Sizing a battery and solar panel system for a car

[wrcsixeight]

10 awg should be more than adequate for those relatively short distances and light loads.<br /><br />The connections between the wiring are important too. &nbsp;Bad crimps/connectors or solder joints can cause just as much voltage drop as too thin a wire.<br /><br />Perhaps use a shorter length of 6 or 8 awg from battery to fuse block.<br /><br />If alternator amperage is to be taken advantage of through a relay/solenoid/isolator, those cables should be thicker. 4 or 6 awg minimum.<br /><br />I use 2 awg for my alternator charging circuit, and the batteries would benefit from 0 awg initially when heavily discharged, but my wallet would not.

 

[erw1988]

So, we settled on a system.<br /><br />We've been selling a lot of our stuff off and I have a couple remaining checks from work. I went ahead and ordered a 100w solar panel kit from AMSolar, with just the 100w panel and a 30amp charge controller. I'm buying a 108Ah Sun Xtender AGM battery from a local battery reseller and the other wiring stuff elsewhere.&nbsp;We pared down our electrical use to, essentially, our computers and mifi hotspot, and limited the time we'll be using them (the mifi hotspot won't be on house power for 6 hours a day, and the laptops only take an hour and a half to charge roughly a days worth of battery.) We'll charge the cell phones and MP3 player when driving. Everything will be run on ciggy receptacles.<br /><br />It should all be here soon and I'll start the installation process. We've got a tumblr going for our conversion and our eventual trip (leaving Texas on Christmas Day!) Will keep y'all posted. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" /><br /><br />ETA. So, I have a question. Does anyone have any recommendations for where I can get the 12v cigarette sockets?

 

[erw1988]

We did away with the cigarette receptacles and will use a 400w/800w-peak inverter that a family member gave us.<br><br>Aside from that, I've got one last question. Do I have to ground this system to my car frame, or is it small enough where I can get away not messing with a grounding?