Can you use 24V Panels to charge 12V LiFePo4 Battery using MPPT.

[Wadzanai]

Hi everyone

I have a Victron Blue Solar 100V-50A MPPT charge controller, pre assembled 12V 200Ah LIFEPO4 Battery. My inverter is 12V 1000W.

12V 160W (US$100) panels are costing as much, sometimes more than 24V 340W(U$100) panels.

Is it possible to use 2*340W (680W) (US$200) 24V panels to charge my battery (Victron says max PV should be 700W for 12V) instead of spending twice as much to buy 4*160W(640W) (US$400) 12V panels.

I wanted to build a 24V System but shipping costs to South Africa are just ridiculous, 4 cells cost US$580 shipping alone, 8 cells it’s US$1000 shipping plus US$560 for the cells, total US$1560, the 12V battery I got it for US$500, it has an internal BMS, Bluetooth monitoring plus 12months warranty.

Kindly assist.

Wadzanai

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[SunDave]

Hi, Check out your charge controller manual. It seems you can use anything up to 100volts input.

When you hook your battery up to your charge controller, it will sense and auto select your battery voltage. Your solar voltage does not have to match your battery (system) voltage.

 

[ShaneC]

Yes this is what an mppt charger does, converts high voltage PV into the correct voltage to charge your battery at. You don't need to restrict yourself to any particular panel voltage so long as the total series string voltage is over 16~V and the VoC is lower than 100V.

 

[Wadzanai]

Hi, Check out your charge controller manual. It seems you can use anything up to 100volts input.

When you hook your battery up to your charge controller, it will sense and auto select your battery voltage. Your solar voltage does not have to match your battery (system) voltage.

Hi SunDave

Thanks.??

 

[Wadzanai]

Yes this is what an mppt charger does, converts high voltage PV into the correct voltage to charge your battery at. You don't need to restrict yourself to any particular panel voltage so long as the total series string voltage is over 16~V and the VoC is lower than 100V.

Hi ShaneC

Thanks.??