and the one going to the battery ground.

be sure to put in a fuse between the battery and the D~box for added safety.

 

[Luisafernandes]

I have one of those. [emoji1]

 

[Luisafernandes]

What do you mean by, "ground the negative of the battery, not the body?"

 

[GotSmart]

Do not connect your house system to the body at all. It will be a completely separate system from the rest of the van.

 

[ccbreder]

".....Do I ground from the positive or negative? Or both?....." Please get someone with a bit of electrical knowledge to help you.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

OK, let's do some fundamentals here.  The fuse block referenced above has both a hot connection, and a ground connection.  Run a wire (with a largish inline fuse in it) up to the hot connection from the house battery's positive terminal.  Run a wire from the battery's negative terminal up to the ground connection.  Everything you hook up to that fuse block - lights, fan, whatever - needs TWO wires, one from the hot side carrying power to the item, and one from the item back to the ground side to complete the circuit.

If you're not going to pull power from the alternator, there's no reason to hook the house batteries up to the vehicle frame.  You COULD, it won't hurt anything, but there's no need to.  If the house batteries aren't grounded to the frame, that's referred to as having an "isolated" or "floating" ground, btw.

Be aware that some fuse blocks don't have a ground connection built in.  The ones that came in your van don't.  The dome light in your van, for instance, has a single (switched) hot wire going to it, and it grounds to the body.  It depends on the battery being grounded to frame so the power flowing into it can return to the battery through the body.  The manufacturers save a TON of money doing it this way, it literally cuts the amount of wire they need in half.

I hope that's all clear.  The bottom line is that power has to go from the battery to the item, and then has to return from the item back to the battery - one way or another - for the system to work.

Regards
John