Anderson PowerPole Solar & Power Port Upgrade

[CoastieLFS]

This is a small part of a much larger project where I'm replacing most of my 12v connectors with Anderson Powerpole's. In this phase, I replaced my old zamp SAE solar port with the Powerwerx Panel Mount Housing for Two Anderson Powerpole Connectors with a Weather Resistant Cover.

The old zamp SAE removed:

The new Powerwerx Housing:

I should have taken a picture showing the aluminum housing a co-worker fabricated that would cover the old screw holes & accomondate the new housing.

Here are the Ace Hardware neoprene washers I found that fit the outer dimensions perfectly. Just had to enlarge the inner hole:

The inside view:

Outside view:

This Powerwerx housing connects to my new Bluesea fuse box. I can charge the house battery and also connect various accessories to this port. I have a battery selector that I use to switch between the house battery & my Goal Zero Yeti 1500X. This housing will also let me charge the GZ 1500X while it sits safely inside my van.
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'95 Eurovan Camper (2.5L)
'01 Weekender (Colorado Red)
'03 Weekender (Emerald Green)
Portland, OR

[bigfoot_ev]

Wow that looks great. That aluminum housing is especially nicely done.

I'm currently in the process of changing over from SAE to Anderson plugs. I wish I had started from the beginning using Anderson. The SAE plugs seem straight forward enough, in the beginning. But, when you start to accumulate various items and ask yourself should the positive lead be the covered this time, that's when the design breaks down. And if I recall correctly, ZAMP went against tradition. You can't say they did it wrong, it's just the design of the plug is not good.

I recently built a solar generator (stupid name but it's what people are familiar with) and made the decision then to use strictly Anderson for inputs and outputs, so I'm bringing my legacy items into the fold. So much less guess work both building wires and plugging things in.

[sgirard]

Interesting choice to leave the charge controller portable rather than mount it in the van. That never occurred to me but I can see some benefits. I wound up using a mix of xt-60, mc4, and powerpole and I wish I’d just standardized on powerpole. It really seems like the best choice, at least for a portable setup like you have there. I have some similar panels. Mc4 is overkill and I don’t really have enough faith in my soldering skills to enjoy using xt-60. That housing is sweet!
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95 EVC
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