![]() Let’s say you have a 100AH battery and you consistently receive 5 hours of peak sunlight. Let’s illustrate this with a simple example. ![]() How much sunlight will your solar panels get? This will determine how long they will take to fully charge your battery. ![]() The more energy or watts your solar panel produces the quicker you will charge your battery. How quickly do you want to charge your battery? This determines what size solar panel you will get.The most common battery sizes are 50, 100, and 200AH. How big is the battery? Battery sizes are given in amp hours (AH).Will they all charge a 12V battery? As long as they have a voltage of 12V or more, they should.Ĭhoosing which solar panel to use for your battery comes down to answering these three questions. Solar panels produce a varying amount of energy from tiny hand-held panels that produce 5 watts to large panels that produce up to 400 watts. The main issues to consider are the capacity of the battery and the power rating of the solar panel. Technically it is possible to use any solar panel to charge a 12V battery if the solar panel has the same or higher voltage. This information is usually supplied in the specifications or datasheets by the manufacturer.Ĭan I Use Any Solar Panel To Charge 12V Battery? In that way, they prevent any long-term damage.Ĭharge controllers typically have a range of voltages they accept. With a charge controller between them, you can vary the output voltage of your solar panels to suit your needs.Ĭontrollers are there to make sure you don’t overcharge your batteries or drain too much energy from them. Thanks to charge controllers, however, you are no longer restricted to exactly matching your solar panel and battery voltages. That was, and in some cases still is, the standard design of most solar panel systems. In the old days, if your solar panels ran at 36 or 48 volts then your batteries had to run at 36 or 48 volts as well. It’s also why you would want to have your solar array run at a higher voltage. It is why the electricity from your grid runs at a high voltage. A charge controller is used to regulate the volt output from the solar panel and step it down to the volt input used by the battery.Įlectrical systems with higher voltages experience fewer losses when moving electricity from one place to another. But how far can you push this rule? What if you have a 36- or 48-volt solar panel? Can I Use A 36 Volt Solar Panel To Charge A 12 Volt Battery?Ī 36-volt solar panel can be used to charge a 12-volt battery. What does this mean for your solar panel and battery setup? If your solar panels have a lower voltage than your battery, then they cannot push any current or charge your battery. There must be a difference between the source voltage and the destination or load voltage for current to flow. This is where the concept of potential difference comes from. Current flows from where there is high voltage to low voltage. Water flows from high pressure to low pressure. To make electrons move from A to B (to create current), you need voltage to push them. It’s just like how water has pressure and flow rate, electricity has voltage and current. It’s the pressure that pushes electrons in a circuit. Amps tell you the rate at which electrons in a circuit are moving. Current is measured in amperes or amps for short. To understand this concept better and help you design an efficient solar energy system you need to know what volts and current are and what the relationship between them is.Ĭurrent or charge is the flow of electrons through a conductor. For current to flow, there must be a difference between the source voltage, in this case, solar panels, and the destination voltage, in this case, batteries. Can I Use Any Solar Panel To Charge 12V Battery?Ī 12V battery can be charged with a 24V solar panel.Can I Use A 36 Volt Solar Panel To Charge A 12 Volt Battery?.
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