Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
Does it matter which cable is connected to positive and negative on a single solar panel or can they be connected to either one?
Positive and Negative On A Solar Panel
- Thread starter Steadfastly
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timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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It absolutely matters.
If you are talking about the cable to your SCC than yes it matters. Correct polarity is essential. If you are talking about series connecting panels than either the neg of one panel to the pos of the other panel is done. Swapping this to be the pos of the first panel and the neg of the second panel only matters if it helps the wiring layout. Parallel wiring will require pos to pos and neg to neg.
Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
I only have one panel, a 380W bifacial. I have it connected to my Solar Generator. Will that make a difference if the polarity is not correct and how do you know which is which on the panel? Both wires on the panel are black so you can't tell by the colour.
There are also two separate connectors on the panels both with black wires, one with a male connector and one with a female connector. Which one is positive?
azjeff
Solar Enthusiast
The wires coming from the panel should be marked in some way. Either at the box they protrude from, our along the cables themselves. Post a picture of the back of the panel and the wires and someone can help positively (pun intended) identify which is which
The two ends should be mc4 style.
The ends will have a small plus and a minus on the sides.
Or, get a volt meter, and check.
ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT CONNECT ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARE SURE.
Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
What is an SCC?
The dc input on the solar generator is connected to the scc. Solar Charge Controller.
Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
Yup. Thats what i said.
azjeff
Solar Enthusiast
You’re going to have to identify which wires are what first ..and then attach/crimp to an Anderson connector ? Do you already have the male Anderson connector? The female will be part of the generator body.
All anderson are male... there are no female connectors. They are hermaphrodetic
Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
My problem was I couldn't see the printing on the connector. However, one connector was female and one was male. I'll have to take my magnifying glass tomorrow and see if I can see anything marking one as positive and one as negative.
azjeff
Solar Enthusiast
My only experience with Anderson was with Forklifts. Replacing the male connectors for charging.
Edited for response to last comment…I was going to 1st suggest glasses to read polarity symbols as I’m getting older and requiring such tools.
Edited for response to last comment…I was going to 1st suggest glasses to read polarity symbols as I’m getting older and requiring such tools.
Kiwi2000
Solar Enthusiast
They may be like these panels where the lady shows where they are marked at 11:58...
Iirc, the flat body female looking connector is negative, and the long pointy male looking connector is negative coming from the panels.
I can check in the morning, i think i have a loose panel in my van.
But, yeah, a volt meter is the best way to know.
Again all anderson are the same polarity...My only experience with Anderson was with Forklifts. Replacing the male connectors for charging.
Edited for response to last comment…I was going to 1st suggest glasses to read polarity symbols as I’m getting older and requiring such tools.
Both ends are identical.
Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
That's what I thought but it was a little dark when I was connecting the extension wire and like the panels in the video, the connector on the panel is black and hard to see. I will check tomorrow. Thanks very much for the video.
Kiwi2000
Solar Enthusiast
Yes they're not marked very clearly.
A voltmeter to double check everything is always a good idea.
Steadfastly
St. Catharines, ON
I checked them this morning and I had it wired correctly. Thanks for all the positive posts!
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