Help needed solar panels,

[Mr B]

This is my set up for my solar panels,

What I need to know is how do I join the wires together to bring the panels together into one wire,

Or does it need to be two wires down to the MPPT controller, Then to the Zantrex Pro-Link Battery Monitor then to the Batterys, If I have that right,

The single wires come as a pair, One Red, One Black,

They are the same every thing except the wattage of the panels,

2 X 85 Watts,

2 X 50 Watts,

Its all 12 Volts,

Thanks in Advance,

[djmarchand]

Your solar panels probably have MC-4 cables coming from them. One way is to use the MC-4 cables and connectors to wire up your panels. Let's assume that your MPPT controller can accept a 40 V input. Most can, but check. Then you can wire the two 85 watt panels in series- black from first panel to red to the second panel and black from the second to the controller and red from the first one to the controller. Do the same with the 50 watt panels, so that you have two reds and two blacks going to the MPPT controller. This can all be done with MC-4 cables and series connectors. But you really need the MC-4 crimp tool to do this and it is kind of expensive.

So another way is to clip the connector off of the end of the MC-4 cable and using 10 gauge wire and butt connectors wire them up in series/parallel as above, but using simple butt connectors.

Then run an 8 gauge red and black from your MPPT controller to the house batteries, not to the battery monitor. That is wired in parallel to the house batteries and is independent of the solar panels. Put a 30 amp fuse in the 8 gauge red wire near the batteries.

The foregoing will probably be confusing to the neophyte. Sketch it out to make it clearer to you and if it still doesn't make sense, maybe you need to hire an electrician.

David

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by djmarchand

[...] Then run an 8 gauge red and black from your MPPT controller to the house batteries, not to the battery monitor. That is wired in parallel to the house batteries and is independent of the solar panels. Put a 30 amp fuse in the 8 gauge red wire near the batteries. [...]

If you want your battery monitor to see the solar charging current (which I do, and you probably do as well), the red wire output from the MPPT controller needs to go to the battery + connection, and the black wire to the house ground connection (not the battery -). This runs the solar charging current through the monitor's shunt resistor.

[Mr B]

Thank you, The whole system was cut off my boat after it was sunk,, For Salvage and Transport,

Yes. That is easy to follow, Your info,

I just couldnt remember how the panels were wired up, They were all over the boat,

I had one panel on the rails, one on the roof and two on the Hammock out the back,

MC connectors are no longer on the wires, So I will join them with connectors,

I am putting the complete system into my RV, I can use it till my boat is repaired, ?????????

I will buy a complete new system for my boat, 400 Watts, 2 X 200 Watts, Both go on the roof of my boat, and I will have more solar with less panels,

currently 200 Watt panels are $209-00 each, So cheap enough, 1600 X 800 mm panels,

Battery Monitor is Essential on the Boat, Going in, Going out, and Battery Charge Condition, Solar, Wind, Main Engine, No Genny,

You need to know before your Batterys are Flat and your stuck some where,

The RV, Not Neccessary, It has a Battery Charge monitor as part of the Engine system, and a Flat Battery, Change the Batterys, Delivered to me where ever I am on land, Ring RACV, Hahahaha, And I can walk home,