Tropiccafe
New Member
I am installing 4 HQST solar panels 9bb and need to know if a 10 ga wire is large enough for a 100 foot run.
4 100 watt solar panels wire size
- Thread starter Tropiccafe
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cs1234
Solar Wizard
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- May 9, 2022
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Are you running them in series, parallel or a combination of series/parallel. What charge controller / battery voltage settings are you using? A 12v, 24v or 48v battery config?
Generally speaking, for those 4 panels, regardless of configuration, a 10ga wire is going to be adequate for 100'.
Generally speaking, for those 4 panels, regardless of configuration, a 10ga wire is going to be adequate for 100'.
Tropiccafe
New Member
Using a 60 amp HQSR charge controller 12 volt battery voltage. And thank you.
cs1234
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- May 9, 2022
- Messages
- 2,305
How do you plan on hooking up your panels? In parallel or series? You lose less power to cable losses at higher voltage, but you might lose more solar power in series if you have any shading issues.
Play around with something like this voltage drop calculator, and you can see the difference cable gauge makes and whether it's worth it to go up or down in cable size.
Play around with something like this voltage drop calculator, and you can see the difference cable gauge makes and whether it's worth it to go up or down in cable size.
Questions:
What is the wattage? How are these being wired? parallel, series, combination? Your wiring of the panels will affect output voltage and amps.
Assuming you are connecting them up to a solar charge controller to charge a battery bank, what voltage is the battery bank? (12,24,48)? What is the max voltage of the charge controller?
The voltage out of your array must be a bit above the voltage of the battery bank or no charging will happen. (see specs of your charge controller)
But the voltage out of the array must be under the max voltage of the charge controller, with room to spare for cold weather if that is a concern, as voltage goes up in cold weather.
One you know all of this, use a voltage drop calculator to determine if 10awg will be enough. Max suggested loss is 2-3%, but it can be a little more if it is still above the minimum. charge voltage for your controller and battery
Here is a voltage drop calculator
www.southwire.com
Once you have the specs for your panels (from the data sheet, (STC values) sometimes stamped to the back of the panel as well, there is more to say, including things concerning VoC, Isc, etc, but we'll hold off on that for now....
What is the wattage? How are these being wired? parallel, series, combination? Your wiring of the panels will affect output voltage and amps.
Assuming you are connecting them up to a solar charge controller to charge a battery bank, what voltage is the battery bank? (12,24,48)? What is the max voltage of the charge controller?
The voltage out of your array must be a bit above the voltage of the battery bank or no charging will happen. (see specs of your charge controller)
But the voltage out of the array must be under the max voltage of the charge controller, with room to spare for cold weather if that is a concern, as voltage goes up in cold weather.
One you know all of this, use a voltage drop calculator to determine if 10awg will be enough. Max suggested loss is 2-3%, but it can be a little more if it is still above the minimum. charge voltage for your controller and battery
Here is a voltage drop calculator
Voltage Drop Calculator | Southwire
www.southwire.com
Once you have the specs for your panels (from the data sheet, (STC values) sometimes stamped to the back of the panel as well, there is more to say, including things concerning VoC, Isc, etc, but we'll hold off on that for now....
