Parallel or Series Connection?

[amisdar]

Hi guys, I'm a beginner and I have this question in mind.

Let say I have 8 units of solar panel. Each panel producing 25V and 5A, this will produce 125Watt per panel. Now, if I...

a. Connect all these 8 units of panel in series it will produce 200V and 5A
b. Connect all these 8 units of panel in parallel it will produce 25V and 40A

Both setup above will produce 1kW of power and will be connected to 1500 Watt inverter.

My question is, which one will be the better setup to power up home appliances, regardless which one I choose (series or parallel)? Will it make any different in the output/performance?

Thank you very much for the feedback

[Mike90250]

The series configuration (high voltage, low amps) is generally preferable, because much less power is lost in the copper wires.

For a house with grid availability, a simple batteryless Grid Tie inverter connection is the most efficient way to use the power. However, you will need to obtain different panels to get you into the 400VDC range for the GT inverter.

If you use batteries, you are limited to a 48VDC system, and the inherent losses of charge controller, batteries, and inverter will limit your power production to about 50% of your solar harvest.

[russ]

Hi Amisdar - Welcome to the forum.

Look forward to hearing more about your prospective project.

Russ

[amisdar]

Hi Russ, thank you! I hope I can learn valuable knowledge via this forum.

Thanks for your reply Mike, I forgot about the lost in copper wires, thank you!

If I want to set it up as grid tie solar system, is it really necessary for me to increase the voltage output from my solar to achieve at least 400V DC ? Sounds like I need to add more panels

Thank you for your time!

[earlew]

Series or Parallel

I have a similar question on whether I should use series or parallel.

I have 4 pv's each 300 watts vmp 36.7 open circuit 44.5 each around 8 amps.

I am using a xantrex mppt 60a 150v charge controller with a 24v 400 amp battery setup.

I am using a heavy gauge wire about 30 feet long that connects my pv's to the CC.

If I wire the whole lot in series the output voltage would be around 178 volts which would be too high for the CC input so it would be best for me to wire them in two sets of series then parallel them or i could parallel the the 4 together.

So the question is which would be best for me.

Series parallel or parallel.

Which one would be best.

I understand my CC will do all the work for me but i am sure i have seen up to 45amps on the output when i go parallel but only around 28amps in series.


Oh! i live on the island of Jamaica surrounded by the beautiful Caribbean sea on flat land where i have no shadow probs etc so other than cloudy, rainy or hurricane conditions i always have good sunlight.

Temp can get to a high of around 33c or a low of 27c maybe 25c

Hows that for good weather.

Thanks for any reply.

[inetdog]

Hi Russ, thank you! I hope I can learn valuable knowledge via this forum.

Thanks for your reply Mike, I forgot about the lost in copper wires, thank you!

If I want to set it up as grid tie solar system, is it really necessary for me to increase the voltage output from my solar to achieve at least 400V DC ? Sounds like I need to add more panels

Thank you for your time!

The minimum panel string voltage you need will depend entirely on what make and model Grid Tied Inverter (GTI) you choose. Look at their specifications. If you will be producing 240 volts, you will certainly be more efficient with a higher DC input and your inverter choices will probably have a higher minimum than for a 120 volt GTI.
You want the panel Vmp to be somewhere within the MPPT range of the GTI, not just above the absolute minimum and below the absolute maximum. (For the maximum safe value specification, take the Voc of the string, not the Vmp, and multiply by 1.25 if you will have very cold winter temperatures. (Lower than say 10C).)

[Sunking]

I have a similar question on whether I should use series or parallel.

I have 4 pv's each 300 watts vmp 36.7 open circuit 44.5 each around 8 amps.

I am using a xantrex mppt 60a 150v charge controller with a 24v 400 amp battery setup.

I am using a heavy gauge wire about 30 feet long that connects my pv's to the CC.

If I wire the whole lot in series the output voltage would be around 178 volts which would be too high for the CC input so it would be best for me to wire them in two sets of series then parallel them or i could parallel the the 4 together.

So the question is which would be best for me.

Series parallel or parallel.

Which one would be best.

I understand my CC will do all the work for me but i am sure i have seen up to 45amps on the output when i go parallel but only around 28amps in series.


Oh! i live on the island of Jamaica surrounded by the beautiful Caribbean sea on flat land where i have no shadow probs etc so other than cloudy, rainy or hurricane conditions i always have good sunlight.

Temp can get to a high of around 33c or a low of 27c maybe 25c

Hows that for good weather.

Thanks for any reply.

2 x 2 configuration. 2 in series paralleled with 2 in series.