Series VS Parallel Solar Panel Wiring Tested for RV and Off Grid Applications
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- In this video we do a real time A/B test to see which is better, series or parallel wiring of Offgrid and RV solar panels.
If you need help with your RV solar system, visit us at sotasolar.com
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*I use this solar **Generater.Systems** at work. The building is 80 years old so there’s not a lot of electrical outlets. I use it for lights, fans, charge phones etc. works great !*
Depends on what your loads are.
Scam comment
If your cable runs are longer, you will see the series connection outperform the parallel connection because of the higher voltage, less loss over the longer run.
That’s right, next test! Most of our solar runs are 20-30ft ,Thanks for the idea.
Maybe it wasn’t obvious, but I actually prefer series and recommend it whenever possible. IIRC from the video when the sun was out we saw 10-15 more watts on the series side and when we had the horrible shading that brought it down to 10-15 watts there was a 5 watt advantage for parallel. However, at 10-15 watts on a 400w system that extra 5w won’t make or break anything. I’ll take the extra on clear sun side.
My name is William HE. I am the chief marketing officer of Australia National Power Storage Holding Pty Ltd (NPS). NPS provides low-cost and high-safety holistic energy storage solutions to customers around the world depending on its large-capacity lithium iron phosphate batteries and other power storage products.
@@mercysun8717 Who cares?
@@youtubehandol i do
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Yup, series is always better. Power losses in cables and in regulators (including MPPTs) are generally only a function of the current. P = I*I*R. The current squared, in fact. A parallel configuration doubles the current and halves the voltage (P = I * V so the power output is the same), but cable and circuit losses will be 4x that of a series configuration. Higher voltages and lower currents are always better, as long as the equipment can handle it.
There are a few other gotchas as well. Lets say you had two series strings with 4 panels in each (8 panels total). If you gang the two strings together in a solar combiner box, then any partial shading of one string will reduce the MPPT efficiency for BOTH strings. Because the MPPT will not be at the ideal power point for either string. It is always better to put each string on its own MPPT. Then if panels in one string are partially shaded, each MPPT will be able to optimize for its respective string perfectly.
So, for example, if you take your four panels and put them in a 2s2p configuration with a combiner box (or just wired together for the test, since its only 2s2p), going into one MPPT, then a partially shaded panel will mess up both strings to some degree. But if you put them on separate MPPTs you will still get a full 3-panels worth of power production.
Partial shading of one panel is a series string does not effect the other panels in the series string (due to the magic of the bypass diode in each panel), so the MPPT will operate properly. This is also important for larger, older systems where one or more panels might have failed and is in bypass without the owner realizing it. In both cases, the bypass diodes take care of the problem. But if there is only one MPPT the owner might not realize that a panel in one of the strings has failed! Partial shading of one or more panels in a parallel configuration, on the other-hand, causes the MPPT to shift away from the optimal point for the other panels. This effect is only very slight, though, since a partially shaded panel is almost like a hole in the wall... it might as well be disconnected. So here one might think that parallel is better, but the currents involved wind up being so high that it winds up actually being worse (as well as a big pain in the butt due to wire sizing, etc).
Newer, modern high-voltage grid-tie inverters (the big ones, not the micro-inverters) have multiple MPPTs for this very reason, while older ones typically had only one MPPT.
Per-panel micro-inverters seem all the rage today, but the actual benefits are limited to a few special cases. They especially tout 'partial shading' performance. But actually, a micro-inverter is not going to improve performance verses a high voltage string by more than maybe 1% at best due to strong shadow partial shading. Because, as you saw, even shading just 2-3 cells in a panel effectively removes that panel from the system regardless of the configuration.
Micro-inverters can have better performance in diffuse shading environments, though, where many panels are getting different amounts of light. That is their main use-case. But they are also expensive and more maintenance-heavy as systems age verses a modern high-voltage string inverter with multiple MPPTs that is easily accessible in the garage or side of the house and can handle 60+ panels.
-Matt
Great insight, thanks!
good read thank you! :D
We can think through the test with electrical concepts, too.
Let's say we have panels rated for 20v and 5amps.
In series, two panels would be 40v and 5 amps.
In parallel, two panels would be 20v and 10amps.
Voltage is what pushes the power and a higher voltage can push more power across a thinner wire with less losses.
More amps creates more heat and resistance on the wire, which causes voltage drops across the distance of the wire.
If you were to do 10 panels in parallel you would be pushing 50 amps and you'd need thicker wire to do this and you would see more losses as heat within the wire. 20v * 50 amps = 1,000 watts (with some of those watts more likely to be lost as heat).
If you were to do 10 panels in series, it's be just the 5amps. And that 200v would push the power through quite easily even on fairly thin wire. 200v & 5amps = 1,000 watts.
The main reasons you'd want to parallel:
1) In a 4 panel example where two panels are positioned above the other two panels and where a tree or structure casts a shadow over the bottom two panels that can't be helped, it'd be best for them to be parallel connected to each other as the top two and the bottom two. This allows the two top panels that aren't getting a shadow to perform optimally and not be dragged down because of the shadow on the bottom two panels. If the 4 panels were arranged with two on top and two on bottom but they were all 4 wired in series, then that shadow hitting only the bottom two panels would actually drag all 4 panel's performance down.
2) You would use parallel if your equipment (charge controller) was rated for a max voltage of say 100v and 10 amps (1,000 watts) where each panel you bought was 20v and 5 amps. 5 panels would reach the 100v limit so you'd have 100v and 5amps with 5 panels = 500 watts. But you could do a 5series 2parallel with 10 panels (two rows of 5) and have 100v and 10amps = 1,000 watts. So depending on your equipment and what panels you buy, it may be in your best interest to parallel your panels to maximize power going into the system while staying under the max voltage allowed in the system.
Good information. Part of what this experiment aimed to address was the scenario 1) . With modern panels with blocking diodes , we didn’t find much of a difference. I learn more series when possible, like you say, less heat, less loss, smaller wire.
Hey thanks for the great info about series and parallel you did a great job about all the details debating which one is best and what it comes down to really is parallels going to give you more amps in your battery the high voltage and serious just pushes the current father in long runs man you put a lot of good info in there thanks I've been running solar for years and people debate about this but like I said parallel is the best because if the shade hits a couple of panels low it doesn't affect your whole array like series all right thanks 👍
Great comparison! I'm new to solar. A previous video I saw showed: the older "amorphous" solar panels still provide a charge, when in the shade. The new mono-crystalline panels practically shut down in the shade. I have both the old HFT amorphous 100W and the new mono-crystalline 100W HFT panels. Should I keep them seperate using two MPPT controllers? I plan to expand, but want to have a solid understanding of solar power before I proceed further. Thanks!
Thank you. After watching many videos, I understood why series connections are preferred by commercial solar plants. No one explained what I was searching in these videos. But you just explained it in a detailed and understandable manner. You are great man💝
This is some great stuff. I've been trying to find the difference and arrived at the right knowledge base
Exactly the info I've been searching for. I've been debating going all in series on 6 panels vs 2 strings of 3. It looks like it's more cost effective to go all in series. It will save on wiring, fuses and complexity. Shading will be an issue at times since it's on an RV. The effect of shading appears to be close to the same whether in series or parallel. Thanks.
ps , that was not a partial shading you completely blocked them 3x circuits going length ways anything blocking width ways will stop the electrons , but you can disable the Left or mid or Right and the diodes will do their job , personally i rather series because you get higher starting voltage for longer runtimes during sunrise / sunset
series will always win, you cant charge a battery with a smaller voltage, even on with full sun it would have enough voltage to start charging, partially covering cells is not ideal with any solar, even if you have partial shade on parralel if the pannels were on a 12v (20volt) pannel, it would not charge any battery yntill its fully hit by full sunlight, series would start charging and woul already have voltage even cloudy/
if you need more hours of charging hours when the day has short full sunlight, series would still be the way to go, parial covering is not ideal no one will set their solar partially covered, if those cells wereh not 24 v it would have any charge when it was cloudy, the cell is alrady like a series of 2 12 already, the advantage of the other set is like having 4 x 12 cells in series, same just non direct light would always have a voltage to start charging
The advantage of series is that they start producing earlier and later in the day because of the higher voltage. All my installations are strings of series at the maximum voltage for the controller in parallel.
No they don’t, the voltage rises above battery voltage long before there is any usable current and without current there is no power. Some controllers don’t start the tracking process until a certain minimum current is reached in direct to battery configuration, these controllers start tracking much earlier with parallel connected panels as that current is reached sooner, in fact the manufacturer recommends parallel connection and the efficiency curves show greatest efficiency in the parallel configuration which would be expected as the tracker has to do less power conversion where the voltages are closer.
If my panels are experiencing some shading.. is it best to connect to parallel ?
@@thegreenthing7603if you connect in parallel, the shaded panel will dictate the power output over the other higher power producing panels. That's the negative of wiring all panels in parallel.
I have nothing to add but watched the video and wanted to drop a comment
Respect.
I assume your panels must have bypass diodes that kick in, otherwise the series connection would not work?
Would be interesting to see performance over an entire day. See how many watthrs you get from each
Nearly all modern panels have bypass diodes now.
I think on later videos we did just that.
Hey thank you for sharing this! I've been doing some solar experiments at home. I'm hoping to add another 400 watts of solar to my bus roof [I have 400watt presently] so for now I have 4 100 watt panels mounted remote in my yard while the bus in parked in the shade. I'm using 10 awg wire, which is good for 30 amps, as I was connecting this thinking of voltage drop cause of DC, maybe I'd try series. So your demonstration showed that would be best for my application for now. Big fun! As I build out the bus/rv project, I'd love to have a row of solar panels on the roof tilt. Some I'm dreaming up some ideas with linear actuators that would tilt them for me. God bless! Al from CT
This is a superb test but would also be nice is do what is sometimes done in medical or dietary research: crossover trial: so record your testing for this setup used and then switch the panels so the one that was serial run it in parallel and vice versa. By the way I'm no expert in solar: I don't own any.
Further, the batteries may impact power charge (maybe). They may have to be swapped. It would take a lot of time but testing like this may be worth it if you learn something significant about your batteries and setup.
I wondered by running a higher voltage and it's benefits. One guy I saw who is not a formally trained expert seems to think that running in serial allows your charge controller to use a wider range to run to the batteries, and that provides more energy efficiency. I don't know his justification for the statement though. I always like to know the source and review the research.
Let see if you can help me in my project
Or some one on this chat I buy 5KW 48V Solar Hybrid
Inverter 120V/24OV Split Phase 100A MPPT Charge PV OUTPUT:
Max. Power
5000W
Max. Charge Current
100A
PV INTPUT:
Max. Power
5000W
Max. Open Voltage
500V
MPPT Input Voltage Range 120~450Vdc
Max. Input Current
22A
I have 12 solar panels of 310watts 44v each panel. This is enough to feed this inverter??
And how I connect this panels ? All in parallel or how many panels in serie and then in parallel ?? Please 🙏 really need help thanks
Assuming you size the cabling to be equivalent loss (e.g. higher gauge wires for parallel panels), the peak production will be very similar. However, the real benefit of series is that they will reach the minimum voltage level of the controller earlier in the morning and later in the evening, allowing you to capture slightly more overall energy per day. This is especially true when you are comparing larger systems with 48v battery. Most 150V max PV input controllers will have a typical "turn on" voltage of ~80V when used with a 48V battery system. If you have 6x 55V MPP panels, with a 2S3P panel configuration, no power will be collected until each panel exceeds 40V (loaded) production. However, with a typical 500V max PV input controller and a ~80V "turn on" voltage, in a 6S1P panel configuration, production will begin when each panel reaches just 13.3V (loaded).
It would make an awesome video if you did a test to show the overall daily production difference between series and parallel as I don't think I've seen such a test !
High voltage , less losses.
If you use mppt always run in series. 6 years experience.
lower DC arc risk if you keep it under 80Vs and some districts wont require DC ARC Protection on systems with PV lower than 80 Volt with Low Temp Adjustments (120% over VOC)
If you dont really have shading issues and a calculator doesnt say you need a higher voltage for the run on say 8AWG wire Parallel will work just fine, you just need MMPT that will handle the AMPS on the PV and get a good quality PV Combiner Box
Great demonstration and observations. Surprisingly, I guessed the scenarios correctly. And, the short run with MPPT showed little benefit, as it should - longer distance and day's worth of output should be a bit higher yet.
BTW, you said "blocking" diodes, but they should be bypass diodes (which think you know).
Nice capacity setup.
Thanks for the video. Great way to learn.
For a small two panel (100w) lighting set up with two lithium 100amph batteries. Mppt controller and short run wiring, is series on both panels and battery’s best? Full sun no shading. Thanks!
Great.me too was wondering which type is better
So I think from this test I may do both series and parallel. I have four 250w panels (30.7 Vmpp/8.15 A Impp). A charge controller rated for 30A/13-60v/1600w. Wouldn't splitting the four panels in two sets produce my best balance of power transmission for the controller?
First of all, why aren't you at your post? Find TK421 and get back there. Anyway, yes, a mixed series Parallel is a good way to go. It does depend on how your partial shading situation looks like as well. For larger arrays on RVs I like to do multiple controllers vs one large one. This way each array can optimize for the ideal conditions. If this is on a house or mostly clear sky, I'd get the PV up as high as I could and then parallel from there in groups.
Thanks, I just included a link to this video on my latest video. hope that's ok.
Parallel should win in 10 years. Less heat build up if you had like a 10 panel set up lower voltage yes but longer service life yes
most surprised the thin plank killed the production far more than the Broad cardboard... something about how the separate cells are wired ?
I was too. I think it had a lot to do with covering a part of every cell group. The panels are actually 5 to 9 panels in parallel internally.
I've decided to run Series because of this video, thank you.
I bought an RV with a solar system installed. The panels were put in-series and I was considering rewiring to parallel. But now after watching this, I'm thinking it won't be worth the effort.
I have 3x 250W panels (Pmax 30.3V / 8.27A) to charge a 12V, 200 amp hour LifePo4 battery bank. Thoughts?
Your situation is a bit more iffy. I plan on doing some tests specifically with the RV roof on mind (shading from an AC ) . Like my tests have shown, it’s a 1-2% difference one way or another, u less you’re dealing with 12v panels. You’re not, you’re already working at a higher PV voltage.
Will it be worth the effort? That’s up to you . Id gathering more power is something you wish, I’d say add another panel and 2p 2s for even more!
If you do change to 3p do report back, I want to know the real world data! Also I have 2 more videos on this subject that would be worth watching.
@@sotasolar My fear is at ~8 amps, isn't it going to take forever to recharge my 200amp hour batteries? If I put it in parallel I could get ~24 charging amps, as I understand things.
@@chrisjones3528 This segment is for you :-) Look at the PV amps vs Battery amps. It's almost 3 more in the series string vs parallel.
ruclips.net/video/EgdaBwxwSEk/видео.html
@@sotasolar at about 7:24 into the video, as you're showing the various watt readings, is your series coming in at 4.0 amps, and the charger is sending 20.7 amps to the batteries?
didnt the series have more Amps and thats what u want? Voltage was what u set up--24/48/etc
Series will keep the voltage above the MPPT or PWM minimum voltage level and still charge near dawn and dusk.
This difference amount is almost negligible over the whole day, but may allow using appliances sooner in AM or later in PM when off grid.
The charge controller limits the # of series panels by OC voltage.
Love this content... Thanks man
Great video, I love learning stuff like this. Thankyou!
thats why for my camper trailer Ive ordered 3x 200w custom shingle panels and ill be getting 3x anti shading devices for them which boost the watts if one or part of a panel is shaded when in series.. they will be on my rooftop tent.. but I also have a 300w solar blanket thats 70.8v and I'll order another one thats 440w and 50v.. both on 20m of solar cable so even if its shaded on the rooftop tent or I want to park in a shaded spot I'll still be able to place the 2 blankets anywhere upto 20m away to get a total of 740w
We’d love to see it!
For my short distance, I'll take the parallel amps over the series volts.
Watts is what’s most important. Amps fluctuate so much in an MPPT setup.
The more I watch solar videos, the more I learn I don’t know a thing, lol. I totally get the series vs parallel and how they are different, mostly understanding how batteries work. My confusion is as follows. If I understand correctly, more Amps is what charges faster? If you run parallel, the amps stay the same, series, amps go up, help me understand. My main thing I want to do is as follows.
I have an rv with a Go power solar starter kit. 190 watts, 10 gauge wire to the charge controller that is 30 amps. Series or parallel to add 2 more x 200 watt panels?
Or, can you wire in series, voltage goes up, amps stay the same, you can put more solar, but is it really any gain? Sorry, but that stuff is so confusing, just when I think I understand, I learn that I don’t totally, lol
Many thanks in advance
Great questions. Yes amps charges the battery , more amps into the battery is better. What this video tries figure out is, what is the best method for doing that. There are two sides to a solar charger, the PV side (solar) and the battery side. Amps really only matter on the battery side. An MPPT solar charger will adjust voltage and amps to extract the most power possible from the solar panel(s) and push the most amps into a battery.
The Go Power on you have is likely a PWM controller. It’s works differently and likely you need to run a panel in parallel. The PWM charger is basically a switch that turns on and off quickly to regulate current into the battery. When the switch is on, the solar panel is directly connected to the battery. In that case the PV amps and battery amps are identical.
I hope I’ve not confused you throughly, just a little. :-)
Great test thank you I have also been wondering which way is better I was surprised at the parallel panels when you shaded them and the series kept Up. Were the batteries at the same depth of discharge. And what would happen if you discharged them to 60%. And then charged.
They were very similar, 90-91% . They were taking in as many amps as they wanted and not limited in that way.
I was very surprised at how much output dropped with just a little but covered at the bottom.
Like I mentioned in the video, panel manufactures have been working to mitigate series configuration loses where the pros and cons are getting more into personal preference.
Thanks for watching and the comment!
@@sotasolar The reason for the drop is do to how you shaded the panel. A panel is basically made of smaller panels. Some in series others in parallel. When you covered the bottoms you covered one mini panel of each series killing the output.
Cells in a panel are in series. Some will be bypassed by rectifiers to reduce shading loss.
Ab testing huh. You must come from a software background.
I do
You say they're about neck and neck but the parallel setup was clearly giving 2 amps more than the series. How is that neck and neck?
I'd be happy to explain. What's the time stamp? Make sure you're looking at DC /Battery Amps not PV amps. PV amps will vary wildly as voltage also varies wildly as the MPPT does it's job of finding the maximum power point.
low light conditions would be nice, i.e winter
Say 3 panels in parallel, and 1 panel is in the shade, would it (and thus all) need a diode for protection? (would the current want to run in the wrong direction?). Thanks for testing!
I have not done my own testing with diodes. It’s not been my experience that the power wants to run backwards.
I came here to clear up some confusion I had regarding whether to do series or parallel for a van I live in. I was thinking of parallel for my two 100 watt Renogy panels because of shade. However, after reading the comments I am more confused than ever!
Thank you for sharing this. I really want to help people just like you. What are you needing clarity on or how could I do the experiment again that would settle things for you more?
Honestly with these panels , I’d suggest series to get the volts up.
Bro , very good real life testing
As I am not an expert (no university degree in electrical engineering) nor do I have many years of experience in this field, and the answers regarding parallel/series connection are controversial, I'll now ask you a very crisp question. Surely there should be an optimum recommendation for my application?
My system landscape:
1. 12 volt system
2. camper van (Citroen Jumper) with pop-up roof - 2 panels on top (total watts 400)
3. location: always variable, partial shading possible (under trees), light conditions vary!
4. 2x monocrystalline 200W 30.8V semi-flexible solar panels (short-circuit current (ISC): 6.82A, open circuit voltage (VOC): 36V Module voltage (VMP): 30.8V Module voltage (VMP): 30.8V; The modules have the bypass diode installed in the junction box!
5. 2x Lifepo4 battery with 150Ah each (total 300 Ah)
6. MPPT charge controller - Victron 100/50
7. inverter: MultiPlus 12/2000/80-3
Now my specific question to the experts:
Connect in parallel or in series or install a changeover switch (relay) where you can switch between parallel and series depending on the situation?
Thank you very much
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Good demo! I hooked up two very clean out of the box 100W panels in series yesterday...in bright sunlight...using a 40A MPPT controller. Panels were angled at 39 degree for our latitude in the Pacific NW. Temp was about 70 degrees. The Voc per panel is 24.8V and the Isc is 5.21A. I was getting good voltage at about 45-46V, but my amps was only hitting about 1.36A. I double and triple checked connections and made sure the panels were clean. Any ideas?
Did you lose your comb?
Most charge controllers want the solar panel voltage to be 1.5 to 2x the battery voltage. Much better to match that. For a valid test you would want to double battery voltage when in series. You are probably not getting enough sun to get the parallel version into the sweet spot. You can upgrade to 24v panels and get more power for less cost.
We used 24v (45voc) panels in this test. I did some research based on your comment and could not come up with anything authoritative on the voltage differential. I’d welcome a link to a white paper or other video showing this.
I watched a video Will Prowse did years ago and it’s true a PWM controller did outperform an MPPT in full sun, so there probably is truth to that better performance in closer matching of voltage. However, that was only the case in direct sunlight.
I need to do this again with longer wire runs that are more real world situations. I usually run 20-30 feet of cable , I’d suspect there are significant loses in the line at lower voltages.
In the end I felt like there were pros and cons to each method with any winner being decided by single digits percentages. In the end, if you’re worried , add more panels in whatever configuration you think best.
Thanks for the comment.
@@sotasolar It will be in the charge controller documentation for the preferred solar voltage. The less expensive PWM controllers will have the 1.5 to 2x recommendation. MPPT and the the high voltage PWMs have better circuitry and matching voltage is less of an issue. But cost for a good MPPT could be put into another solar panel....so many will pick lower cost charge controllers and more panels.
As for cable length just make sure the current matches the cable awg for an acceptable loss. 10awg PV cable is near the cost of 12awg so we just use that for panel side wiring and length isn't an issue.
@@jmaus2k I use 10 awg for all solar. I’ve not seen anything in the Victron MPPT preferred PV voltage. Only that you should not exceed PV max (and to account for cold mornings with headroom).
@@HimmelbergerBus Right, but you also spent $80+ extra for it.
with some quick maths in a perfect set system and about 120 to 130v in the bigger chargers series that advantage is going almost double in cloudy . i m about to buy a second charger for another array and panels limits the 100v series after 95v!!! looked for such video for over a month now / no shades on the project spot . only clouds and some tiny bird poops to bother me..... i took my lesson and go for the 150v version for second array
Great real time and side by side test.. thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
What happened to your hair? you get shocked?
Yes
Did your hairstyle look like this after touching the string terminal connectors of panels in series of 6 x 60 cells? :) thanks for sharing !
Id love to see a 4-6s vs a 4-6p with 10 & 20meter to the mppt. The parallel should get voltage drop pr panel while the series only get it from the first panel. So the more in series the bigger the advantage.
After reading many reviews and watching a lot of videos, I chose this option for my first backup power station. ruclips.net/user/postUgkxHypYDKHAN93Lp2RQpfvU_ksc70wJ00pt I was between this and a larger option that could power a wider range of items, but the price/size/capacity blend seemed right for this unit. Hasn't gotten a ton of use yet, but the build quality is solid and it charges fine via the Rockpals solar panel I purchased to pair with it. One thing to note is that the screen is optimized for a top down viewing angle, which makes sense, but this means it washes out at other angles - especially low angles. Not a huge deal, but perhaps a better option for the display could be used to provide wider viewing angles.
hi great video.
could you confirm if the panels had both bypass diodes and blocking diodes fitted ?
I'm trying to work out if you have parallel panels like in your demo, what help the blocking diodes actually do ? eg with out blocking diodes...if one panel becomes shaded or damaged. then does the good panel end up dumping some of its energy into the bad or shaded panel ?
and if so.. does a blocking diodes eliminate this ?
I’m actually not sure. Recent panel designs are taking these conditions into account more and more. I did find a discussion here worth looking at diysolarforum.com/threads/rich-solar-100w-diode-info.22488/
- pretty sure they have bypassdiodes, the difference during shading at 7:59 was small, if they didnt have bypass diodes the difference between output would be much morre significant and the parallel would definetely outperform the series connection
- a bypassdiode eliminates your statet problem in a series connection
Great Video. Excellent experiment.
not for me a beginner. i don't know what hookup to use series or para?
A mix of series parallel is good. 2 in series, then parallel each group of using 4 panels.
It would be interesting when its about the cutoff voltage of the controller. And even more with 3 panels.
I'm not sure if this is a known result or not, but you might try comparing bright sun, to partial to very cloudy, see if parallel or series is better. (You showed bright and partial sun.) Maybe use a light fabric or screen and cover all 4 panels. Good video, thanks.
You answered all my questions, thanks :)
Just subbed awesome video
Thanks!
The low beam blocking was on the string diodes crossing I think.
I really loved this experiment. Thank you.
Thank you I appreciate your time and effort. You really help me out keep the going.
the parallel connection seems to always beat the series connection with the charging current
Do you mean PV current? Yes that will always be the case because of the lower voltage. Watts is the true measure of power in.
@@sotasolar until recently I thought the parallel configuration had advantage over series because of the higher current, but now I know it's the wattage divided by the charging voltage that determines the charging current, I used the combination of series and parallel on my system to stay within the max allowed voltage by the mppt with 6 545 W panels
@@thembamarvel6595 We're all still learning something. Glad I could help.
im amazed that lumber killed the entire wattage... jeeesh
Happy Utility independent’s day !
Tells you what ? can't see the phone data .What good is this ?
Nice nice. That was a great video not enough of those at all. Great presentation 👏. Very practical simple set up and well illustrated. Thumbs up brother 👍🏾
Answering all the questions I had! Great vid - just did this on the weekend - my results are very similar. Thanks for the confirmation. As David said in the comments - I think that's the "multiplier".
👍
this video has helped in explaining the benefits of series panel connections. thank you all who have added meaningful comments. I am grateful
Any solar questions?
gave you a like just for the running around
Forget the volts and watts look at the amps , much better on the parallel
We have another follow up video showing the amps into the battery is higher on series. Amps on the PV side is not the same.
Besides the length of the wiring, I am wondering if all of the panels were equally performing? Sometimes you can have a panel that under performs although it is same make and model.
That’s a definite possibility, to control for this we’d need to setup a control lab. And test each panel. I’ve done sillier things, who knows.
This video help a lot
Thank you
The parallel was giving more apms
From my tests, my main benefit, in series you can use smaller gauge cable. Only gain is your wire price drops.
Down side, not every component is geared to 24v
This test is on the panels, not the battery. MPPT charges can handle up to 100 volts or more.
Compare amps not volts you should check the amps going into the battery
Yes ultimately amps into the battery is the end goal, but when we’re talking about volts it’s PV volts. Higher volts means more power that gets to the charger and ultimately more amps to the battery.
So basically build rows of series til you get to the max volts and connect the rows in parallel until you reach max amps ?
We’ll if you want to simply it all, yeah :-) the thing I’ll say is max amps is as much as 1.5 to 2x what you might otherwise calculate. I’ve got a video showing 910w into a 50 amp charger and not throttling.
I have been wondering about series and parallel. Which is better? It looks like series is a little bit better. Thank you for this video.
As an array grows, series is the only sensible way to go.
Hi gut Video 🤗👍
What was the amp difference of the 2? I would lean more towards the higher amp set up, I will be running 2 growatt 3000 s one with a series, and 1 the other with a parallel. I am leaning towards a high amp string, and a high watt string for winter months.
I’ve seen this type of comment a few times and think I need to add this to the follow up video. However I’ll give you my $.02 now. Watts is all that matters. Amps out of the MPPT is pretty important, but the amps out is a function of watts / volts (PV).
I plan to do a longer term test with more depleted batteries to see if there is a longer term difference. Ultimately what we want to is “what charges batteries faster?” That is what I aim to find out.
Could you try using microinverters in your test? I researched the microinverters will definitely help with the shading issues.
Many / most of our customers use these on RVs and charge DC batteries so micro inverters likely would not be used . I bet they would help in grid tie installs though.
you do a great job with testing guestion i have id i have solar batteries for storage but notice they dont keep up with fridge why
What type of batteries, what type of fridge?
Just the example I was looking for, thanks , but I'd like to ask a question of all the minds, I have 2 banks of different size panels, 5x200w and 3 x330w, putting them into series in 2 separate banks, can I run them to the same controller?? the controller is rated at 150/60, the 2 banks come in at 113v and 8.85 Amps for the 200w bank and the 330w bank come in at 52.68v at 18.79 Amps. or do I need to do 2 controllers? which I have. Is there any advantage in taking 1 x 200w panel off and adding a 330w and do them in a series & parallel setup and would they be ok going to the same controller?
If you can get the PV to match ( or get prettier close) you can do that. Otherwise don’t do it. I just did some work on a system (we did not do the install) they had a 45v panel paralleled with 150v of panels. Nearly burned the rig down, melted wires, even melted fuses that never blew.
@@sotasolar Bugger me! maybe better I leave in parallel as I have them already, I just finished winter here and they were a bit slow in recharging the Lithium's, no problem in summer but I was thinking how to get a bit more for next winter, maybe just add another panel to the 330w bank?? thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated.
Good to know this! Thank you
Thank you 😊
Shading is confusing
Just say no to shading.
@@sotasolar I’m a little concerned because I already have for 545 W panels and I’m adding two more and the two that I’m adding will get shade part of the day. I’m hoping it doesn’t end up hurting me.
@jglassman1122 outside of a couple of extremely rare circumstances more solar panels can’t hurt you. We typically like to install them in series pairs so if you had four panels, you put two in series and then another two in series and then you put those two in parallel together.
Great info
🙏🏼 #VOLTINU
Great job!
Good experiment
Really well done
GREAT JOB!
This was very helpful
Glad I could be of service!
Do you know if those panels had by pass diodes???
Yes they do. Rich Solar’s website lists them.
then it makes sense, you covered only 1/2 and the diodes did the job
@@sotasolar
The best result I`v`e gotten with 4 panels is to put 2 panels in series and put them in parallel. Best of both worlds!!!
I can disagree. That’s usually what I do with 100pv chargers.
That depends on your controllers. Give them the highest safe open circuit voltage
Your focusing on just watts what about the amps on the parallel panels
Am sure the parallel would charge up the battery faster than the series cause the parallel puts out more amps
Take a look at this video here. ruclips.net/video/EgdaBwxwSEk/видео.html
At one point we're pulling in 16A (14.5v) from the parallel solar and the charger is turning that into 17 amps (240w total) for the battery. Vs on the series side we pull 4 amps (74v) which turns into 20 amps (287w total) into the battery.
I for one will take 20 amps over 16 amps into my battery by having a higher PV voltage, and giving me more total power. It can be tricky, but this is why I make these videos.
@@sotasolar why didn't you add this information in the video would have enlighten me better
Thanks man
@@odeywilliams7596 I agree, however I made this video first. The clip I sent was from later in the summer. It's a great reason to subscribe so you don't miss out on updated information :-)
Thanks for this video. I just got the renology 400w kit for an offgrid shed/observatory and was trying to make heads or tails of the differences. This seemed to be very real world testing. I think i'm going to go series just for the easier wiring of 4 panels on a shed roof. Thanks!
Just make sure the PV voltage is lower than the maximum the controller will support. If 12v panels you'll likely be fine.,
@@sotasolar Yep. Controller has plenty of overhead from the 4 panels.
I’m disappointed in you test. You don’t tell us the actual values of your your test. I can’t read your cell phone screen if that is where the values between the series and parallel array.
Sorry, I’m planning to do another.
I have tested my panels in every possible way to hook them up ; I tried 63 and 84 volts coming in ; the best performance was with six sets of two panels in series, the voltage is between 29 and 41, and it puts out 2 % more that way. I am using an Epic Solar 4215 BN charge controller, 40 amps. I have twelve 100 watts panels. The panels are from 25 to 40 feet away and the amps maxes out at 32 but stays in the mid 20's usually. I noticed one time today the volts were 26.7 and the amps were 26.6.
Series parallel groups are my favorite way as well. Glad you found what works best in your setup!