Panels not producing?

[wntrhwk]

Hello, I have a question about panel output. I realize there are a lot of variables, angle, clouds, altitude, etc. I have 2 200w Bouge panels. I currently have them in series and am getting 45v at the MC4 connectors at the controller. According to the Victron app for the 100|30 controller I am only producing 200w, full sun, a bit of an angle, I am at 40degrees N . Is there a formula that would give a ballpark figure of what these 2 panels should be producing, 200w seems a little low. Trying to keep 200amph batteries happy. Thx for the help.

Mike

 

[12VoltInstalls]

At your latitude and with fairly flat panels and this time of year you are probably doing well. If you uptilt your panels you might see 300-400W in a snapshot with good sun
There’s better calculators but here’s one

 

[RichBenn]

I’ve found those 200 watt panels do not come close to advertised figures. i have a 100 and 60 watt panel on a.van that produce more into the battery than a single 200. When i had the panel off the trailer, pointed perpendicular to the sun on a cold winter day, I think I saw 170 watts from the panel on a half charged Lifepo4. Into the battery was about 160.

Just to be certain, you are testing with a battery that’s discharged enough to be able to accept a fast charge, right?

 

[wntrhwk]

Yes, it was about 60% SOC. Am I to assume that under ideal conditions that I will see roughly 80% of the rated 400w or 33amps at the controller?

 

[RichBenn]

Yes, it was about 60% SOC. Am I to assume that under ideal conditions that I will see roughly 80% of the rated 400w or 33amps at the controller?

Not even sure of that. I’ve not seen that many amps going in with a 190 and 200 watt panel In parallel. i’m thinking of re-wiring the panels in series, like you, as my wiring from the panel is sized for one, not two panels In paralell.

One thing I’ve noticed on these panels is the Vpp is pretty low. I think they are designed for PWM controllers.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Hello, I have a question about panel output. I realize there are a lot of variables, angle, clouds, altitude, etc. I have 2 200w Bouge panels. I currently have them in series and am getting 45v at the MC4 connectors at the controller. According to the Victron app for the 100|30 controller I am only producing 200w, full sun, a bit of an angle, I am at 40degrees N . Is there a formula that would give a ballpark figure of what these 2 panels should be producing, 200w seems a little low. Trying to keep 200amph batteries happy. Thx for the help.

Mike

We have 4x100w panels in parallel into a Victron 100/30 controller. They are mounted flat on the roof of our trailer. Since I installed the controller in mid September, I’ve seen anywhere from 120w to 292w from latitude of 47 to 41 degrees north. This is in full sun with no shading. At this time of year the highest I’ve seen in a couple weeks was about 170W, which was a full sunny early October day. Which is par for the course for this time of year. The only solution is to either move closer to the equator, tilt the panels or simply add more panels. Or just live with it like a lot of us do.

Now we do have another 2x100W Renogy panels in a folding solar suitcase that sometimes we set up in addition to the other four. But even though those are rigid panels and rigid is supposedly higher production, they produce about 22% less than the flat mounted flexible ones, and the rigid ones are angled towards the sun. I have tested this a couple of different ways and the results are the same. Well, that’s Renogy for ya.

 

[wntrhwk]

Thanks for the response, it would seem I have run into the limitations of my system. I think I am going to do like you are doing, I do have another 200w of flexable panels, probably add them to another 100|20 controller I have, that way I can direct those panels to get a good angle and squeeze some more photons out. Appreciate everyone's input.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Thanks for the response, it would seem I have run into the limitations of my system. I think I am going to do like you are doing, I do have another 200w of flexable panels, probably add them to another 100|20 controller I have, that way I can direct those panels to get a good angle and squeeze some more photons out. Appreciate everyone's input.

FYI, the first two 100w flexible panels we bought from WindyNation. They’re rather a no name brand but do have WindyNation’s logo on it. They’ve held up well and production is decent. The second two flexible ones are made by Sunpower. The quality is clearly better and when I compare them to the Renogy rigid panels (Sunpower was laying flat and the Renogy was tilted to the sun), the flexible and flat laying Sunpower produces about 1.7A more!! (Voltage was pretty close). This defies what is commonly spouted about flexible panels, that they produce less than rigid. And if you take care of flexible panels, they will still last a long time (stay out of hot desert sun and put your rig under a roof for winter if you get snow, etc.)

Now the cost. When the Sunpower flexible panels first came out, they were very expensive. Now they’re about $160 each, shipped free. The windy nation ones are I think $130-135 or $250 for two, free shipping as well. It’sa no brainier to me, especially if you’re limited on how many panels you can fit on your roof. The Sunpower ones are the clear choice. I expect them to outlast the Windy ones and I’ll replace them with two more Sunpower panels.