Wiring Different Size Solar Panels Together

Solar panel wiring aka stringing and how to string solar panels together is a fundamental topic for any solar installer.

Wiring different size solar panels together.

So if you connect two solar panels with a rated voltage of 40 volts and a rated amperage of 5 amps in series the voltage of the series would be 80 volts while the amperage would remain at 5 amps. Enter the total amps that your solar panels will produce all together. Wiring solar panels in series. You have two different higher voltage solar panels i e one 100w 24v and one 200w 24v that you want to connect to the already working 12 v solar power system comprising the two 12v 50 w solar panels connected in parallel from the previous scenario see the picture above.

Solar panels are usually connected in series to obtain higher output voltage. A great way to go about choosing the wire thickness for your solar system is to buy solar panel wire big enough to cope with the biggest current amp drawing appliance you have and using that wire for all the other runs to the ac breaker panel. Enter solar panel output voltage. Use a wire sizing calculator for solar arrays that will figure out the size of wire you need.

There are two ways to wire up solar panels. What we can do is wire the two 12v panels in series plus to minus and then we can wire it in parallel with the 24v panel. Firstly lets take a look at connecting solar panels in series. When a solar installer wires your solar panels in a series each panel is connected to the next in a string the total voltage of each solar panel is summed together but the amps of electrical current stay the same.

If we have two solar panels with the same voltage but different wattage there is no problem. Usually 12 24 or 48 volts. Both have their own purpose and applications and both have different outcomes when hooking up solar panels of different wattage together. Enter the distance in feet from your solar panels to your battery bank charge controller.

Click on calculate to see the size wire required in awg american wire gauge. For instance in the demo below we have a 100w 24v panel and some 50w 12v panels. When solar panels are wired in series the voltage of the panels adds together but the amperage remains the same. You need to understand how different stringing configurations impact the voltage current and power of a solar array.

They can be wired in parallel.