Just Starting Solar Research
Man, there's a lot to read and digest with possibly installing a small solar panel. I very recently replaced my original 1-stage converter/charger with the Progressive Dynamics PD4600 series conve...
Forum Discussion
Hi Mitch,
Go to one of the many online voltage drop calculators. That will give you the voltage drop. It really is almost a non issue for PWM controllers so long as the wire is rated for the number of amps that may be produced. Since the controller is rated for 30 amps I'd use #10 wire from the panels to it--this will allow more panels to be added in the future.
Here is an example:
17 volts from the panels needs to be 14.8 coming out of the battery side of the controller. 14.8 / 17 = about a whopping 8.7% voltage drop. The wire would have to be SERIOUSLY undersized to create such a drop--or the length would have to be tremendous.
For MPPT voltage drop IS important so wire needs to be larger than the 'legal limit'.
On the output side of the controller wire size raises it's head again and I'd encourage you to use the largest wire size that the output terminals can handle.
Go to one of the many online voltage drop calculators. That will give you the voltage drop. It really is almost a non issue for PWM controllers so long as the wire is rated for the number of amps that may be produced. Since the controller is rated for 30 amps I'd use #10 wire from the panels to it--this will allow more panels to be added in the future.
Here is an example:
17 volts from the panels needs to be 14.8 coming out of the battery side of the controller. 14.8 / 17 = about a whopping 8.7% voltage drop. The wire would have to be SERIOUSLY undersized to create such a drop--or the length would have to be tremendous.
For MPPT voltage drop IS important so wire needs to be larger than the 'legal limit'.
On the output side of the controller wire size raises it's head again and I'd encourage you to use the largest wire size that the output terminals can handle.
