Fuse sizes and their usage is so critical like the wiring page that this whole page is dedicated to it. Like wiring this is where mistakes can be easily made, and the consequences of getting it wrong are dire - So again make sure your ready for a little detail.


The fuse should always be rated less than the wire/run it is protecting, the fuse must always be the weakest link!
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It is essential to insert a fuse between the solar panel and battery, and again between the battery and distribution fuse box. If the current (Amps) in a circuit is higher than the system can cope with overheating will occur. Thats why you must fit a main fuse to cope with a system overheat situation, or more drastically a short circuit. If you have got your sums right you will have good protection, below is a circuit drawing showing the fuses selected for the load (appliances connected).




A selection of automotive blade fuses, these are really a very convenient system with fuse holders readily available in most automotive shops.




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Other pages to help you with the installation are:-

	How to wire up a basic solar panel system Is your battery bank correctly wired up?
	The Big Live Solar Panel Experiment See how our 27w solar panel performs under live conditions
	Battery care
	Looking after a leisure battery
	Solar circuits
•	Coming soon selecting and fitting fuses to your solar system.

To communicate with us over technical issues please use the Solar Chat Forum, also take a look at the Solar Q&A page.

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Global Warming - it's why we are making changes to our way of life!

David Bellamy has a very interesting article on global warming where he gives another point of view, Read the article