Battery and Solar Disconnect Install Questions

[dewdev]

@Tony and Rhonda

 

I would suggest before drilling to put some (blue) tape on the area to be drilled and start drilling slowly so you do not chip the jelcoat.

 

[Tony and Rhonda]

@Snackchaser, not sure how this would work since the marine hatch rotates over 360 degrees.

[Tony and Rhonda]

21 hours ago, dewdev said:

@Tony and Rhonda

 

I would suggest before drilling to put some (blue) tape on the area to be drilled and start drilling slowly so you do not chip the jelcoat.

 

I'll put tape on both sides of the fiberglass and drill slowly. I have some carbide hole saws so hopefully it will slowly grind thru the fiberglass without other damage. At least in the pantry it won't be very visable.

It will be good practice for drilling a hole for the BMV-712 display.

Thanks, Tony

[dewdev]

@Tony and Rhonda

I drilled out the fiberglass  in the pantry yesterday to install the switch. The fiberglass was only 1/8" thick.

[Tony and Rhonda]

@dewdev I know to tape the fiberglass and drill slowly. I plan to drill the pilot hole first and then follow with the hole saw. Did you use a toothed hole saw or an diamond or carbide edged saw? I have both a diamond and a carbide edge saw but the diamond saw (Amazon) is larger than advertised and the carbide saw (Harbor Freight) seems very course.

I haven't been working on our Ollie since late June due to the weather here. Highs in the mid-90's with heat index in the 100's. Very frustrating! May be able to get something done by the end of next week, highs 'supposed' to drop to the low to mid-80's. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, Tony and Rhonda said:

@dewdev I know to tape the fiberglass and drill slowly. I plan to drill the pilot hole first and then follow with the hole saw. Did you use a toothed hole saw or an diamond or carbide edged saw? I have both a diamond and a carbide edge saw but the diamond saw (Amazon) is larger than advertised and the carbide saw (Harbor Freight) seems very course.

I haven't been working on our Ollie since late June due to the weather here. Highs in the mid-90's with heat index in the 100's. Very frustrating! May be able to get something done by the end of next week, highs 'supposed' to drop to the low to mid-80's. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I drilled one 4" hole and five 3" holes for closet/bathroom vents and to vent an oven that replaced our microwave. I just used a new high-quality standard hole saw, likely it was carbide steel, not diamond. I did not bother to tape using a hole-saw. It really doesn't help anything. I do tape when using a jigsaw since the base can cause surface marring.

In some places the fiberglass is thin, like the 1/8" stated at the pantry. In some places it's double-layered and a plug about 3/4" could be removed. Use a low-speed and a clutch setting on your drill since large hole saws will catch when very slightly off angle. The clutch will save your wrist and the work surface since it will slip when catching vs. jumping.

It's late July, so summer is here another 6 weeks and it's hot everywhere. Our weather has been a little cooler for a few days now, but I'm working a brake job this weekend regardless with my son on his '97 T100. We don't have the choice to wait for cooler weather! Two weeks ago, it was my truck and my garage was 105F in the afternoons, fortunately without your humidity. A floor fan helped, lot's of water and electrolytes!

Working in the Oliver? NP, just turn on the A/C! I installed my new inverter/charger and moved all the wiring that was under the streetside bed to under the rear dinette seat during July 2024. It was 100+ in my garage and a cool 75F inside the Oliver! 🤣

Edited July 26 by jd1923

[Galway Girl]

On 6/17/2025 at 3:01 PM, Geronimo John said:

 

Some of our older Olivers don't had a solar cutoff but instead have as a safety from shorts a 30A self resetting circuit breaker.  I suppose one could wire in a 30Amp solar cutoff right after that and mount it in the under bed area where that circuit breaker is located.

Saw this demo video showing how that breaker works....about half way into the video.  Didn't realize that the ones in some of our Olivers don't have a button to push, but reset automatically after the spring circuit inside cools down.

Cheers,

Craig

 

[dewdev]

On 7/26/2025 at 11:08 AM, Tony and Rhonda said:

@dewdev I know to tape the fiberglass and drill slowly. I plan to drill the pilot hole first and then follow with the hole saw. Did you use a toothed hole saw or an diamond or carbide edged saw? I have both a diamond and a carbide edge saw but the diamond saw (Amazon) is larger than advertised and the carbide saw (Harbor Freight) seems very course.

I haven't been working on our Ollie since late June due to the weather here. Highs in the mid-90's with heat index in the 100's. Very frustrating! May be able to get something done by the end of next week, highs 'supposed' to drop to the low to mid-80's. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Tony:

It has been hot in Maine but not as bad as  your weather. I started the AC about 1/2 hour before starting the work.

I used a brand new plain metal toothed hole saw with the center arbor (drill bit) attached to a battery operated drill. I drilled slowly until the bit made the hole. I then drilled in reverse to get the hole saw started into the jellcoat. After the hole saw was started into the fiberglass, I completed the hole by  drilling in forward. The hole came out perfect with not chips of the jellcoat. Be sure to keep both hands on the drill so the hole saw does not bounce around.

Edited July 27 by dewdev

[dewdev]

21 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

Some of our older Olivers don't had a solar cutoff but instead have as a safety from shorts a 30A self resetting circuit breaker.  I suppose one could wire in a 30Amp solar cutoff right after that and mount it in the under bed area where that circuit breaker is located.

Saw this demo video showing how that breaker works....about half way into the video.  Didn't realize that the ones in some of our Olivers don't have a button to push, but reset automatically after the spring circuit inside cools down.

Cheers,

Craig

 

My 2018 does not have the solar 30A breaker that you show in your picture. 

Edited July 27 by dewdev

[Tony and Rhonda]

@dewdev Thank you for the detailed "How To." It's finally cooled off here (for a couple days) so I'll be working on the trailer this weekend.

Thanks again, Tony

[SeaDawg]

If he's charging off ac power,   but not solar, it's likely an issue with the solar charge controller. Or, solar wiring.

We live off solar, home, and trailer, and boat.

If batteries accept charge from ac, it's something in the solar panel wiring system, or charge controller.

Edited Saturday at 01:31 AM by SeaDawg
Spelling

[Tony and Rhonda]

I'm happy to report progress on my solar disconnect switch. I've drilled my first hole in our Oliver.

And installed the switch.

Unfortunately I ran into a problem as I was making the short wire between the 3/8" ring terminal post on the BlueSea switch and the ring terminal to the back of the Zamp. I ordered 3/8", 5/16" and 1/4' ring terminals for the 6awg wire attaching to the back of the Zamp. Unfortunately it uses 3/16". They should be in today.

I also noticed something that makes me a little concerned about the solar wiring safety. I'm not an electrician but this install does not look like it was done by an electrician either. If you look closely at the red (+) wire connections in the photo below, it appears at least a couple of the ring terminals used on the 6awg solar wire are under sized. It's hard to see but the "excess" wire strands are wrapped around the ring terminal and covered by heat shrink. The black (-) wire connections look OK.

Not sure if this is common practice but it seems unsafe and more like a DIY rather than a professional install.

I haven't removed any of these ring terminals yet but, but once I do, I'm going to cut off the heat shrink to examine this more closely

[Galway Girl]

I like where you put your unit in the side of the pantry.  

I assume you had enough original lead wire coming from the solar panel to reach over to that wall. In hull 505 they left a ton of wire for the run after the controller down to the battery, but not an extra inch on the roof solar leads.  

I also just finished the installation of a Blue Sea Dual Circuit Cutoff Switch m 6010 and then read your post.
Thanks for showing the pix !

Full Blog Post here:  https://4-ever-hitched.com/blog-articles/f/install-a-solar-cutoff-switch?blogcategory=Electrical+Upgrades

 

After inpecting the space I decided to mount the switch to the left side of the Zamp solar controller.  
A bit ugly but very visible to anyone using the trailer.
I'll be adding a label just above the switch for instructions.

 

Finished Installation Below
- M 6010 Blue Seas Dual Circuit Cutoff Switch mounted as a bulkhead mounting.

 

Here are a few "in the process" photos and the steps taken for this installation:

SWITCH USED: Blue Sea Dual Circuit Cutoff Switch m 6010
WHY:  The code for Solar Cutoff is that the switch must disconnect both legs of the solar panel leads.
This means a dual pole (dual circuit) switch is recommended.  

Buy it from Amazon:   Blue Sea 6010 Dual Feed Switch

Mounting considerations:

This switch can be mounted in 3 ways... I chose the middle -  bulkhead front panel mount - for ease of installation.
 

 

6010 Blue Sea Switch Dimensions - Front Panel Mount hole saw size is 2 5/8".

 

 

Installation Process:

1) Covered the solar panels with cardboard so the panels were dark with no voltage output.

2) Unplugged trailer from Shore Power and turned off the Lithionics Batteries.

3) Removed the 2 screws holding the  Zamp Controller and inspected the space for positioning of the switch.

4) Decided based on my particular situation to cut off 5" of the leads coming FROM the Solar Panels.  
I reuse the cut portion leaving on the Zamp connectors to connect between the switch and the input side of the controller. (Note:  If you have a bit more length on the input solar cable, it would be better to have about 8" of cutoff to make mounting the switch easier.)

Here are the leads being prepped that will go from the output side of the switch to the input portion of the Zamp controller. The switch has 3/8" (M10) lugs, so I crimped #6 x 3/8" lugs to each of the cut wires.  Heat shrink was added to each.   (Note - I left the Zamp output leads mounted to the controller as they were and just checked for tightness when re-installing Zamp into mounting hole.)

5) Mounted the leads back onto the controller.  Crimped the leads onto the lines coming from the solar panels.

Next phase is drilling hole and mounting the switch.

6) Prepared and drilled the hole at the centerline of the controller and centered on the empty space. 
As I was doing a front mount of the switch I needed to use a 2 5/8" hole saw to match the engineering drawings for the switch.  The bag at the bottom is to catch the shavings that come out the front as the hole is drilled.

 

7) Attached the input leads and output leads to the switch and tightened using a 14mm Deep Socket.

8. Mounted the switch by predrilling holes and then attached with stainless pan head #10 screws / 3/4". 
(Note - I drilled the holes slightly smaller than the screw so they had bite.  You can also just drill holes and use stainless bolts with lock washers on the back side.)

 

9) Go remove the covers from the solar panels and test....voila you now have a solar cutoff switch for storage and safety while working on your electrical systems.

 

Craig 

Hull 505 - Galway Girl

 

 

 

Edited 10 minutes ago by Galway Girl
Pix