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Checking Solar Panel Wiring

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  • Checking Solar Panel Wiring

    I have 4 100 watt solar panels connected to 30amp Windy Nation P30L controller. On a pretty sunny day around 3 or 4pm it was registering 4 amps which seemed kind low to me. I'm new to this so I was wondering what is the best way to verify that the wiring is correct? I can read voltage from the negative and positive terminals that all the panels are wired too. I also checked the continuity between the negative wire of the farthest left panel and the farthest right panel and I get a beep. So it seems like the wiring is good. Anything I'm missing or should look for? I appreciate any help!

  • #2
    Originally posted by greg8325 View Post
    I have 4 100 watt solar panels connected to 30amp Windy Nation P30L controller. On a pretty sunny day around 3 or 4pm it was registering 4 amps which seemed kind low to me. I'm new to this so I was wondering what is the best way to verify that the wiring is correct? I can read voltage from the negative and positive terminals that all the panels are wired too. I also checked the continuity between the negative wire of the farthest left panel and the farthest right panel and I get a beep. So it seems like the wiring is good. Anything I'm missing or should look for? I appreciate any help!
    Two questions.

    1. Did you first connect the windy Nation to a battery before you connected the solar panels to the windy nation?

    2. Do you have your panels wire in series or parallel?

    With 4 amps (~ the Imp of one panel) and what you mention above in Bold type it sounds like you have them wired in series which will add up the voltage and not the current of those 4 panels.

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    • #3
      If the negative wires have continuity, and the positive wires all have continuity, then the panels are wired in parallel... that is correct for your PWM controller. No negative should be wired to any positive.

      4 A does sound a little low for a parallel configuration... where are you located? Were the panels directly facing the sun?
      CS6P-260P/SE3000 - http://tiny.cc/ed5ozx

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      • #4
        Depends on a lot of things. For example if the batteries are charged very little if any current flows.
        MSEE, PE

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        • #5
          I live in Louisiana and it wasn't cloud free but a pretty sunny day and the panels were facing the sun with no shade. I double checked that each positive wire goes to one 4 way splitter and that each negative wire goes to each 4 way splitter. I get continuity if I touch the multimeter to the negative wire of the farthest wire and the farthest positive wire. The batteries were fully charged so I'm wondering if I'm just reading the controller incorrect. I thought when I was looking at the 30amp Windy Nation P30L controller in the amp mode that it was displaying the total amount of amps being created but I'm wondering if that is just the amount of amps that the batteries are needing at that moment since I was only drawing about 40 watts from them at the time. I emailed Windy Nation to see if that is correct.

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          • #6
            Use the volt meter to measure the voltage of the panels going into the charge controller. If you are reading around 17V, they are wired in parallel. The low output of the charge controller is probably it doing its job, regulating the power going into a full battery bank.
            Solar Queen
            altE Store

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            • #7
              I just read the voltage from all 4 panels in direct sunlight and I'm getting about 17 volts. I think if they were in series 4 100 watt panels would be showing much higher than that. I think it's probably making as much as 25 amps. On the controller it shows 3.5 amps going from the panels to the batteries at 13.7 volts.. So I think it is adjusting it based upon consumption but even looking at the manual it's unclear if the amp output is the total amps of what it is receiving or what it is using. I'm really new to this so I'm probably just asking dumb questions.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by greg8325 View Post
                I just read the voltage from all 4 panels in direct sunlight and I'm getting about 17 volts. I think if they were in series 4 100 watt panels would be showing much higher than that. I think it's probably making as much as 25 amps. On the controller it shows 3.5 amps going from the panels to the batteries at 13.7 volts.. So I think it is adjusting it based upon consumption but even looking at the manual it's unclear if the amp output is the total amps of what it is receiving or what it is using. I'm really new to this so I'm probably just asking dumb questions.
                What it is receiving = what it is using. It is using PWM to make sure the panels don't produce more than what is needed, even if they were capable of more.
                CS6P-260P/SE3000 - http://tiny.cc/ed5ozx

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by sensij View Post
                  What it is receiving = what it is using. It is using PWM to make sure the panels don't produce more than what is needed, even if they were capable of more.
                  That makes sense. I just put more load on the batteries and it looked like the amps from the panels went up to abou 5.8 amps. I think I was just expecting to see the total output of amps because I'm not really sure how to read more than 10 amps. Most multimeters max at 10 amps and I tried reading the total amps of the 4 panels once and I think it blew a fuse because it just reads 0. It reads volts no problem but it can't read amps I think without a new fuse.

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