swopping out leisure batteries involving a solar panel system

Kennygd

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What special precautions if any have to be followed when doing this on my motorhome !
 
I'd rather put a bit of tape on a wire than mess around on the roof with something that's going to blow away anyway lol.
 
Lee said:
You really should be fussed that electricity can bite a bit if you're not careful.😁😁
  1. (of a person) feeling concern, distress, or annoyance; having strong feelings about something.
    "it'd be great to be there but I'm not that fussed"
Click to expand...
Shall i print in Ulster scots for you. 😂
 
Fuse on the votronic. output to, but i have one on input side.
vetronic.png
 
Different but associated point ...
I like to have either (but preferably BOTH) a "catastophic fuse" (i.e. big bugger) or an isolation switch which allows the battery bank to be isolated from all the habitation and charging circuitry.
If you have this feature, which is neither expensive to buy or hard to fit, then it is dead simple to separate the batteries from the wiring to allow them to be worked on easily, or at the same time allow you to work on the wiring without the system being live.

If I were the OP, I would add a fuse and switch when I swapped over the batteries :)


example of a switch - https://amzn.to/3CcxiDa. Lots of similar ones around
example of a catastophic fuse kit - https://amzn.to/3m4QPQ1. And get an appropriate fuse, which would be larger than any loads you could put on the system, and smaller than the amapacity of the battery cable you are using.
FWIW, this is my setup -

MONTY fuses by David, on Flickr
I actually have a 1+2 Isolation Switch as I have a Hybrid Battery Bank, but usually a standard on/off one (as per my link) is what is wanted.
My fuse is 225A If I recall.
This is under the ampacity (current rating) of the 35mm2 cable I am using, but greater than any possible normal load or charge I can put on my system (I can draw a maximum of 135A on the Inverter, 20A on the Habitation Electrics and 20A on External connections = absolute maximum of 175 Amps. I can charge a theoretical maximum of 70A Mains + 60A B2B + 40A Solar = 170 Amps maximum. Neither of the Load or Charge currents will ever happen at that level in reality, but it IS possible, so you plan for it, same as you plan for fuses even though they will probably never blow)
 
st3v3 said:
I always thought a controller with voltage on the solar terminals but nothing on the battery side was at risk of damaging the controller.
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Not on a Victron MPPT Controller.
From the manual (and extrapolate the logic ... I added the colours)
"9.9.1. Unable to operate as a power supply

We do not recommend to use the solar charger as a power supply, that is without batteries connected.

Operation as a power supply will not damage the solar charger, but it is not guaranteed that the solar charger is able to run all types of loads. Some type of loads might run, others might not. Especially at low load power, the solar charger is too slow to keep the voltage constant. As such, we do not provide support in these kind of situations."

So it may not work without a battery connected, but it causes no damage. On my last Camper with a 100/30 fitted, I would tend to disconnect the batteries via the isolation switch when making changes to the general wiring (and I used to fiddle around a fair bit ;) ) and the LED lights under the bed, where I had all the bits and pieces installed, would stay on as they were driven by the PV via the MPPT :) (was very handy actually).
 
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