How To Wire Your Solar Panel To Your Charge Controller

Maximum power point tracking mppt charge controllers are for wiring solar panels in a series where pulse width modulation pwm charge controllers are used to wire solar panels in parallel.

How to wire your solar panel to your charge controller.

However before you can get started you ll need to install a charge controller which regulates the voltage from the solar panel as it s transferred to the battery. Charging your batteries with a solar panel is a great way to use clean renewable energy. Low power charge controllers are widely available commonly used on 12 volt battery systems. Usually 12 24 or 48 volts.

If you have any dc load then you can connect it to the output of the charge controller. Enter the distance in feet from your solar panels to your battery bank charge controller. Enter solar panel output voltage. The second fuse between your solar panels and charge controller is a little bit different to figure out.

As you see in the connection diagram at first the solar panel is connected to the solar charge controller and then a 24v battery is connected to the charge controller. For instance if you have one of our 40amp charge controllers we would recommend using an 40amp fuse. Connecting the solar panel charge controller mppt or pwm are the same solar battery and the pv array in the right way is the essential work before enjoying the solar energy. Enter the total amps that your solar panels will produce all together.

Click on calculate to see the size wire required in awg american wire gauge. Voltage drop in a single panel system as you can see in the calculation the voltage drop is 4 09 which will reduce the overall power delivered to the charge controller. However if you are considering a higher powered system such as for an off grid cabin or whatever i recommend that you contact iron edison in denver. How you size your solar charge controller is dependent on the type of charge controller you have.

A charge controller is a determining factor when it comes to solar panel wiring. It does this by using a transistor to shunt the pv charging circuit. They will be happy to help determine your needs they distribute charge controllers. Refer to sunwize s tech note on solar charge controller types for more information due to popularity we will focus on sizing mppt charge controllers.

For example your solar panel delivers 18 volts dc and 5 8 amps to the charge controller and the wire length is 40 feet. Solar charge controller functions. The size of this fuse is dependent on how many solar panels you have and how they are connected series parallel or series parallel. The function of a charge controller is to regulate the charge going into your battery bank from your solar panel array and prevent overcharging and reverse current flow at night.

Wiring diagram of solar panel with battery inverter charge controller and loads.