load terminal on charge controller (1 Viewer)

Nov 14, 2009
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normandy
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hi , is there any reason that i shouldn't connect my tv and 12v skybox to the load terminal on my mppt solar charge controller? tv is 30 watts and box is 18 watts. at the moment i power them from the cigarette lighter socket behind the tv but the wires are very small and travel about 8 metres before they get to the sargeant power supply and then another 4 metres to the batteries which i'm sure wastes power . cheers sean
 

funflair

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One guess would be that if you did that you would not be able to isolate it by turning the control panel off so could potentially leave a draw on your batteries. The long cable run you describe will not waste power as such but it will increase the voltage drop along the run so if the TV was shutting itself down for low volts that would be an argument for changing things.

I think the idea of the load terminal is that you can have something that is always on irrespective of the control panel setting so an entrance light or monitor of some sort.
 

hilldweller

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The load terminal might be set to activate on light/dark or by timer.

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Wildman

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I run my TV and sat box via a 150W inverter connected to the load terminal. That way when the battery level falls to 50% the power is automatically cut off thereby protecting the batteries.
 

Peter A Forbes

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Nov 23, 2014
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The LOAD terminals are for any load that needs to be disconnected if the battery gets down to being nearly completely exhausted.

I route all of my 12V loads through both controllers this way, thus giving the battery over-discharge protection.

Only very heavy loads such as inverters which have their own low battery cut-off need to go direct to the battery.

The output is not dependent on the solar panels operating or not, the output is maintained as long as the battery volts are above the cutoff point.

Peter
 

Techno

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Nice to see you have joined FUN Peter, I only just clicked who you are :xThumb:

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pappajohn

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I have an auxilary load output on my bluesky energy controller....can be set, via internal dip switchs, to 2amps for engine battery charging or 20amps general loads.

Activates at 12.6v or above....turns off at 11.5v.
 

Peter A Forbes

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Nov 23, 2014
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Thanks, Andy, I'll leave it as it is for now, It's a PITA to change a registered member's details, I know from my own forum, but thanks for the thought.

Peter
 

Techno

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PITA it may be but let Jim be the judge (y)

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Techno

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BTW following a pm about suitable crimps for solar cable to terminate in this mppt unit.
CA_01021514391990-XL.jpg

I know they come with bare crimps where originally you got nothing! Peter's communication with the seller got these included but they are not very good. The main problem being length I found some long enough but I had to file them to reduce the width.
A recent search found these and they are spot on
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$(KGrHqRHJE0FHlnhl2wOBR9UNUnb8!~~60_57.JPG
 
Last edited:

Peter A Forbes

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Nov 23, 2014
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I think we ended up with Yellow straight pins by memory.

Take off the Yellow crimp sleeve and solder the wire in.

The solder loop just needs easing past the plastic slot on the controller, but it does fit :)

I've got some pictures somewhere....

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That is 6sq mm stranded cable.

Peter
 

Techno

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The crimps I linked to are absolutely perfect if you just flatten the end.
Here with the rubbish supplied
CA_01051516280848-L.jpg

Right up tut chonks!
CA_01051516275770-L.jpg

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Peter A Forbes

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Nov 23, 2014
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I found those a bit 'flexible', Andy, but perfectly OK for the job.

We don't use the finger terminals for anything, but do use the pins.

Bootlace ferrules are too big at 6mm, and the cable won't go in by itself, so one or the other has to be used.

The best solution as I mentioned to Eric Hsiao would be to make the terminals bigger.

Peter
 

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