Agreed. Probably, I should have said that the fuse should protect the _smaller_ of the wire and device load.
The mental shortcut (protect the wire) comes from the fact that most electronic devices have a protection built in. But i have to agree that many devices on our boats are not necessarily electronic. Marek -------- Original message -------- From: Josh Muckley via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Date: 2020-08-02 22:29 (GMT-05:00) To: C&C List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: Josh Muckley <muckl...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Stus-List Solar panels in ACR environment Marek, Respectfully, I disagree with your statement on the size of the fuse and basing it on the gauge of the wire. I'm pretty sure the max amperage of the fuse should be based on the rating of the smallest down stream item, this limiting item could be the wire but generally should not be. This is an important distinction since many times, the gauge of the wire is larger than the rating of the remote device. This is done to reduce the line loss and is especially important to consider when developing a solar charging system. Even small amounts of line loss can represent a high percentage loss of the available AHrs. Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk 1989 C&C 37+ Solomons, MD On Sun, Aug 2, 2020, 18:55 Marek Dziedzic via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: The fuse needs to protect the wire (not the end device). This means that you pick a fuse based on the size of the wire. Marek -------- Original message -------- From: Len Mitchell via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> Date: 2020-08-02 15:56 (GMT-05:00) To: CNC List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> Cc: Len Mitchell <xfireca...@gmail.com<mailto:xfireca...@gmail.com>> Subject: Stus-List Solar panels in ACR environment Charlie, I like the house bank charge priority or wherever your automatic bilge pump or refrigerator is connected, whatever you find most important while you are away from the boat. Your post says small solar panel and a 50 amp fuse. Those two don’t match! If you over size the fuse the wire becomes the fuse if you see where I am going. The fuse needs to be appropriate for the output of the solar panel and the wire large enough to carry the current the distance so the fuse blows if there is a short rather than the wire lights up like a resistance heater. For example a 250 watt solar panel (not small) is fused at 20 or 25 amps. Check the output of the panel you buy and size the fuse then wire for the length of wire. If you have room a bigger panel is better than small depending on what you want it to do. Len Mitchell Crazy Legs 1989 37+ Midland On Sent from my mobile device. _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
_______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
