Quote:
Originally Posted by OffGridKindaGuy
The manual says the max. input voltage can be up to 125 volts. your panels are 20.6 Voc (Volts Open Circuit) each. Connected in series is less than 125 volts. (84.4 volts) This would be fine if you were charging a 48 volt battery. Not a concern with charging a 12 volt battery..
In your case, you plan to charge at 12 volts, your panels should be connected in parallel. If you want to connect your panels in series to reduce the wire gauge between the controller and the panels to charge at 12 volts, you need a different type of controller. (MPPT)
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Hello OffGridKindaGuy. I appreciate the info on the 125 volts limit for this charge controller. I am not following your reasoning, however. If my charge controller will handle the 84.4 volts my panels could produce, why would I need to wire them in parallel and limit them to 20 volts? This would cause the amperage to balloon to 32 amps, causing a lot of resistance in the line, with very little voltage to push it along.
I have read that MPPT controllers are best for very large voltages, especially when one gets above 150 volts, but I am not clear on why you say I would need a MPPT controller if my volts are only half of that.
You wrote:
"In your case, you plan to charge at 12 volts, your panels should be connected in parallel."
I am not disagreeing with you. I am simply trying to understand the concepts involved as having an understanding of what is going on in electrical theory seems to be prudent when tackling a job like this. Why do you say I need to connect in parallel if I am charging a 12 volt battery bank? Would not a higher voltage, low amperage input do the job just as well, if not better? Doesn't the charge controller regulate the volts and amps being fed into the battery bank?
If you could explain your conclusions I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!