Wiring Multiple Solar Panels

There are two ways to wire up solar panels.

Wiring multiple solar panels.

Wiring solar panels in a series circuit connect the positive terminal of the first solar panel to the negative terminal of the next one. 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. When you intend to wire two panels produced by different vendors the vendors are not the problem. One of the key differences to understand is stringing solar panels in series versus stringing solar panels in parallel.

As you probably already know you can wire solar panels either in series or parallel. Wiring solar panels in parallel causes the amperage to increase but the voltage remains the same. Though mixing different solar panels is not recommended it s not forbidden and things would be ok as long as each panel s electrical parameters voltage wattage amps are carefully considered. 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.

If you change the wiring you can change the way voltage or current behaves. In series the current stays the same while the voltage adds up. In parallel the voltage stays the same while the current adds up. 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.

Wiring solar panels in parallel. When connecting two or more solar panels in a series your amp charge is stable while your voltage multiplies. The amps of electrical current for each solar panel are summed together but the system voltage stays the same. There are multiple ways to approach solar panel wiring.

When an installer wires your solar panels in parallel each panel s wires are connected to a centralized wire leading from the roof. Both have their own purpose and applications and both have different outcomes when hooking up solar panels of different wattage together. Firstly lets take a look at connecting solar panels in series. 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.

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. How to wire multiple charge controllers.