Solar charging - can it be so?
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the solar and power issue, but I have learned a lot. In conversation with my RV service tech, an independent guy who takes pride in his knowledge and work, I wa...
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Detail. Solar panels in series would charge longer during the day. That’s the good news. The bad news is that any part of any panel that is shaded will reduce the output of the whole array. When I bought my panels, I bought 12 volt panels, and because I have shading issues all the time here on the highly treed east coast, I’ve chosen to put half the panels in each of two series and then parallel the two halves. This to try and get the maximum output no matter what. The controller can handle up to 150 volts input from the array, no need to buy 12 volt panels, so if I were doing it again, I’d buy 24 volt panels, but I’d still do the paralleled pair of series panels.
If I were in the part of the country where shady campsites were the exception, I’d go series all the way. And here’s the beauty of those MC4 connectors: if you pay attention to connector placement during installation, it is simple to switch between parallel and series to change configuration for the conditions at hand.
If I were in the part of the country where shady campsites were the exception, I’d go series all the way. And here’s the beauty of those MC4 connectors: if you pay attention to connector placement during installation, it is simple to switch between parallel and series to change configuration for the conditions at hand.
