Parts arrived... now what?

[Bbasso]

After a long time saving money I just spent a bunch lol.
I now have the Renogy 100 Watt panel and the Sunforce 60032 30 Amp Digital Charge Controller.

I'll be getting them mounted this week and I wasn't sure how long the cables/ wiring need to be and what type, I held off on ordering.

My questions :
what type of cables do I need ? I think MC4? What gauge?
and once clipped into the cables coming off the panel can I cut them for length?
And do I just attach the bare wire to the controller?

Thank you!

 

[Bbasso]

thank you so much. Help was really greatly appreciated.

 

[Bbasso]

For 3 days now I have a working solar setup, yippie!
Thank you for all the hours of reading.

I have a temp battery but it's garbage, I don't use a lot of electricity but I have two fans that I'd like to be able to use without killing a new battery and a coleman electric cooler to keep things chilled...
Of course I'd like to have a monster sized battery but I have a small budget.
One fan draws 5.4 watts.
The fantastic fan, up to 2.0 amps.
The coleman cooler, unknown atm.

So if you had to suggest a single 12 volt battery, I prefer AGM what would you recommend?

Thank you!

 

[Bbasso]

Of course a picture!

 

[4x4junkie]

I suggest get an actual fridge if you're looking to keep things chilled indefinitely (rather than use ice)... That Coleman cooler (assuming it's a thermoelectric) is bound to suck a fully-charged battery nearly dry overnight. Those usually draw ~5 amps, and unlike a fridge w/compressor, it'll be a continuous 5 amps since they normally don't get cold enough to cycle off.
Decent fridges are available for around $450-550, but certainly you could spend a lot more than that on one too. A fridge should average about 1.5-2 amps average current draw on a warm (but not scorching hot) day if kept out of the sun, and of course they'll draw much less on a cool night.

Unfortunately I can't help you on your battery though, I've always stuck with flooded type batteries. You'll want something at least 100 amp-hours or so regardless though (typically a group-27, 29, or 31), which should be enough to carry you thru a cloudy day if needed.

 

[Bigunit]

For 3 days now I have a working solar setup, yippie!
Thank you for all the hours of reading.

I have a temp battery but it's garbage, I don't use a lot of electricity but I have two fans that I'd like to be able to use without killing a new battery and a coleman electric cooler to keep things chilled...
Of course I'd like to have a monster sized battery but I have a small budget.
One fan draws 5.4 watts.
The fantastic fan, up to 2.0 amps.
The coleman cooler, unknown atm.

So if you had to suggest a single 12 volt battery, I prefer AGM what would you recommend?

Thank you!

Can't go wrong with this Lifeline AGM battery. I have been using it trouble free for the past year in my Ark Pac to power my ARB fridge with a Renogy 100w solar panel suitcase to keep the he battery charged. The Lifeline battery is a beast!
http://www.amazon.com/Lifeline-Marine-AGM-Battery-GPL-31T/dp/B0055LKPX6

 

[228B]

.

I'll be getting them mounted this week and I wasn't sure how long the cables/ wiring need to be and what type, I held off on ordering.

My questions :
what type of cables do I need ? I think MC4? What gauge?
and once clipped into the cables coming off the panel can I cut them for length?
And do I just attach the bare wire to the controller?

.
Hey Basso... before you buy any wire, spend a few hours looking this over.
.
https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/the-rv-battery-charging-puzzle-2/
.

 

[Bbasso]

I got the Coleman electric cooler for free and thought I would give it a try but I had no idea it would draw so much power...
I don't need a refrigerator at the moment although it would be nice I'll just save up for a nice one in the future.
I had figured at least a100ah battery but was hoping for closer to 200ah, so I could have plenty of reserve for cloudy days.
Are any of the auto parts stores AGM batteries worth considering? (Under $150)
I can fit pretty much any size battery and weight, eventually I would love to have two batteries that fit in the external boxes on the frame rails of my E350.

As much as I'd love to get a life line or similar battery the steep price tag at the moment isn't possible.

 

[Bbasso]

That's a lot of good reading, thanks for the link.