What solar panels can I use?

What solar panels can I use?

PWM charge controller

With a PWM charge controller, it is important that you try to match the nominal voltage of a solar panel with the battery voltage of the system. Please use the reference table below:

# cells in series Nominal Voltage  Open Circuit Voltage Maximum power point voltage Typical applications
36 12 V 22 V 18 V 12 V battery systems
60 20 V 38V 31 V Rooftop modules
72 24 V 44 V 36 V 24 V battery systems

Reference: https://learn.libre.solar/system/solar_panel.html#panels-and-arrays

The maximum current of the charge controller refers to the load output and charging current. Therefore the maximum power output of the panels you can use with our 20A variants are:

18V x 20A = 360W

36V x 20A = 720W

In theory, there is no lower limit to the size of panels you use but it would not be recommended to use anything smaller than 20W.

 

MPPT charge controller

With an MPPT controller, you are able to use higher voltage solar panels compared to the battery bank you are using. For example, you could use a 20V panel with a 12V battery and you will be able to use all of the available power.

To learn more about this, here is a good resource: https://www.altestore.com/store/info/solar-charge-controller/

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