Nowadays, more and more households are installing solar systems. Why do systems frequently get burned out? Want to know how to avoid damaging your battery and inverter controls?
Using solar panels to charge your batteries is a great way to use clean, renewable energy. Before you get started, however, you need to install a charge controller that regulates the voltage from your solar panels as it delivers it to your battery. Otherwise, on a sunny day, the solar panels may produce more energy than the battery can handle, damaging the battery. Luckily, it's a simple process and you can charge your battery in no time!
1.Check the wattage on the back of the panel. Typically, a solar panel should have a sticker on the back listing the number of watts it will produce. For example, you might see 300W listed on the back of the panel, which means the array can produce 300 watts of energy
If you don't have one of these or you built your own solar array, use a multimeter to measure the wattage output of your solar panels in full sunlight.
Solar panels are designed to produce more power than their rated voltage. For example, solar energy designed for a 12V output may actually produce 17V of electricity. This is because they will only produce maximum voltage under ideal conditions.
If the solar panels produce more power than the battery can handle, the battery may become overcharged and damaged. A charge controller helps prevent this from happening.
2.Divide the solar wattage rating by the battery voltage. You can usually find the voltage listed on the battery itself. Divide this number by the wattage listed on the back of the solar panel. This will give you the current the charge controller needs to be able to handle in order to charge the battery safely. Typically, charge controllers are rated in multiples of 30 amps, so when you get a number, round up to the next highest rating
For example, if your solar panel has 300W of power and you want to charge a 12V battery, you would divide 300 by 12 to get 25 amps. In this case, you will get a charge controller rated at 30 amps
3.Choose MPPT charge controllers for greater efficiency. There are two main types of charge controllers: MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) and PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). Both regulate the maximum voltage that the solar panel can send to the battery, but the MPPT charge controller is 30% more efficient at storing and transferring energy than the PWM model. Also, you can use MPPT charge controllers with solar panel strings, but not PWM controllers.
These options are more expensive than PWM models, but the increased energy efficiency can quickly make up for the price difference.