Its not confusing, there are 12 volt & 24 volt systems ; same with the solar panels.
If you can tell me what vehicle you have & what systems you have in place.
Eg; small vehicles are generaly 12 volt, buses & trucks are 24 volt.
Generaly when people set up a motor home on a bus &/or truck that is 24volt the house system( thats you living quarters) are desighned around 12 volt system as this is what most appliances are, eg, lights,fridges, tv etc.
JC.
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Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
When you say 24 V solar are you referring to the panels or the batteries?
I would tend to stick to 12 V battery system. Although you will save money installing lighter wire in a 24 V system you will have difficulty in finding 24 V appliances and they will probably cost more. If you can't find 24 V appliances you will have to run 240 V ones through an inverter (with the inherent extra losses.)
Regarding 24 V panels, you just need to use a MPPT solar regulator if you are using them to charge 12 V batteries (but not a D250S.)
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Its not confusing, there are 12 volt & 24 volt systems ; same with the solar panels.
If you can tell me what vehicle you have & what systems you have in place.
Eg; small vehicles are generaly 12 volt, buses & trucks are 24 volt.
Generaly when people set up a motor home on a bus &/or truck that is 24volt the house system( thats you living quarters) are desighned around 12 volt system as this is what most appliances are, eg, lights,fridges, tv etc.
JC.
Vehical as in what i need to power you mean??
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The clearest path in life is always the one behind you....
A 24v system would be a real pain unless the vehicle uses a 24v system rather than the usual 12v system, eg some converted buses and some larger motorhomes. One would need to install a 12v converter in 24v system to run the many accessories that are meant for 12v. Tapping into one half of a 24v battery system is not considered to be good practice.
Its not confusing, there are 12 volt & 24 volt systems ; same with the solar panels.
If you can tell me what vehicle you have & what systems you have in place.
Eg; small vehicles are generaly 12 volt, buses & trucks are 24 volt.
Generaly when people set up a motor home on a bus &/or truck that is 24volt the house system( thats you living quarters) are desighned around 12 volt system as this is what most appliances are, eg, lights,fridges, tv etc.
JC.
Vehical as in what i need to power you mean??
NO; What make & model is the vehicle? also any systems that have been fitted for the purpose of camping, living in, etc.
__________________
Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
Its not confusing, there are 12 volt & 24 volt systems ; same with the solar panels.
If you can tell me what vehicle you have & what systems you have in place.
Eg; small vehicles are generaly 12 volt, buses & trucks are 24 volt.
Generaly when people set up a motor home on a bus &/or truck that is 24volt the house system( thats you living quarters) are desighned around 12 volt system as this is what most appliances are, eg, lights,fridges, tv etc.
JC.
Vehical as in what i need to power you mean??
NO; What make & model is the vehicle? also any systems that have been fitted for the purpose of camping, living in, etc.
I have 2009 x-trail at present but will be changeing to 4x4 ute soon ... i need power for small fridge , lights ,tv couple of hour some days .chargeing of laptop and phone .. Not talking about volts of car but i was reading other day solar come in 24 or 12 volt that were i am confused ...
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The clearest path in life is always the one behind you....
lilly31 wrote: .. Not talking about volts of car but i was reading other day solar come in 24 or 12 volt that were i am confused ...
Solar panels come in far more than those two nominal sizes. The rest are used in large arrays employing MPPT controllers.
The so-called 12 & 24 V panels are commonly used to charge 12 & 24 V batteries with simple charge controllers. They both produce larger voltages than their nominal voltage ratings. They actually charge the batteries at 14+ & 28+ V However they are labelled with the voltages of the batteries they charge. The earlier controllers were shunt regulators that simply stole the current that was not required to charge the batteries and converted the power to heat (the technology of the day could not provide efficient operation in a series pass configuration.) With modern transistors we now have, the simple regulators are of the series pass type (often referred to as PWM.) The peak power point voltage of these panels is tailored to give the most economical size panel for the battery being charged.
As well as the simple regulators we also have the MPPT style of regulators which extract more power from the panels. These MPPT regulators mostly use solar arrays that produce peak voltages of over 100 V. The arrays are made up from an number of panels in series to get these high voltages. When talking of panels for this operation 12 & 24 V panels becomes a little meaningless. Using arrays of high voltage with MPPT controllers have some advantage when it comes to efficiency of operation.
In later years MPPT controllers have reduced in price where they are now within the reach of caravanners. With them you can use arrays of any peak voltage providing the peak voltage is within the specifications of the controller (the Ctek D250S maximum peak voltage is only 22 V.)
Series high voltage arrays with MPPT is fine where you have a fixed array where there is no chance of trees and other objects will cast a shadow over it. If something shadows one panel you loose the power available in the series string in which it is located. Caravanners can not guarantee they will be able to camp where the panels will not receive some shading. Most of them thus don't go for the series connection where there will bit more efficiency. They go for parallel connection where if one panel gets shade the other one may plug along in bright sunshine and still produce its maximum power.
The bottom line is - if you are using a simple series pass regulator (PWM) then use a panel with the same nominal voltage rating as the battery.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
I have 2009 x-trail at present but will be changeing to 4x4 ute soon ... i need power for small fridge , lights ,tv couple of hour some days .chargeing of laptop and phone .. Not talking about volts of car but i was reading other day solar come in 24 or 12 volt that were i am confused ...
The reason for asking about the vehicle's electrical system is that the "house" voltage is usually same as the vehicle's to enable charging from the vehicle's alternator. When you mentioned 24v we wanted to clear the air that this was not so in your case as it would have influenced the type of advice given.
Often when members ask questions on these types of subjects respondents to the questions will seek further information in order to ensure that the advice given is accurate and relevant.
I was once "caught out" when I advised the downside of going for 24v panels only to be told later in the thread that the vehicle, a converted bus, had a 24 volt system.
To summarise, go with 12v panels for a 12 volt system.
