Summer's finally here and I'm making new connectors for my solar power system.
By Julian
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
Good morning all…
Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado
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A while back I ran a service call that involved some outdoor wifi equipment. To weatherproof the connections I went to a Home Depot and picked up this roll of "stuff", it's black, rubbery, a couple of inches wide, and sticks to itself very nicely. Since then I've also used it for weatherproofing some of my ham radio antenna connections that are outdoors. It doesn't affect the connectors, and it seals very nicely to keep the weather out…
A few nitpicks: 1) You should make sure to include drip loops next to any connections so that water can drip off of the wire before it reaches your connectors. Done correctly, the connections would be slightly elevated with a loop of wire going lower than the connector on both sides. (picture a W shape with the connection at the top of the center peak) 2) as several others have pointed out, banana plugs are not water/corrosion resistant 3) You can get a bottle of dielectric grease for about $5 and completely flood the connectors to prevent condensation from forming inside the connector. (this is probably what killed the original connectors, not a leak at the banana seat) and lastly 4) you didn't properly seal the boot on any of those wire connections, so you'll have moisture wicking through the inside of the wires and into the line-end of your connectors even if you do replace the banana plugs.
For my 12V system I use XT60 connectors on low voltage garden lighting cable (black, UV resistant and moisture resistant) and cover the connection with adhesive heatshrink. The glue ensures the rear of the connector is sealed and a ring of electrical tape between the mated connectors makes it submersibly waterproof. I quite like the ease of use of the XT60, two bullets in a plastic housing that makes a really good solid connection and is easy to plug into in the dark.
I wonder if silicon grease would be of use Julian. I have never been able to source it at regular hardware outlets.
Silicone grease is commonly used for weatherproofing automotive sockets/connections and would be my choice for this application here.
Not about connectors, but this is a new video on solar, plz excuse me. I read some time ago that connecting individual cells in parallel means that if one is getting a lot more light than the other (eg shadow) it will push a reverse current through the other one which can damage it. So are panels made purely of series connected cells, with these groups paralleled by a diode for each group, or is uneven light coverage something to be very careful about? Or am I simply wrong?! 🙂
I put grease on all electrical connectors used outside or on the car. EG inside block connectors (choc blocks), car battery terminals, croc clips. I use standard bearing grease. If there is a chance that rubber O rings or plastic may be damaged by bearing grease I use silicone grease, although it doesn't work as well. Bearing grease works best, I dip the wires in it before screwing them into a connector.
You couldn't find any connectors that were more cumbersome to use?
That case brings back memories of the early 80's as a field service engineer on IBM PC's in central London – How things have moved on!
just put the connectors inside a sealed plastic box, drill holes for the cables at the bottom side of the box so the water cant get insided, will stay dry forever
Cover the O-Ring with some Silicon Grease – much better water protection.
…… Tell your neighbour to SHUT UP !, (I can hear him in Australia !)
As per many of the other comments, I have two points.
i) I cannot believe that you are using such completely unsuitable connectors for outdoors when many suitable connectors exist, in particular for automotive applications.
ii) You should avoid putting Vaseline on most plastics as it can cause them to degrade. Silicon grease would be much more suitable. You could, however, smear a little Vaseline on the battery terminals and the metal parts of their connectors to reduce corrosion. This is commonly done in garages to prevent the build up of lead oxide on the battery terminals which causes poor conductivity.
What I'd do for those wires and banana plugs is tin the wires, put them in with the screws, and then reflow the solder on the wire so it bonds to the connector. That said, I'm the idiot who put copper and steel battery clamps touching each other from two charge controllers on the same battery. Can anyone say rust?
Man, those connectors suck…
Cheers!