Portable panels wire size
Hey guys, I need some help. Would you consider giving me some advice please? I’m putting together a portable solar panel setup. The panel’s will be the following. Max Power: 140Wp Open Circui...
Forum Discussion
Those are 12V nominal panels. Only on an incredibly sunny perfect day will you see 21V, most of the time you will see 16V to 20V depending on conditions. Putting the long wire run here will get you the best results.
100ft is quite the run. 16ish volts (at the end of the run) is enough for a cheap controller, but you won't see much benefit of MPPT at that voltage.
Have you looked at higher wattage residential type panels? These panels have a much higher voltage which means lower line losses. You do have to buy a more expensive controller however.
I considered building my own portable solar kit, but ended up buying this: 160W Foldable Solar Panel They also have smaller wattage versions, but the boss (DW) would only let me buy one.
The cheap controller surprised me - it actually seems to put out a decent voltage and current. I had originally planned to modify the panels to use different wire, swap out the controller, replace connectors, etc. After testing them out, I will just use them as-is.
100ft is quite the run. 16ish volts (at the end of the run) is enough for a cheap controller, but you won't see much benefit of MPPT at that voltage.
Have you looked at higher wattage residential type panels? These panels have a much higher voltage which means lower line losses. You do have to buy a more expensive controller however.
I considered building my own portable solar kit, but ended up buying this: 160W Foldable Solar Panel They also have smaller wattage versions, but the boss (DW) would only let me buy one.
The cheap controller surprised me - it actually seems to put out a decent voltage and current. I had originally planned to modify the panels to use different wire, swap out the controller, replace connectors, etc. After testing them out, I will just use them as-is.
