Controller to Battery wire length

[BillN]

Newbe having fun with Solar.

This is the start of probably many very basis newbe questions, please bear with me.


I am starting out with 4) 6volt golf cart batteries, tying them in series and then in parallel for a 12 volt system. Due to space I need to stack them two over two on shelving which leads me to my question.

I have read in a few documents including the Users Manual that came with my Charge Controller that my wiring for the Charge Controller to the batteries should be no longer than 2 feet round trip, to me that would be 1 foot of wire for each pos and neg.

Questions: Is this correct???

Seem impossible to string a bank of batteries together especial when you have rows of batteries stacked to maintain a 2 foot round trip of wiring from the Charge Controller to the battery bank and mount your Charge Controller in a practical location.

Question: Can I use larger gauge wire so I can lengthen the feed from the Controller to the batteries???

[russ]

Hi Bill,

Yes you can. Wire size is what counts - having said that you do want to keep things reasonably close - not across the street.

Sunking, Mike or someone else should be along that knows more about this than I and will be able to give better advice.

Russ

[BillN]

Thanks for the reply Russ.

I was hoping to run about 3-4 feet of wiring from the controller to the batteries

[Sunking]

Questions: Is this correct???

The answer is yes and no. Yes if you use the size wire they tell you to, no if you use a larger wire. well you can use the smaller wire over long distance, but you will loose a lot of power as heat being burnt up on the wiring.

The problem is low voltage, it is low voltage and with high currents and resistance in the wires you loose a good deal of power in the wiring. In low voltage applications you try to limit wiring losses to 2% or less. That can require some very large diameter expensive wire.

[russ]

For a cable size calculator please see the following link -

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

Russ