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Okay, here's the situation folks: I have a small system set up on my houseboat which consists of two panels, two 210 AH agm batts and a Tristar MPPT controller 45. Everything is set up for 24V. I would like to add two more panels and possibly two more batts if necessary to accomplish my power needs. My question is mainly this, I don't know which two panels to add and how to wire them into my existing system. One of my problems is that the panels were given to me and I don't have any documentation on them, i.e. no paperwork. Looking for some intel as to what the wattage, type, etc. is of my existing panels. I was at the boat a couple of days ago and looked closely at the panels. To lift them up to look for any written info would be a real problem because they are mounted to the roof and I'm afraid that if I remove the screws holding them down, I might cause leaks to my roof. I made some measurements and here is what I found: the panels are approximately 36" by 64" and contain 60 squares of PV material that are each 6" by 6". In other words, if I measure in by the squares, there are 6-6" panels on the width and 10-6" panels on the length. Can anyone give me a reasonable guess as to the wattage of each panel? I believe they are each 100W, but I'm not sure. I want this info to match these with two new panels that I intend to purchase soon. Additionally, I intend to wire these two new panels in series and then parallel them to the existing panels to keep things sort of equal. Looking for any assistance any of you can give me. Thanks.
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Those are the same size installed here a dozen years ago, rated 250 watts. That number
varies some over years as the manufacturing varied. They gave peak power at around
32 VDC depending on temp, open circuit around 40V. Could be used to charge a 24V
battery with simple control.
Lately the 6in cells have fallen out of favor, but 60 bigger series connected cells will still
give near the same voltage to operate a system. Bruce Roe -
I think you are right BCROE. After I posted this, I found an old post on a different topic where I had previously stated the panels were 280W each so that tracks with your advice so thanks.Comment
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