Thor Forums

[thor293]

I finished upgrading my solar. I have set up 2 arrays and using 2 solar controllers, first one is 600 watts using 6 panels, I wired it in groups of 2 panels in series and then paralleled them, this cuts down on the amperage to through the wires, my MPPT controller will take all the voltage over 14.4 and convert it into more amps. The second array is older panels I had that are 75 watts at a little lower voltage and I didn't want to mix them with the higher voltage panels, so this array is 300 watts going through another MPPT controller and then both controllers connected to the batteries. This array was also done in series of 2 and then paralleled. My batteries are 2 Lifeblue 200 ah Lithium batteries in parallel giving me 400 total amp hours. Useable hours at a reasonable discharge to 20% gives me 320 hours. The controller on the 600 watt array is a lithium compatible charger, the second controller has basically the same voltage on the gel setting so that it will never attempt to equalize the batteries.

A side advantage of having all those solar panels on the roof was brought up by someone on another forum that the panels are not only producing electricity but also shielding the roof from heat.