Inventory of mixed panels

[Bluedog225]

I’m finally sitting down and inventorying my 60 or so Craigslist panels from 8-12 manufactures. Most in the 300 watt 9 amp neighborhood.

I’m going to list manufacturer, wattage, voltage open circuit (VOC), and short circuit current (lsc).

This is gong to be tedious as I have to dig them all out of my photos.

Is there any other info I need to capture to help me figure out how to string these together in a way that minimizes losses?

Thanks

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Watts
Voc
Vmp
Isc
Imp

 

[Bluedog225]

Thanks. I generally understand how to work with VOC and lsc when figuring series and parallel.

Would you mind pointing me to a resource to help understand how to work with the others?

 

[fromport]

Is there any other info I need to capture to help me figure out how to string these together in a way that minimizes losses?

I would string together the panels with mostly similar Imp and then add up all the Voc & temp correction to not go over the input voltage of the controller.
If you put a 4 amp panel in series with 9 amp panels, you will (imo) introduce a serious bottleneck.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

if you're cobbling them together into the same array, then the Vmp and Imp values are more useful because they represent actual performance.

Voc and Isc are used when establishing maximum array voltage and current.

Vmp and Imp are used for everything else.

If you're paralleling different brands/models, you'll want series Vmp to be with 5-10%
If you're placing different brands/models in series, you'll want Imp to be as close as possible.

 

[Bluedog225]

Got it. Thanks.