Calling on Solar Techies
I have been thinking of going solar for some time and decided to pull the plug. My wants are a 400 to 500 watt system. I have four 12 volt batteries with 340ah. I am not planning on changing b...
Forum Discussion
You don't use max power point with PWM so forget that. You don't care much about voltage drop on the panel to controller wires with PWM either. Just what amps you get. Panel voltage will be near battery voltage 12-14.5ish.
You need to reduce voltage drop controller to battery so the controller set to 14.6 (say) will not stop charging at 14.2 or whatever, thinking the batts are 14.6 when they are really 14.2. That's why the 5 ft. Or use fatter wire if farther away. Fuse to the wire gauge if fatter wire.
Five 100w at 6 amps each is 30 amps, so #10 panel to controller should be ok even at 35 ft one way, but I would use #8 if there is a choice. Most of the day you don't get full amps like you do at noon, so it is not as big a deal as it might seem using noon numbers.
You need to reduce voltage drop controller to battery so the controller set to 14.6 (say) will not stop charging at 14.2 or whatever, thinking the batts are 14.6 when they are really 14.2. That's why the 5 ft. Or use fatter wire if farther away. Fuse to the wire gauge if fatter wire.
Five 100w at 6 amps each is 30 amps, so #10 panel to controller should be ok even at 35 ft one way, but I would use #8 if there is a choice. Most of the day you don't get full amps like you do at noon, so it is not as big a deal as it might seem using noon numbers.
