How to connect more than one solar panel

[cj7365]

I have 3 ea, 55 watt, 3.5 amp solar panels, what is the best way to connect these together. What gauge wire do I need.

I would like to use connectors that I can take apart, this will NOT be a fixed system on the roof.


I do have a controller.

[BFL13]

The three wires go to a "combiner" bus bar and from that to the controller terminal. The wire from the combiner to the controller is fatter gauge than each wire to it from the panels, because it has to take all three amps worth of flow.

[cj7365]

BFL13 wrote:

cj7365 wrote:
I have 3 ea, 55 watt, 3.5 amp solar panels, what is the best way to connect these together. What gauge wire do I need.

I would like to use connectors that I can take apart, this will NOT be a fixed system on the roof.


I do have a controller.

It works better for amps to the controller if you feed each panel's wires to a common point (which could be the controller itself) instead of connecting panel to panel and then run wires from the last panel to the controller. Not a huge amount, but it does make a difference.

MC4s make a good quick connect, but you need long enough finger-nails to squeeze them apart. Wire nuts work, but can get frazzled after a few times. Anderson makes some other types.

ok, will have to look to see if I can put 3 wires into the controller socket, might be too thick.

Thanks for the tip on the MC4 connectors

[TucsonJim]

Oops, I just reread your post and see that you have three panels. Once again, if they are MC4 connectors on your panels, use these:

MC4 Connectors 3 into 1

Jim

[TucsonJim]

If your panels have MC4 connectors, use 2 to 1 MC4 "Y" connectors. Here's a link for a pair from Amazon for less than $8.

MC4 Y connectors

If you don't have MC4 connectors on your panels, let us know what you do have and we'll try to get your the best solution.

Jim

[BFL13]

cj7365 wrote:
I have 3 ea, 55 watt, 3.5 amp solar panels, what is the best way to connect these together. What gauge wire do I need.

I would like to use connectors that I can take apart, this will NOT be a fixed system on the roof.


I do have a controller.

It works better for amps to the controller if you feed each panel's wires to a common point (which could be the controller itself) instead of connecting panel to panel and then run wires from the last panel to the controller. Not a huge amount, but it does make a difference.

MC4s make a good quick connect, but you need long enough finger-nails to squeeze them apart. Wire nuts work, but can get frazzled after a few times. Anderson makes some other types.