Common Wire Mistakes in a Mobile, Marine, and Off-Grid Electrical System

🔌 Welcome back to EXPLORIST.life! In the last four lessons, we've covered everything there is to know about wire size, wire insulation, wire ampacity, and more. But what happens when you make poor wire choices? 🤔

In lesson #5 of our Wire Basics chapter, we dive into common wire mistakes and how to avoid them. Understanding these pitfalls is crucial for any electrical project, whether you're a DIY enthusiast or a seasoned pro.

Join me as we explore the most frequent errors and provide practical tips to ensure your wiring is safe and effective. Let's get started! ⚡️

📺 Watch, learn, and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insightful content from EXPLORIST.life!

#WireBasics #ElectricalWiring #DIY #EXPLORISTlife

This is episode 3.5 in our Wire Basics Playlist in the EXPLORIST.life Academy.

Be sure to write your score in the comments so we can see how you did!

Here are some additional resources that you may find helpful with planning and installing your DIY Camper:

FULL ELECTRICAL INSTALLS:

00:00 Introduction
00:40 Instead of bigger wires, can I just use multiple smaller wires?
03:05 Can I just use wire from my local hardware store?
03:43 Can I use 4AWG instead of 4/0?
04:20 Can I just oversize my wires to be safe?
05:18 Can I just use smaller wire? (DEMO)
11:35 Final Thoughts

[JAYFEATHERBOONDOCKS]

So important to install proper wire size and fusing. I feel like I know it all and do everything properly especially with these auto passthrough inverters. With the auto passthrough on RV’s for instance a guy can easily draw 3500 watts like I found out last weekend. I decided to exercise the batteries as I had been plugged in to shore power for two months. So I unplugged the camper left the Air conditioner on, washed the dishes then microwaved lunch. While microwaving I noticed the inverter putting out excessive heat on the back of my legs got to looking and I had forgotten to shut off the water heater tanks electric element. So at one time I was pulling 1300 watts A/C 1500 watts water heater and 750 watts microwave. It was a humming. Although everything can handle it I have nowhere near enough battery and solar to maintain such a load throughout the day. Had I made that simple easy to do mistake with 2/0 cable and no fuse it would have been dangerous, stinky, scary as well as hot.

[dougiefresh]

Thank you for passing your knowledge on to everyone. We used your supplies and had a good install. Need a few questions answered and your team was on it. Would highly recommend you to any van builder.

[Capt-John-T-Moore]

I’m designing a 48v system using EG4 and Victron components. Your videos have been very helpful in the making sure the wires included with the inverter will be accurate in the rating range of the different applications of this system

[mikedidier]

Very good demo. Thanks for the visual.

[louf]

Nice demonstration.
It confuses me how the load wattage is applied to the battery voltage for amperage because, for example, a 125A MIG welder can use a 120V 20A circuit.

[jamesdean]

2:27 anyone else feel like they are having a stroke 😕 🙃
It's like watching that scene in the matrix, gonna have to watch it twice. 😂

[jamesdean]

Unlimited power 🔋 888
And another comment for the algorithm. Haha, I can only imagine what your notifications are looking like now. 👍

[plokijij]

I was running a capacity test on a 12 volt 200ah lithium battery a while ago using my usual equipment running 1\0 cable. I noticed a significant temperature increase on the negative cable. I don’t have a flur but using the temperature setting on my multimeter it was over 20 degrees C more than the positive! I have tested a lot of batteries but have not seen this with any of the others. There must be some sort of resistance on the negative side of the battery maybe through the BMS or the cells themselves? What do you think could cause this?

[TrueLivingOverland]

I got a multiplus II and the two battery studs for each confused the crap out of me. I bought 1/0 wire and if I understand this I can only use these if I use two of each? Is that why you recommended 4/0

[Anjanya]

Can you come and set up a system for me? ❤❤❤❤

[Jayda]

Fro safety reasons, I would use smaller fuse, not larger fuse. In your case it would be under 400A, not over 400A. Since the wire rated for 245A, I would go at most with 350A fuse.
Why do you ask?? Well Watson the answer is simple. Fuses are cheap to replace and replacing RV from electrical wire is not cheap.

[jeffschroeder]

I guess there probably are viewers that don't believe that current and wire size matter until they actually see it?

[rickhudson]

Nate, thank you for this wiring basics set of videos!

[roversberg]

is it ok for a wire to reach 80'C (copper wire ) on the negative wire when discharging battery to the grid on a ess home system ?

[CalebShaw-fkxm]

A thermal camera is a must for building and servicing DC electrical systems. It's also great for assessing insulation effectiveness in a van or house, thermal bridges and leaks. All electrical equipment generates heat including security cameras and spy cameras, so you can use a thermal camera to find hidden cameras in a hotel room AirBNB etc. Infiray T3S sensor is amazing but there is also the P2 at more modest price on Amazon. Ulefone phone manufacturer has one unit with a thermal camera built in.

[FarqueKnowsWhere]

Bloopers are good value. Good demo and Q&A. Once I understood fuses are to protect wiring and to know how many amps potentially will be travelling around the circuit, and distance, I’m confident to work out wire size now, with the aid of your wire sizing calculator and other wiring tables, and that’s given me project confidence. Thanks Nate

[mickmitchell]

I have Studer 50A - 2 input / 3 output battery isolator which has two 240v battery chargers, a small solar array and the alternator connected to it, and three battery banks. I want to replace my leisure battery bank with Lithium. Can i fit a DC _ DC charge controller between the isolator and the lithium battery bank?

[Kathy-xl]

Nate, am I remembering correctly that when you wire up any component that the negative and positive wires should be the same length regardless if you need the length on both sides or not?
Thank you

[inglesd]

Wire is expensive, but fire is more expensive!

[FreedomVanGo]

Awesome work as always! Particularly in the standards and deviation from Manuals. So important to look at all factors!