Sunday (35) - Today’s project was running 10AWG photovoltaic rated wire from the charge controller in the passenger side rearmost bay towards the roof. After unspooling the cable, I taped the ends together to try and minimize tangles and knots. This 10AWG photovoltaic wire is rated for 600VDC, -40°C to +90°C, wet or dry, and the insulation is UV resistant since it is going to be exposed to the sun. It is stranded but no where near as flexible as finely stranded welding cable. Starting from the charge controller bay, I ran it into the engine compartment and through the floor into the bedroom closet. On the 5th wheel installation, I only used this type of cable on the roof as the vertical run was 4AWG to handle the higher current.
That’s as far as I got today. Trying to figure out “good” locations to drill holes is a challenge. The in-ceiling A/C ducts run all the way to the rear wall of the closet for some odd reason. So I needed to run the wires back to the passenger side before going through the roof. That’s tomorrow’s project. I started out with 100’ and I guesstimated that I would need about 55’. With the path through the engine compartment, I’m thinking that I may be closer to 70’. That means a little more voltage drop. I’ll recalculate once I know the actual lengths. I also picked up a 15amp fuse with MC4 connectors to go inline with the positive wire to the solar panels.
Monday (36) - We returned to Bisbee today. One of the things we wanted to do was the Queen Mine tour. It was $14 each and the tour lasted a bit over an hour.
You straddle a seat on a small train leading into a horizontal tunnel. You enter at level 3 of 9 and travel into the mountain. The train stops several times and you walk or climb through tunnels. You end up about 800’ underground.
The tour guide seemed very knowledgeable on the history of the mine and readily answered all questions. One of the more interesting discussions was on pay. Mining was a good way to build up a “grubstake” so you could venture off on your own.
After the tour, we went east of town and took a look at an open pit mine. All in all, an interesting day in Bisbee.
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