Best Panel Wattage & Sizing For Sun Poor Area?

[read1984]

Hi I am new to Solar, but I am planning to build a portable sack truck power station like in one of Will's older videos.

Currently my design is to have 2 x 12 V 100Ah lithium batteries in parallel. A 40 amp charge controller and now i’m thinking about what solar panels to get? I live in the UK and there is a slight lack of sun in this country at any time of the year! We are also going into the winter now which obviously reduces the amount of sun we get.

What is the best option to utilise as much of the daily sun as possible? I watched a video with Will talking about over panelling. So would it be better if I got two 200W or even 300W panels and put them in series instead of 2 x 100W in series?

Thanks

 

[snoobler]

The only way to use sun that isn't there is to use more panels to harvest the little light there is.

Link #5 in my signature will give you your solar hours for your location, panel orientation and tilt.

 

[Craig]

I had just this situation today. I had very smokey air and with one 110 watt panel. I basically got no charge. I added another panel in series and viola I was able to get about 25% power out of the two panels. I added a third panel and the watts did rise but only by 25% of that panels rated output. So it seemed that I did need extra volts. I recommend putting as many in series as possible as long as there is no shading from trees and buildings.

 

[read1984]

Thanks @snoobler that solar hours calculator was very useful.

Check out these terrible numbers for the rest of the year for me:

Oct 2.37
Nov 1.56
Dec 1.08

Ideally I would like only 2 panels due to space, but if I have to then I could accommodate up to 4 (I am sure the Wife will be happy!) so I guess what I asking to get a steer on is, whether 2 or up to 4 panels... what wattage panels should I buy to squeeze as much voltage as I can?

@Craig thanks for that advice, I am sure that I will encounter that situation a lot. As I mentioned I am trying to figure out what size panels to buy? What set-up are currently running?

 

[Craig]

Thanks @snoobler that solar hours calculator was very useful.

Check out these terrible numbers for the rest of the year for me:

Oct 2.37
Nov 1.56
Dec 1.08

Ideally I would like only 2 panels due to space, but if I have to then I could accommodate up to 4 (I am sure the Wife will be happy!) so I guess what I asking to get a steer on is, whether 2 or up to 4 panels... what wattage panels should I buy to squeeze as much voltage as I can?

@Craig thanks for that advice, I am sure that I will encounter that situation a lot. As I mentioned I am trying to figure out what size panels to buy? What set-up are currently running?

This was just a test system I was putting together with a 100AH lifepo4 pack ,some flexible 110 watt panels, and a MakeSkyBlue SCC I was testing. Not sure how good the panels or SCC are yet. Even today with good sun the panels are only producing about 12% of capacity

 

[snoobler]

Thanks @snoobler that solar hours calculator was very useful.

Check out these terrible numbers for the rest of the year for me:

Oct 2.37
Nov 1.56
Dec 1.08

Ideally I would like only 2 panels due to space, but if I have to then I could accommodate up to 4 (I am sure the Wife will be happy!) so I guess what I asking to get a steer on is, whether 2 or up to 4 panels... what wattage panels should I buy to squeeze as much voltage as I can?

@Craig thanks for that advice, I am sure that I will encounter that situation a lot. As I mentioned I am trying to figure out what size panels to buy? What set-up are currently running?

Simply buy as many solar panels of whatever size you can to completely cover the available space. Most panels are of similar efficiency these days. Some sizes may fit better than others. Become a Tetris God to win!

 

[read1984]

This was just a test system I was putting together with a 100AH lifepo4 pack ,some flexible 110 watt panels, and a MakeSkyBlue SCC I was testing. Not sure how good the panels or SCC are yet. Even today with good sun the panels are only producing about 12% of capacity

Yep sounds like a problem somewhere!!