Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveCrowell
We had a lot of discussion about parallel, series or series parallel and AM Solar suggested we go with parallel to minimize the effects of shading. The are two more ports in the combiner box, so the next two will also be parallel. If I end up with more that eight, we will have to look at series parallel. So far if has been performing well and in Oregon and in early spring I have seen a peak output of approx 600 watts out of 960. We decided early on to use large wires to allow for any reasonable configuration I might choose and quickly eliminated the factory wire. I didn't want to have redo stuff as I expand or make changes.
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Typically you don't get more than 80% of the STC rating which for your panels would be 768W (960*0.8). You're hitting 63% of STC which for this time of year without tilting is quite good. I'm guessing that will some panel tilt you might pickup another 10%.
It's my understanding that Solar Controllers are more efficient when you're running at 36V or more rather than 18V so I prefer a series parallel configuration. However in your current configuration there is no way I would knock running parallel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by C.Martin
Very true...
I figured with the Victron 150/100... I could hook up three sets of three...for a total of 1440 watts...at 54v. I'd still be down around 26.7 A on a #6 AWG wire. I would be way under the 150v input limit...but I would have to be careful about the output exceeding 100A...hopefully it's controllable. Maybe 4 sets of two is all it will handle...without having to put two Charge controllers in.
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I wouldn't worry about the Victron 150/100 exceeding 100A. They designed it so you can run more input power which could exceed 100A output but the controller will adjust the loading on the panels so it never exceeds 100A on the output or damage the controller. (Note from the data sheet: 1a) If more PV power is connected, the controller will limit input power to the stated maximum.)
However you do have to watch the total panel short circuit current so that it's not more than 70A when using the Victron 150/100 controller. This could happen if you had more than 7 160W panels in parallel. With 10 panels in series parallel, with two panels in series, you only have 48A during a short circuit condition.
What's nice about this controller is you design your system so you get full charge at 80% of STC but during those rare times you get enough sun to hit the full STC rating the controller will throttle back so it's protected. Is that wasting power power? Technically yes however it's rare that you will during normal operations.
So looking at yours, which is also what I've been considering, you could go to 10 panels at 160W and still be well under 150V (23*5=115V) no load conditions. That would give you 1,600W STC or 1,280W at typical conditions.
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