theboondork's RV blog

males look like females, and the females are hot

6/12/2019

The Duck.

Another beautiful day for working on the camper. Not that I spent all day doing that but I did get a few things accomplished.

All day I had problems getting solar power from the panels down to the solar controller. I finally figured out I had a wire in backwards, and yes that can happen with MC4 solar connectors. And after I got that straightened out I still wasn't getting power down to the solar controller and it took me a while longer to figure out that there was something wrong with one of the MC4 splitters I bought off Amazon. So I gave up on the splitters and just tied the wires together the way you would do it before MC4 connectors came along and then everything worked fine.

It's been five or six years since I put on solar panels so I had forgotten just about everything I knew about installing a solar system which isn't difficult because I didn't know very much to start with, and I normally forget everything I know within a couple of days anyway much less after several years. But apparently I thought I knew something so I didn't brush up on any solar panel installation guides before I started this project, and because of that putting in these two little panels caused me more hassles then putting the six panels on the Arctic Fox. But at least now I remember the two basic things you need to know about MC4 solar connectors, one is the male connectors look like they would be females, and the other is the female connectors are hot. Remembering that will make any solar installation a lot easier.

theboondork

Old Denver home.

6 Comments

Tim link

6/13/2019 09:35:01 am

I bought wire and MC4 connectors and made up my own extensions and ran into the same issue of getting the right size into the right size. Basically, I had a little sing-song going through my head every time I made one up: The little big one goes into the big little one and the big little one goes into the little big one. Okay, I'll admit it doesn't make much sense until you've done a few of those connectors, but you understand what I'm saying (either that or I've finally totally lost my marbles, or possibly both).

BTW, I really enjoyed making up the wires with solar connectors, for some weird reason. I particularly like the way it all snaps into place.

I'm heading back up to the RV this Saturday to work on the solar project. I'm getting really close to finishing, but my motto now is it'll get finished when it's finished and not a second, minute, hour, or day before (or in my case, I should throw in year, decade, centruy, etc.)

Tom

6/13/2019 11:08:11 am

I had a refrain going through my mind also while working with the MC4 connectors and it was, cut these darn connectors off and twist these wires together, and the more I said it to myself the more sense it made.

Yes they are handy in some cases, and they do go together with a reassuring click, but in my case some of them would come apart quickly and easily with the MC4 tool and others I couldn't get apart to save my life. But I could very well have been working with the cheapest Chinese connectors known to man.

Adopting the motto of getting things done when you feel like it is a big and important step into retirement. One of the biggest differences of being free as opposed to living a normal life is to do what, when, and how, you want to, all the time.

Tom

6/13/2019 12:00:08 pm

It's not so much that I'm trying to get it done when I feel like it; every weekend day or day off that I'm not committed to something else and the weather cooperates, I'm up there working on the solar system for the entire day. It's that some things are taking 4 to 5 times as long as I thought they would. There has been some little issue on just about every phase of this project. But, it's getting there, I just have to keep working on it and overcoming obstacles.

6/13/2019 05:04:25 pm

SOME projects only take four or five times as long? Everything I do takes that long so you're doing great.

I look at every DIY project as an obstacle to be overcome, put off for another day, or never get around to. Except the ones that increase my freedom and those will usually get done fairly quickly. My motto is, any work that can be put off for another day makes me stronger.

Tom

Barney Ward link

6/13/2019 03:03:39 pm

Those connectors came out after my solar was installed with butt connectors and shrink wrap tubing. I hope mine will continue to work in spite of not having the complex connectors used now. My first panel was installed in 2007 and the others about a year later.

6/13/2019 05:09:18 pm

I can see why they invented those things I guess if you know what you're doing, and do it every day they can make the job go a lot quicker.

I don't remember using any of those MC4 connectors on the Arctic Fox solar project and nothing has come unglued in the four or five years they've been on top of the Arctic Fox.

Tom

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males look like females, and the females are hot

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