Wiring Unlimited

Wiring Unlimited is now available! Download it for free here: Wiring-Unlimited-EN.pdf

What is Wiring Unlimited?

A Victron Energy book by Margreet Leeftink, Information Developer for Victron Energy B.V.

Wiring Unlimited is all about electrical wiring of systems containing batteries, inverters, chargers and inverter/chargers – and going by the testaments on the Victron Community, an invaluable resource.

Wiring Unlimited’s primary purpose is to aid in the understanding of the basic principles behind certain electrical concepts and how they apply to Victron Energy products and the installation of such products.

Victron Community reaction to Wiring Unlimited

Here’s some Victron Community comments to give you a taste of the reaction to Margreet’s book. Topics covered in the book are below these comments.

• Michael R · Very good all round intro and guidance. Well done.
• Glenn M – Thank you for this excellent resource. An essential reference for anyone planning a renewable energy system.
• Stephen O – I had been searching around for something like this book for quite some time. Finally found it. Thank you….game-changer!
• Alan -Excellent work on this, with the section on earthing, off grid, grid connected etc.
• Pat D – Just got around to reading the book, it’s great. Not sure what Victron is paying you, but it’s not enough.
• dazey77 – Nice book. I am not really the target audience being electronic trained but its nicely done.
• JohnC – Stunning stuff, thank you Margreet. And of all the things that caught my fancy, the treatment of the Victron logo on the opening page is a masterstroke of art.
• A_V – Great work, Margaret! Thank you, especially for the numbers and examples! Good to have everything in one doc. Lots of useful information and also tricks that I have not read elsewhere.
• Markus – This is super helpful.Thank you very much!
• paulo3233 – Very good book. Full of information! Thank you.

Topics covered

• Ohm’s Law
• Power
• Conductivity and resistance
• Current, cable resistance and voltage drop
• Negative effects of cable voltage drop
• Ripple
• Battery bank wiring
• Battery bank
• Large battery banks
• Parallel battery bank wiring
• Battery bank balancing
• Battery bank midpoint
• DC wiring
• Select the right cable
• Busbars
• Cable connections
• Fuses and circuit breakers
• DC isolation switches
• Shunt
• Parallel and/or 3 phase system DC wiring

Example Schematic – Parallel and/or 3 phase system DC wiring (Parallel – Measuring DC imbalance)

• Large system busbars

Example Schematic – Large system busbars

• Voltage sensing and compensation
• Solar panels
• Communication wiring
• Data signals
• Interference
• Communication cables and connector types
• Interfaces
• AC wiring
• Power generation
• Distribution networks
• System current VA and Watt
• AC wiring
• Fuses and circuit breakers
• AC bypass switch
• Special considerations for AC wiring of parallel and/or 3 phase inverter/chargers
• Ground, earth and electrical safety
• Electrical safety
• Earth wiring
• RCD
• Neutral to earth link in inverters and in inverter/chargers
• Mobile installations
• Isolation and grounding of Victron Equipment
• System grounding
• Galvanic corrosion
• Preventing galvanic corrosion
• The galvanic isolator
• The isolation transformer

Conclusion

Here’s my own reaction to Wiring Unlimited – It’s the kind of booklet us old steam engineers could have done with years ago. Although I did know the basics from Royal Navy college days, it’s great to have such a comprehensive Victron flavoured document. Amazing work by Margreet.

Feel free to add your own comments/compliments in Disqus below. For technical queries please post on the Victron Community.

Download Wiring Unlimited: Wiring-Unlimited-EN.pdf

Other technical information downloads such as Recommended Battery Cables and much more are here.

John Rushworth