If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #1822
Joined: Fri Nov 21 2008, 08:04PM
Location:
Posts: 300
I just bought a couple pounds of broken solar panels and I am getting a voltage from them and current. The next step would be to place a bunch in series but, I am not sure how many. I would be charging some deep cycle 12V batteries I have laying around. Will placing too many panels in series reduce the current too much?
Registered Member #3766
Joined: Sun Mar 20 2011, 05:39AM
Location:
Posts: 624
The current will stay the same, the voltage will increase as you add panels. If you can get multiple panel strings of the same total voltage (12), you can put them in parallel to increase the current
Registered Member #1403
Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968
The cells are properly 0,5 Volt each, standard for larger cells used in panels. You will get above this rating in full sun light, but the current will NEVER be higher than what the weakest cell can supply, so you will have to measure all your cells and maybe parallel some of them.
Another thing to keep in mind is adding blocking diodes and passing diodes to avoid the cells draining the battery and avoirding that shaded cells drain all the energy produced by the other cells, this can also result in a shaded cell burning!
Registered Member #1822
Joined: Fri Nov 21 2008, 08:04PM
Location:
Posts: 300
Mads Barnkob wrote ...
The cells are properly 0,5 Volt each, standard for larger cells used in panels. You will get above this rating in full sun light, but the current will NEVER be higher than what the weakest cell can supply, so you will have to measure all your cells and maybe parallel some of them.
Should I test the current output of each piece and only put similar cells together?
Registered Member #1403
Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968
cduma wrote ...
Mads Barnkob wrote ...
The cells are properly 0,5 Volt each, standard for larger cells used in panels. You will get above this rating in full sun light, but the current will NEVER be higher than what the weakest cell can supply, so you will have to measure all your cells and maybe parallel some of them.
Should I test the current output of each piece and only put similar cells together?
Testing each cells voltage and current output on the same load with the same prerequisites will insure you a solar panel that can perform to its limit. I used a 60W incandescent bulb at 15 cm distance for testing my cells. The result for 60+ cells is quite a range and its about divided in 3 even groups. The first group is the best cells, they can output, lets say 200 mA, the second group of normal cells could output 150 mA and the third group would only output 50mA, so pairing all the normal and bad cells up in parallel with all the good cells in series would give me a array of 20 Volt at 200 mA.
Had I just connected them all in series, then I would have 30 Volt at 50 mA, that is 4 Watt versus 1,5 Watt. The current values is just an example, but the 3 groups isn't.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Solar Panels in Series
