Advice

[Joseph okeychi]

hi guys
pls I want to connect 8 panels 255w 31.4V 8.15amps into a 48v charge Controller. how do I connect the panels to avoid collateral damage? thanks.

[Rob Beckers]

hi guys
pls I want to connect 8 panels 255w 31.4V 8.15amps into a 48v charge Controller. how do I connect the panels to avoid collateral damage? thanks.

Josph, welcome to the forums!
Please don't post the same question in multiple threads. One is enough.

What brand/type of charge controller do you have? Unfortunately "48V charge controller" is too generic to give much advise.

-RoB-

[Joseph okeychi]

I want to know what to consider when sizing a Sola system for a 96v 80amps or 60amps solar charge controller . is it the voltage or the amperage of the panels should I consider? pls i m confused.

[Rob Beckers]

Joseph, please keep related matters in the same thread, don't open up a new thread for questions relating to what you asked earlier please.

I'm not aware of any charge controllers that can handle 96 Volt batteries, but maybe they exist in your part of the world. Things seem to top out at 48 Volt, with a few going to 72 Volt batteries. I have not seen anything higher than that.

Normally for a large system like the one you're proposing one would use regular 60-cell grid-tie PV modules. They are 250 - 285 Watt each. To make that work with batteries you need an MPPT type charge controller (Maximum Power Point Tracking, as opposed to the simpler PWM type controllers).

Sizing is limited by several factors: The input of the charge controller will have a maximum Voltage limit. You can't exceed this for the coldest temperature the solar panels will see (when a panel gets cold the Voltage goes up). The limit is determined by Voc, the "open circuit" Voltage of the panel. Exceed the Voltage limit of the controller, even for a moment, and odds are that the magic smoke is released and you're left with an expensive paperweight. For example, if your controller has a maximum input Voltage of 600 Volt and the Voc per panel for your climate can go up to 44 Volt it means that strings can be up to 13 panels in series.

The Amperage, or rather the Wattage of the total array is of less importance for MPPT type charge controllers as they have to actively limit their output current anyway (so you can oversize your array to some extend without damaging the controller). In general though, if the controller is good for 80 Amp into the batteries at 96 Volt that means an array of about 8 kW of PV modules will work OK.

-RoB-