

| Subject: | Re: Wire Gauges for Solar panels for your Vanagon |
| From: | Matt Roberds |
| Date: | Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:11:58 -0500 |
> From: David Etter <detter@MAIL.AURACOM.COM> > Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:37:53 -0300 > > The chart below was taken from a booklet put out by 'SURE POWER > INDUSTRIES" Note that this appears to be the voltage drop for one way - in other words, for a system like a car where the body acts as one conductor and is assumed to have a very low resistance relative to the supply wire. For a solar panel system, you need to double the length, because you're using wire for both conductors. In other words, if you have a solar panel that puts out 12 V, and you want to put it on the end of 10 feet of two-wire cable, you need to look up the value under "20 feet" in the tables. Reformatted for readability: > The charts on these pages show wire sizes for both a 10% voltage > drop (most normal accessories) and a 3% voltage drop (sensitive > electronics). > > WIRE GAUGE for 10% Voltage Drop 12 Volt Systems (AWG) > > Wire to load in Feet > 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 > ------------------------------------ > Current 5 | 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 12 > (amps) 10 | 14 14 14 12 12 12 10 10 10 > 15 | 14 14 12 10 10 10 8 8 8 > 20 | 12 12 10 10 8 8 8 6 6 > 25 | 10 10 10 8 8 8 6 6 6 > > > WIRE GAUGE For 3% Voltage Drop 12 Volt Systems (AWG) > > Wire to load in Feet > 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 > ------------------------------------ > 5 | 14 12 12 10 10 8 8 8 8 > 10 | 12 10 8 8 6 6 6 4 4 > 15 | 10 8 6 6 4 4 4 4 2 > 20 | 8 6 6 4 4 2 2 2 2 > 25 | 8 6 4 4 2 2 2 1 1 Matt Roberds
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