Resources being scarce

We went in search of wires/cables that can carry a 200 amp current as well as a 100 amp current. These wires are supposed to go from the battery bank to the bus bars we have installed and then from the positive bus bar to the the two fuse blocks we’ve installed.
Well. from store to store we went. Everyone pointing in a different direction and we wound up driving around for close to three hours within Reykjavík as well as Hafnarfjörður and Kópavogur. For those in the know about Iceland and the places we just mentioned, you’ll know you can drive across these three areas within 20 minutes. So, to spend close to three hours driving back and forth is kind of ridiculous.

At the end we found a place that had said cables, but at a very hefty price! When we were talking to the salesman there he let one word slide, jump cables. See, this store is a wholesale store. It normally doesn’t sell cables or wires unless it’s a big spool. But due to the amperage requirements Axel had set down, he figured we could use the one cable they sell in meters, mainly used for jump cables when people are creating them.

So, Axel told Sunna that we should check out one place more (there wasn’t anyplace left btw), Sunna had no idea what Axel was talking about so she stood her ground and wanted us to buy the fantastically expensive cables there so at least we had them. Axel tried to spin something about maybe knowing a guy who had tools to put terminators on the cable and he wanted to talk to him first. So finally Sunna relented. Well, after we got to the car Axel told Sunna what he was thinking. You can get jumper cables for about 5.000 kr in almost any store that sells stuff for cars. So, instead of buying this cable here for close to 20.000 kr, why not go to any such store and get the cables there, chop of the ends and put ring terminals on them?

Well, today that happened. But we didn’t even have to buy the jumper cables, we already had a pair. So, today became “crimping day” where Axel cut down the jumper cables to the required lengths (he measured thrice!) and put ring terminals on all the cables. The title image on this post shows you the view on Axels desk this evening.

So. tomorrow the basic electric system will finally be functional! The solar cell will finally start charging our two 110Ah batteries and keep them topped up for the road. We still have to connect the switch relay, but this is a good place to start. This way we can at least use lights, USB outlets and our tiny 500W inverter on the go.