Connecting the solar panel charge controller mppt or pwm are the same solar battery and the pv array in the right way is the essential work before enjoying the solar energy.
Fuse individual solar panels or array.
There are three different locations that we recommend installing fuses or breakers.
To understand how wiring in series works in comparison to how parallel wiring works let s think for a moment about how christmas lights used to work.
I oversized the cabling between the panel array and the controller to minimize any voltage drop from the panels but i m at a loss as to what size fuse or breaker i should use in this cable run.
First between the charge controller and battery bank second between the charge controller and solar panels and third would be between the battery bank and inverter to determine the fuse size needed between the charge controller and battery bank you simply match the amperage rating on the charge controller.
If your panels are smaller than 50 watts and use only 12 gauge wires and 20 amp fuses are required.
Now in the case of 3 panels in series and 4 strings in parallel if one string shorts the max amperage to short is 39 12 which exceeds the 30 amp max current rating of the 10 awg wire.
My question is about providing a fuse or circuit breaker for the output of the panels.
On jack danmayer s website he recommends putting a fuse or breaker on each individual solar panel.
I also installed a solar charge controller inside the boat.
In a parallel system a combiner box is used that holds the fuses breakers to each panel plus one or more combined fuse leading to the charge controller or grid tie inverter see figure.
This means each series needs a fuse breaker placed in the combiner box as shown here.
Maximum power point tracking mppt charge controllers are for wiring solar panels in a series where pulse width modulation pwm charge controllers are used to wire solar panels in parallel.
Now jack recommends these huge breaker boxes that look like they are the size of a small loaf of bread.
Solar panel charge controller wiring intro solar panel charge controller wiring diagram and step by step guide for off grid solar power system wiring.
Fuse you need at least one large fuse at the battery to protect the smallest wire you have connected to it.
Some panels have bypass diodes whose function is to bypass shaded sections of panels but you loose about 8 volts each time they kick in and your array wattage drops.
