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Post Info TOPIC: wattage?


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wattage?


I have a 30 amp regulator what is the most wattage I can do in solar panels  please? 

 

Thanks Stuart 



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200 watts gives about 10.7 amps so I would say about 550 watts to 600 watts because they don't always give the wattage that they claim

Dragonfly1



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C Geyer


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Hi Stuart,

according to the basic theory that Watts = Volts * Amps, the nominal value would be 360Watts = 12 * 30 (assumes you are running a 12v system).

However things are never exactly the nominated values, you will typically charge at a higher voltage (say 13.8v), thus you could say that you could handle 414 Watts.

Then you should consider that solar panels are never 100% efficient, thus I would not be uncomfortable connecting say 450W to a 30w charger.



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Thank you, you may have seen in general technical heading that we've got a few things to try and will report back. 

Thanks for your input. 

 

Regards Stuart 



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Gooba.

We have 480W of solar and I've seen 25 amps delivered quite often in hot weather (when 12V fridge working hard) and 28 amps max delivered via our 30 amp regulator.

Experts tell me that it is most efficient to match panel output (amps) to regulator (amps rating) as close as possible.



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Go to higher voltage from panels and have lower amperage

As Plendo noted above, Watts = Volts * Amps

Conversely, Amps = Watts/Volts

In our case, we can harvest at up to 1400 W (bright sunny day at noon on day of the Solstice). Our system is two series of 3 x 235 W panels. Each is series is thus 700 W at 90 V. These two series are then set in parallel to Tri-Star MPPT-45 (45 Amps). 1400 W at 90 V is only 15.5 amps. If we were to run 12 V panels in parallel at 1400 W, this would be 116 amps.

The MPPT-45 then converts 90 V to 54 V so that the MPPT is now supplying 1400 W at 26 amps to the battery bank (48 V nominal). Of course, the 1400 W is a few percent lower after going through the MPPT.

US caravans use 12 V nominal DC so that we have a MeanWell 508 W 48 V to 12 V power supply. The battery suite is also connected to a Magnum 4.0 kW PSWI for AC requirements.

Reed and Elaine

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gooba53 wrote:

I have a 30 amp regulator what is the most wattage I can do in solar panels  please? 

 

Thanks Stuart 


 Hi

The question that should be asked before replying is:

What TYPE of regulator, PWM or MPPT?

 



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