Serial vs Parallel Solar Panel Shading
I was asked if a post in another thread if this "Serial is actually better for shading (than parallel) if that is a concern for you." was a typo. It is not a typo but panel shading is not always under...
Forum Discussion
CA Traveler wrote:
Three 60 cell 30V panels with 3 bypass diodes in each panel. Each panel can be viewed as composed of 3 subpanels each with a bypass diode. As shown below the output would consist of 20+30+20 = 70V at the given amps. The amps depend upon the given light conditions.
Assuming 8A the output would be 8*70 = 560W for the serial panels. For parallel connected panels the output would be 8*30 = 240W.
With shadows on 7 of the 9 subpanels there would be 8*20 = 160W available for charging with serial panels.Click For Full-Size Image.
The panel amps will be the full amps for the given light conditions.
A conducting diode will have a small voltage drop (0.3-0.5V) which I have not accounted for.
The right hand red arrow should be on the right hand side along with the shadow...:S
very good visual diagram that should help users better understand panels and shading.
as long the shade affects only one section, not a big issue. but still if something comes along and shades say a diagonal across the panel to 2 or 3 of the sections..... poof goes the output. and it seems like when we are camping, it more than likely that shade affects more than one section of the panel. I guess my bad luck.
