Please review my power set up

[onetrue]

Hey folks, I am soon to be on the road and I am finalizing my solar set up. Planning to add a fridge later but for now just a single 100w panel to charge laptop,phone, etc from a single 100Ah battery. 

I have never done any electrical before but I am reasonably clever...still would like to have my idea double-checked in case i am missing something or have something wrong !

So I will be connecting the charge controller to the (single) battery, and then the solar panel to the controller.

Then my plan is to connect a fuse block directly to the pos/neg battery terminals.

 This part I am not sure about...do I need some sort of separate ground or is this all I need to do for this step?

Next I will be connecting a 12v dual plug outlet to the fuse block, and will be plugging a 12v splitter with 12v and usb sockets into one of those outlets. Perhaps I can skip the first step and just find a 12v item to wire directly to the fuse block that already has the usb ports,etc.

My intention is to try to go all 12v if possible, but will probably add a small inverter to the setup for charging my beard trimmer, rechargeable battery charger, and maybe other 110v items from time to time...I am getting a 12v charge adaptor for my laptop so no pure sine wave needed.
In terms of adding an inverter for the items mentioned above, would I connect the inverter directly to the battery terminals?

Last question is what gauge wire should I use for the various connections?

Thanks so much in advance.

peace

christopher

 

[QinReno]

Hello One. I'm not an expert on all of the possibilities, but I put in a basic 100W solar system myself. You will need a lot more solar wattage and battery to run most frigerators. What you can do with 100W is run lighting, plus a laptop, typically which draw about 40W.

Remember you do not want to pull the battery below 50%, meaning drawing only 50 AH before recharging. 
40W/12V = 3.3A, so you can run your laptop for roughly 15-hours.
 
The easiest way to get going is to buy a 300-400W 120VAC inverter, preferably a "pure sinewave" type which will only cost $60-80. Cheaper ones, like from Walmart, are probably not pure sine-wave. Then you can plug in a 60W equivalent 120VAC Led bulb, which draw only 11W, or 11W/12V ~ 1Amp at 12V. Then you don't need a separate supply for your laptop. This is what I do. Inverters typically will have a built-in fuse and USB power ports too.

I do have some 12V plugs and whatnot, but find it easier to use the inverter. You could start this way to get going and then branch out to 12V devices down the road. I do have a couple of the following, but mostly use the inverter to power things.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?&_nkw=12v+auto+usb+voltmeter+quad&_sacat=0

 

[frater secessus]

Hey, Chris, I think you are on the right track. Laptop, phone, etc, off 100w of solar is workable, particularly if you pay attention to power usage and/or add in a battery isolator. 

Most folks here go 200w+ when adding in the fridge.   If/when you add the next panel it will be best if you get another of the same panel.   It might be best just to add in the second panel now.  I have never heard anyone say they wished they had bought less panel.

For cabling, I referred to the Blue Sea article on the topic.  I grounded everything back to the fuse block, which is grounded to the vehicle. 

Over time many folks prefer to cut off the ciggy plug from the 12v and use something more robust.  There are marine versions of that idea, but I use anderson powerpoles.    In the beginning you might want to use the normal ciggy plug until you get everything into it's final position.  Then maybe hardwire or upgrade connectors on the bigger stuff.  

You may want to source USB outlets that have on/off buttons or add an inline switch so they don't use power all the time.  An inverter is traditionally wired right to the battery.

 

[QinReno]

The other thing is, if you plan to add more batteries (ie, wired in parallel) and solar down the road, then you want to use the same batteries throughout. The 100AH ones I seen most often recommended are UB121000, although some people use banks of 6V batteries (a bit more complicated wiring).
https://www.amazon.com/Universal-UB121000-45978-100AH-Cycle-Battery/dp/B00S1RT58C

 

[onetrue]

Hey, Chris, I think you are on the right track. Laptop, phone, etc, off 100w of solar is workable, particularly if you pay attention to power usage and/or add in a battery isolator. 

Most folks here go 200w+ when adding in the fridge.   If/when you add the next panel it will be best if you get another of the same panel.   It might be best just to add in the second panel now.  I have never heard anyone say they wished they had bought less panel.

For cabling, I referred to the Blue Sea article on the topic.  I grounded everything back to the fuse block, which is grounded to the vehicle. 

Over time many folks prefer to cut off the ciggy plug from the 12v and use something more robust.  There are marine versions of that idea, but I use anderson powerpoles.    In the beginning you might want to use the normal ciggy plug until you get everything into it's final position.  Then maybe hardwire or upgrade connectors on the bigger stuff.  

You may want to source USB outlets that have on/off buttons or add an inline switch so they don't use power all the time.  An inverter is traditionally wired right to the battery.

hey there thanks...yeah I am planning on adding another renogy 100w at some point and I do know that I should get all same batteries together if/when I add more storage since a weak battery will drag the new ones down

So in addition to the positive/negative from the fuseblock to the battery, you also have a ground from the fuseblock to the vehicle chasis...Or are the pos/neg connections to the battery from the fuseblock enough?

hope my question makes sense

peace

 

[frater secessus]

So in addition to the positive/negative from the fuseblock to the battery, you also have a ground from the fuseblock to the vehicle chasis...Or are the pos/neg connections to the battery from the fuseblock enough?

I grounded the fuse block to the vehicle because I am also running a battery isolator for battery charging.  If there were no combining of the two systems I would have left the camper 12v grounded to just the battery.

 

[onetrue]

I grounded the fuse block to the vehicle because I am also running a battery isolator for battery charging.  If there were no combining of the two systems I would have left the camper 12v grounded to just the battery.

Thanks so much for the help !

peace