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Old 04-10-2010, 12:16   #16
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mine donot shut down in shade--they produce less but shade still has uv in it-- i have each panel independent of the others-- 2 are on same controller, but enter individually. controller has places for more than one panel input, as long as not in excess of the number of amps controlled by that controller. i have 2 of the 3 amp rated panels on one 6 amp regulator and i have a 130 wt panel on my 10 amp regulator. both are wired onto my electrical panel to a breaker .
WHEN i get my wind genny , i will have it on a separate breaker and a separate controller and will be able to shut it off when the sun is shining-- and turn it on when the wind is blowing enough to make a difference--sometimes the wind source can make the sun source shut down--so i want different breakers for them.
What are you looking at for wind generators? I had an AirX (original) that froze on my last boat, and a lot of reports I hear are bad/worse.
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Old 03-06-2011, 10:52   #17
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parrallel ?

regarding parallel vs series wiring,
1 the typical voltage as messured at the panel is apox 17/19 for parallel and 34/38 volts
2 the current for parallel is double the spec for the solar panel note...you should use blocking diodes 2x the spec current
3 the current for the series connection is the same for the spec for the solar panel but voltage doubles
4 general marine note read the fine salt water non warranty print by the MFR.
5 in general you will only see 80% of actual panel rating as a max
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Old 06-06-2011, 10:55   #18
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parrallel ?

Ok to make this a bit more confusing. If one has all three wind, solar, and shore, how would you connect them? From what I have read each should be a separate controller - Ok. But can you hook all of them up to the same battery bank? I have a Charles charger and I am told it will shut done if the charging voltage is more from the solar and wind. The controller that came with the solar says it will shut down once the batteries are fully charged, but what happpens if all three are working at the same time??
When crusing I would want to make use of the wind AND sun to keep the batteries charged.
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Old 06-06-2011, 11:10   #19
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parrallel ?

About parallel ve series. As a land electrician you would generally not want it wired in series, as has been said before - one goes out all go out. The kit I bought has 4 panels and they are pre-wired and just plug into each other. The last one has a cable that runs to the controller, so I am assuming they are wired in parallel, but don't know for sure. Didn't think to look as it was a plug and play system, but my curosity it peaked and will go back and see.
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Old 06-06-2011, 11:26   #20
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parallel ?

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Originally Posted by jtallen2489 View Post
Ok to make this a bit more confusing. If one has all three wind, solar, and shore, how would you connect them? From what I have read each should be a separate controller - Ok. But can you hook all of them up to the same battery bank? I have a Charles charger and I am told it will shut done if the charging voltage is more from the solar and wind. The controller that came with the solar says it will shut down once the batteries are fully charged, but what happpens if all three are working at the same time??
When crusing I would want to make use of the wind AND sun to keep the batteries charged.
Each controller will sense voltage at the battery and will act accordingly, so yes they will affect each other. If you're getting 13.x on the house bank that sensed voltage will cause other controllers to reduce output accordingly. This is no different than starting your engine/alternator when you have solar or wind. Bottom line, your charge rate will not exceed the acceptance rate of your house bank, no matter how much reserve charge capacity you have.
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Old 22-01-2018, 06:28   #21
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parrallel ?

my solar panels charge my batteries for my dc refrigeration system, my wind generator charges my house battery, my engine is charging the engine battery....I have three separate battery banks...the banks are connected to combibers..one combiner connects refrigeration with house, one combiner connects house to engine battery...as the engine is charging the engine battery, it eventually "combines" all batteries...the same holds thru for the wind generator, and the solar panels..
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Old 22-01-2018, 09:33   #22
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parrallel ?

7 yo thread resurrection
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Old 22-01-2018, 09:37   #23
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Re: Solar Panels - Wire in Series, or Parrallel ?

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Giving some thought to the wiring of solar panels and with MPPT controllers able to cope with high voltages, it seems to me to make sense to wire solar panels in series rather than parallel, and then allow the controller to sort out the result.
There is no one answer that will suit everyone's setup.

Having recently finished the install of my 1.1kw solar set-up I can pass on the advice that I received from Morning Star (The maker of my Tri-Star MPPT controllers). I have three arrays, one either side of the hard top and one above the dinghy on the stern davits. The rear array is wired in series to a controller. I am happy to have it wired in series as there is nothing that can partially shade any of the panels causing a dramatic drop in output. Either they are in the sun or they are not. Having them in series allows the use of smaller cable as they do not carry the increased amperage of a parallel setup.

I asked Morning Star if I could use one extra MPPT controller for the remaining panels on the hard top. The cables are sufficiently sized to carry the increased amperage. My concern was that normally one of the arrays would at least be partially shaded. This called for a parallel set up for both of them. They responded by saying that every array should have its own solar controller...see here; https://www.morningstarcorp.com/para...ate-pv-arrays/

Now I have three arrays, one in series, two in parallel going to three MPPT controllers.
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