How to Build and Crimp Solar Extension Cables with MC4 Connectors
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video I will show you how to build your own solar extension wire with MC4connectors.
00:00 - 00:17 Intro
00:18 MC4 Connectors Anatomy
02:31 Selecting the Correct Solar Wire
07:15 Installing MC4 Connectors
10:51 Testing the Wire
11:36 Outro
Voltage Drop Video - • What is Voltage Drop!?...
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Bluetti 350 watt Solar Panel - amzn.to/3ZjNLA6
PV Solar Extension Cable - amzn.to/3LYVAbh
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Good info. I don't usually put a lot of thought into how different insulation can determine where you can use that wire. So, good thing to point out.
Thanks for commenting!
This is the best video by far I have seen on crimping and connecting MC4 connectors. Appreciate the closeups and detailed explanations.
This was a life saver 😢... God bless TH-cam
I actually enjoy making cables. I made a lot of my own, including a few exras.
Good idea making extra cables. You never know.
Perfect! Love how quickly and succinctly you explained the confusing male/female and female/male connections 😂
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Absolutely loved the tutorial. Thanks
I generally solder the wire interface after crimping it. It turns out to be really easy to flow solder into it. Be sure not the get solder onto the little metal tabs that seat the pin in the housing. The MC4 will last pretty much forever if you do that. It is not officially required to solder, but its a good idea. MC4 crimps are not cold welds.
Another differentiator is the current rating for the MC4 connectors themselves. There are both 20A and 30A rated MC4s. Always buy the 30A rated connectors, they are generally higher quality. I see a spattering of "50A" rated MC4's advertised but I wouldn't trust them for 50A.
Be sure to use the correct crimper. Basic crimpers don't curl the metal into the wire. MC4-specific crimpers have a double-rounded edge to curl the metal properly.
Do not twist the stranded copper wire. If you do, then the crimp will break copper strands as it forces the metal tabs into the wire.
Use tin-plated copper cable or straight copper cable, stranded in both cases. But do NOT use "poofy" cable (cable with too many copper strands). If you use stranded copper wire that is not tinned, always solder to protect the interface from oxidation. I solder after crimping either way.
Do not use solid copper wire. It must be stranded, and not have too many strands.
Use 10AWG or 6mm^2 "solar" cable. 6mm^2 cable is slightly fatter than 10AWG. Even if you aren't pushing a lot of current you want the losses to be as low as possible. Best to use the properly-rated cable for the application.
Generally speaking, do NOT use MC4 splitters or combiners. Those pieces of plastic with one MC4 on one end and two or three or more MC4's on the other end. These tend to be very low quality and may overheat.
To be honest, it is always a good idea to use a proper combiner box with proper per-string fusing, even if you only have two strings. Not only do you have to ensure that the cables and panels for any individual string remains safe in the event of a short causing all the other string(s) to push their full current into the shorted string, but also the combiner box has other great features too like a master breaker (useful when doing maintenance) and surge protection devices.
That is some great information. Thanks for sharing that!
Excellent video!! I am almost finished with a battery backup unit. This video has been very helpful in later stages. My battery unit has three 12v,100ah batteries, is portable, weathproof and can be charged by either solar panels or plug in charger. Thanks for the video!
Just done this myself. It's easy. If I can do it, _anyone_ can. I now have my second solar panel up and charging my new Bluetti. Yay! No need for crimpers, pliers do the job easily.
Really I thought pliers are bad at crimping
Pliers do NOT do the job "easily" as you have to ensure the crimp covers the ENTIRE cable. If you want to have a fire keep on using pliers. Also, when stripping the plastic off the cable, the cable cannot be gouged.
This video is very handy I need to put ends connectors on a couple of solar panels i have. I had to break the end connectors off to get the solar panels off from the tree connectors.
Nice explanation, thanks
Helpful video thank you
Nice kit.
You're supposed to put the terminal into the crimpers and squeeze just enough that it hold the terminal, then put the wire in, instead of putting the wire into the terminal and then trying to hold it together when you put it in the crimper. That's why it ratchets down instead of just opening back up freely.
Thanks for this excellent pro tip! When I'm not filming it, I put on the terminals a little less awkward than it looked in the video. It's sometimes hard to film these things without blocking the shot with my hands. I wished I knew this before making the video. I appreciate you helping me and others out.
@tpaairman, Why would that make a difference? Not busting your chops, just trying to learn if that could make a difference or cause an issue. Thanks.
@@woolval52 If you put a connector on the wires, then try to load it into the crimpers, it's much more difficult to do and make sure the connector stays in place on the wires, as well as orient the connector the correct way for the crimper. The crimper is designed to hold the connector in place before you put the wires in for that reason.
I have had multiple issues were the MC4 connector didnt connect properly. However, I just take it a part and redo it.
A buddy of mine didnt want to purchase the MC4 connectors so he cut and spliced his panels using heat shrink in series. I am not advising that but its worked for him. Have you tried doing that?
I have not done that. I'm not sure how water tight heat shrink will hold up in the elements over time. So far my MC4 connections are holding up.
I am new to this DIY Solar. Any ideas on where to find a crimper for 8 gauge wire? I intend on using this size of wire for my installation.
I was able to find the ones at this link. I am not sure if this will work or not. I actually ended up cutting one wire strand off the end of the 8 guage wire to fit it into terminal. That was just enough to use my crimper. I would not recommend doing that, but it worked for me. www.solarpanelstore.com/products/rennsteig-mc4-crimp-tool-8-10-12-awg
My system is 8AWG by design. I now have the opportunity to move my panels closer to the inverters and want to shorten the 8AWG solar wire (just like yours, just 8AWG). I have the correct MC4 connectors designed specifically for 8AWG. They do not have the two legs to crimp. They are just a cylinder just like yours have but without that area you crimped. The circular tube the wire slides into is the only thing to crimp. What type of crimper should I use? Is a "barrel crimper" what I need?
Unfortunately I just do not know what kind of crimper to use. I was doing some searching and found that some people were complaining how the normal MC4 crimper will not work on 8 gauge connectors. Some were saying it was very difficult. One person said you have to use a heavy duty crimper. I don't know what that is. I actually ordered what I thought was 8 AWG MC4 connectors from Amazon. I thought it was odd that "MC4" was not mentioned anywhere on the page. But they looked like MC4 connectors. When I got them, I realized they were not MC4. They were very close, but slight different so I returned them. If anyone knows where you can get 8 AWG MC4 connectors and crimpers, please let us know.
Usually 6mm² or 4mm² cable is used. This is AWG 10 or 12
But it must be solar cable that is weather and UV resistant.
The cable should have the print: „H1Z2Z2-K“
„PV1-F“ Cable was previously used and is usually not UV resistant.
In any system or circuit, DC or AC, if voltage goes up, amperage goes down (and vice/versa). Always. Voltage & Amperage are inversely proportional. Your total power (P) is Watts. Watts= Volts (E) x Amps (I), the total number in Watts (P) or in VA (volt/amps) will always remain the same so if one of the two (volts/amps) goes up or down, the other must do the opposite.
Your statement has problems. The current could remain the same as voltage goes down or up if the circuit is designed to do so.
@@martinwhite418 there's no way to "design" a system for amperage to stay the same while voltage changes, or vice/versa ...unless you actually manipulate the voltage or amperage. In a natural occurring AC or DC electrical system the voltage vs amperage will always be inversely proportional. Not sure what you're trying to prove here but by using transformers, auto transformers, rectifiers, regulators, capacitors, etc, or any sort of additional components you're able to do a lot of things in an electrical system. ...but we're not talking about any of that nonsense, not sure why you are.
@@bigmotoxer An electrical circuit is manipulating. Do you think your microwave is nuclear powered?
@@martinwhite418 I don't know what you're getting at or why. An electrical circuit is not "manipulating", that's not even an electrical term. And yes a microwave is nuclear, a microwave uses non ionizing radiation. Honestly you seem very confused, seems that you're very young, or from another country, or not a licensed master electrical contractor with electronics degree like myself.
@@bigmotoxer Nuclear powered microwave. BhHahahahahah. You could Google search "Electrical manipulation of a topological antiferromagnetic state." You are so American. You know it all. Happy reading. Bahahahahha.
What is the largest wire that Mc4 will except.
All the MC4 connectors I have seen and bought only accepted a size up to 10 awg. But I understand from others that they do make some that accept 8 awg, but I have not seen those.
Actually it has been discovered for a few years now that the flow of current goes to the negative side..
This video would have been 100% perfect if u had shown us how it was connected from the panels. We the newbies 😢
Did u plug the positive to the negative or did u plug positive to positive to extend before plugging in the batteries
At 10:53 into the video, I do show hooking up the solar panel to my Bluetti AC200MAX. It may be difficult to see, but I took the positive (male) wire from the panel and hooked that into the positive (female) extension cable MC4 connector. Then I connected the female negative connector from the panel into the male negative extension cable. Solar panels should all have a male positive connector and female negative connector. If the extension cable does not have the correct connectors to plug into, switch the cable around and use the other end of the extension cables to hook to the panel. The male end coming out of the panel should always be positive and it should plug into the female positive connector of the extension cable. That Bluetti solar panel makes it easy identify positive/negative by using red cables for positive and black for negative. Some panels don't do that. Both cables may be black and they just label the wires with a little sticker with a positive '+' or negative '-'. I then plugged the extension cable into the AC200MAX the only way you can. Positive to positive and negative to negative. Just be sure to always have positive and negative running all the way from the panel into the destination positive and negative. In a lot of cases this will be your solar charge controller. But in this case it was my Bluetti AC200MAX. I hope this was helpful.
as far as the disconnect tool goes, it doesn't work, I use some needle nose pliers. I mean for disconnecting the wires.
I noticed these MC4 connectors from different companies can be slightly different. The ones I used worked fine on the connectors that came with the same kit. Maybe these tools mostly work on connectors from the same company.
@@proficientprepper Could be. I never paid attention to what company they were from. I only use needle nose pliers for taking mthem apart because the tool always speads open and slips.
MC4 is a brand. There arw similar designs. However, you must use same brand +ve or -ve. Please cal, them positive and negative as moulded on the aide. NOT male or female.
Thanks for leaving that helpful information. I also had no idea MC4 was a brand.
What a Karen 😂
I stopped using MC4 connectors over one year ago. In my view the lack of manufacturing tolerances makes them dangerous, particularly in high amperage setting. The MC4 connectors will Overbay loverheat and melt..
What are you using instead of MC4 connectors? Anderson maybe? I've seen some people switch to using Anderson connectors. I have not work with Anderson connectors and I'm not sure how water proof they are. Do you leave the MC4s on your solar panels or do you switch those out also?
I use only good quality MC4 connectors only, ever since i had a cheap one overheat and melt once causing very low power till it became an open circuit. Greetings from Jamaica.
@@lawrencedavidson6195 can you please provide the brand? I haven't found any that are totally reliable. It is the manufacturing tolerances with the pin and barrel part. You get any moisture, even high humidity, in those aluminum parts and the don't make full contact causing them to arc and overheat.
"overbay loverheat"?
Try it, and still no power through the cord.
Double check the polarity. One of the first cables I made I got the negative and positive mixed up and it did not work.
Never use elect tape on wire it makes a black glob mess all along the wire. 🥺. Blu petzel zip ties wont degrade in uv. ✌️
Mc4 are democrat connectors. Theyre trans. Fjb. ❤