Proper wire management is of utmost importance in a solar power system. Solar panels wire management in a campervan or RV is more important as it may endanger your life outdoors. Hence, if you are looking at setting up a solar power solution in your vehicle, you should follow all the precautionary steps for safety.
Solar wiring safety is mostly overlooked, especially in RVs, campervans, and trailers. But the wiring is truly the lifeline of a solar power system as it connects individual panels to transfer the current. As you know, the solar current is largely volatile and it can surge up anytime. So, safety is very much important.
When it comes to solar wiring safety in a campervan, there are more challenges than a system in a home. See, the wiring on top of the vehicle is most likely subject to severe heat, sunshine, rain, wind, and more.
Table of Contents
What is Solar Wire Management
Put it in simple words, proper wire management is all about ensuring the overall safety of solar wires and cables. Elaborately, it is to perfectly route, organize, support, and safeguard the cables from any threats.
Why Solar Wire Management
With proper solar wire management, you can circumvent several possible threats. As said above, an RV or campervan is prone to more threats from unsafe solar wiring. Of course, the continuous exposure to harsh climates outdoors may badly affect the solar wires on the top.
Moreover, rodents or other animals may find shelter under the shade of the RV solar panels. They will most likely munch on the dangling solar cables and wires. And eventually, put you at the risk of short circuit or the lack of power to spend the night out in the wild.
Only proper management of wires can help your solar power system last longer. The bad installation will surely lead to trouble. Since the solar cables are expected to carry high mechanical, thermal, and external loads, they should be done in its finest way for better reliability and safety.
Certainly, apart from boosting up safety, proper solar wire management guarantees you low maintenance as well as long life.
Solar Panels Wire Management in a Campervan
There is indeed complex wiring for a large solar system, perhaps in a home or worksite. But it is relatively simple in an RV, trailer, or campervan, and so organizing the wires is obviously a breeze.
Solar power systems are well-known for their low maintenance property. But you can’t achieve that unless you use quality solar wires and have a proper wire management strategy. Below are some important things you should take into account for ideal solar panels wire management in a campervan.
1. Wire organization and identification
When wiring your solar power system in a campervan or RV, you should make sure that it is well organized with the right identification options. The best practice in this regard is to use wires with colored insulations so that you can easily identify the circuit conductors later.
It might be very much helpful in future maintenances and is also a great practice to label strings as well as DC and AC circuits in the junction boxes. It will also help the troubleshooter to easily maintain your solar power system and fix the problems quickly.
2. Ideal Cable Sizing
Sizing is indeed a critical part of solar wire management. Yes, you need to go for the right dimensions of solar cables for your system to avoid voltage drop bigger than 1%. If you fail it might even end up in short circuits and overheating as the cable wouldn’t be able to tolerate the surge in power.
Mainly, two factors are the key to deciding the solar cable dimensions. As you know, they are the solar panel capacity and the distance of the panels to the loads. If both the solar capacity and the distance are larger, you need to use high-size cables to guarantee safety.
3. Solar wires are not unbreakable
Solar wires are not unbreakable so that you should take better care while organizing them. In other words, there is a limit in the elasticity of solar cables and wires. Hence, you should keep a quantified bending radius of the same when installing.
Otherwise, there may cause some internal damage to the flimsy stands inside. Plus, you should secure the wire in the right intervals while laying down on the top of your campervan. That practice will help lessen the stress on the connection points as well as the connectors.
Above all, the over-tightening of the cable is also not a good practice. It may put pressure on the wires and cut the protective insulation, by ending up the things in the overall lack of safety.
4. Support of appropriate components
Needless to say, the selection of the right components is another very important thing to take care of in the solar panels wire management in a campervan. Make sure you use quality stainless-steel wire clips, and the UV-stabilized cable ties, composite wire clips, and more.
5. Use Branded Solar Cables
Of course, to quickly meet all the above parameters, you should buy solar wires and cables from premium brands. There are indeed a lot of amazing brands like ZW-Cable across the world that offer premium quality solar wires, cables, and other accessories.
Most of those brands offer all the essential solar cables and other accessories so you will be lucky enough to get all that you need from a single brand.
Final Thoughts
That has been our take on the measures you should essentially take on solar panels wire management in a campervan. Though the concept of solar power is simple and long-lasting, you should make sure its safety, reliability, and durability with proper management of the wires and cables. Otherwise, things will end up in trouble and your safety may be at risk. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Image Courtesy: ZW-Cable.Com
Vahid Vee is a full-time blogger who is highly passionate about portable and off-grid power backup systems. As a keen observer of the global portable power market, he is really excited to share with you the latest trends, new products, and other developments in the market. #Contact Email @ veevahid@gmail.com – LinkedIn – Full blog profile.