My understanding (which certainly may be incorrect) is that Victron 100/30 recommends #6 ga flexible multi stranded copper wire as the preferred wire size to attach to the battery from the controller.
I’m having a lot of trouble securing a good connection with #6 wire.
As close as I can measure, the rising clamp terminals on the 100/30 are 0.16 inches square. Which is about .22 on the diagonal.
The diameter of flexible fine stranded wire is shown as 0.186 to 0.210 in. My actual #6 wire measures about 0.1875 inches, and, when compressed, does get to just a bit more than 0.16.
Can you give me some hints on making this connection work well?
Try as I may, I can only get a fair connection with many strands remaining loose, and not secured.
Am I better off dropping back to #8? Or tinning the ends of the #6? Wouldn’t a ferrule be too large for the 100/30 clamps?
My distance to the battery terminals from the Victron is relatively short - approximately 12 inches. I have purchased a 40 amp inline fuse to install between the Victron and the battery positive terminal.
Good point…and I’d agree that #10 is likely adequate in my situation, which is to charge a 100aH LIFePO4 battery, with the Victron only about 12 inches from the battery. However, the Victron MPPT manual for the 100/30 recommends a minimum inline fuse size to the battery of 35 A, and a maximum of 40A. With a 40 A fuse, AWG 8 is typically used for short runs. To be on the “safe side”, I’m thinking #8 is a good choice…it will handle the current, and that size should will fit well into the Victron rising clamp terminals. I do believe that the 6 awg would work with the ferrules recommended by Andy also, but the better flexibility of the #8 versus the #6 makes me lean that way. So I’ll give Jetlag a “solved”. Thanks to everyone for the input!!
