General Boards > Off Topic

How far will 12volt travel?

(1/3) > >>

Richie rich:
Hi. Weird question I know..we have a man cave down the otways,with 12volt power.. But the solar panel doesn't get enough to sunlight,so I moved battery (70 amp ) and the solar panel 30mt away so it gets sunlight all day.. But it's a pain in the bum and heavy to move the battery all the time..so I was going to run cable30 mt from battery to cabin.. Will it work or will the voltage drop be to great??

Rodnic:
It all depends how much current is being drawn and the size of the cable. There should be tables on the net showing voltage drop for cable size.
The other thing you could investigate is having the battery in the cabin and the solar panel in the sunny position. If you go this way the solar regulator should be close to the battery.

DmaxDave:
Depends on the size cable you use.  Bigger will result in less voltage drop.

Better solution, IMHO, would be to leave battery in cabin, move the solar regulator as close as possible to the battery and run some reasonably sized cable to the solar panel.

Dave

wintrmute:
You can convert it up to a higher voltage with a DC-DC transformer or DC-AC inverter, close to the battery.. then transform it back down again in the man cave (or just leave it at 240)
The DC-DC converters are way more efficient in conversion than most inverters I've seen though.

OldMucks:
To draw 15 amps at that distance you need 42.4 sq. mm wire (1awg).

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page