Solar Panels Brands - does it matter?
I am looking to buy 200-300 watts of solar panels to charge 200-240 ah of battery storage. Researching panels on the web, it seems that prices for solar panels have a very wide range. Putting aside ...
Forum Discussion
smkettner wrote:
With the MPPT I bet you would get more power out of the 540w vs the 560w PWM.
With MPPT you would get more power out of any panel wattage, except for a few unusual charging scenarios.
Better wattage per square ft is, I think, an incidental result of relatively smaller "wasted" area around the perimeter of larger panels.
There is often a catch, though - shape of the available roof space. Many small panels - those would inevitably be 12V - may result in larger total panel wattage than few large panels - which would be 24V. Good news is, that with many small 12V panels you could still use MPPT, wiring them in series. Then you will have both larger nominal wattage and the bonus of MPPT boost. But then, there is another catch - many small panels will cost more than same area made of larger panels.
So it's all about priorities again. If they want to maximize total power - squeeze in as much wattage as possible, no matter 12 or 24V as long as they are all the same wattage and voltage, and use MPPT. To minimize the cost, stay with PWM, the result will likely be a smaller daily AH harvest.
