100W Poly panel in Home Depot
Don't have a use for solar that small :), but I think the price isn't too bad. You'll have to order, they don't stock it in the aisles. Free shipping, and it is Poly. 100W
Forum Discussion
Almot wrote:
Yes, parallel wiring is (usually) more reliable in partial shading. Though this is a panel bypass issue, not a PWM-MPPT issue. Parallel would work with MPPT same well, if not better. Depends on location and weather pattern.
With the several series parallel type mppt setups I've looked at they all had output current drops more significant on the non shaded string than you would expect if you shaded out one leg. For instance, on a 4 panel setup, two strings of two panels if you shaded out a single panel on one leg the output drop was more like two thirds loss rather than the 50 percent or less you would expect. With single panels in parallel and mppt controller I've always seen similar loss. They seem much to require balanced panels more than the simpler PWM setups do. Some controllers may do better under these sorts of conditions based on how they are programed, but based on the ones I've observed, simpler can be better in many situations.
