Wiring Multiple Solar Panels

These different stringing configurations have different effects on the electrical current and voltage in the circuit.

Wiring multiple solar panels.

When an installer wires your solar panels in parallel each panel s wires are connected to a centralized wire leading from the roof. The rule of thumb when connecting solar panels directly to a battery is never connect more than c 10 watts where c is the capacity of your battery. As you probably already know you can wire solar panels either in series or parallel. How to wire multiple charge controllers.

When connecting two or more solar panels in a series your amp charge is stable while your voltage multiplies. In series the current stays the same while the voltage adds up. If you have two 12v solar panels each rated at 5 amps you will retain the 5 amps but would get a 24 volt charge. If you change the wiring you can change the way voltage or current behaves.

Wiring solar panels in parallel. One of the key differences to understand is stringing solar panels in series versus stringing solar panels in parallel. There are two ways to wire up solar panels. Firstly lets take a look at connecting solar panels in series.

Both have their own purpose and applications and both have different outcomes when hooking up solar panels of different wattage together. The amps of electrical current for each solar panel are summed together but the system voltage stays the same. When you intend to wire two panels produced by different vendors the vendors are not the problem. Wiring solar panels in parallel causes the amperage to increase but the voltage remains the same.

With parallel solar panels the positive terminal from one panel is connected to the positive terminal of another panel and the negative terminals of the two panels are connected together. In parallel the voltage stays the same while the current adds up. If you had 4 solar panels in a series and each was rated at 12 volts and 5 amps the entire array would be 48 volts. For example a 110ah battery should never be connected to a panel more than 11w without a solar controller and if you are using a solar controller you do not need a blocking diode.

Wiring solar panels in a series. There are multiple ways to approach solar panel wiring.