Does A 10w Solar Panel Need A Regulator

Some exceptions may apply based on panel type.

Does a 10w solar panel need a regulator.

The voltage acquired from a solar panel is never stable and varies drastically according to the position of the sun and intensity of the sun rays and of course on the degree of incidence over the solar panel. The panels need to provide some extra voltage so that when the sun is low in the sky or you have heavy haze cloud cover or high temperatures you still get some output from the panel. We already saw a 12w panel producing as much as 0 72a and pushing a 220ah agm bank to over 15v. Why do i need a regulator.

Simply touch the solar panel leads with the multi meter probes matching their corresponding polarity red to red black to black. 12v nominal solar panels have voltages from 16v to 18 v. A 12v solar panel is designed to output at least enough voltage to charge a 12v battery under worst case conditions low light level high temperature etc. So using the above example for an mppt regulator you will need one that can handle more than 20 8a maximum current and 18v maximum solar input voltage.

Even a diminutive 10w solar panel can produce about 0 59 0 6a in good sun. Now on the voltage of the panel you need a panel capable of up to 14 5 volts to fully charge the battery even when it starts charging at. So i can look at the charts to see if i have a 100w solar panel in portland me installed at about 45 degrees angle on annual average i d get 4 6 sun hours a day. A fully charged 12 volt battery is around 12 7 volts at rest around 13 6 to 14 4 under charge so the panel has to put out at least that much under worst.

Why do we need a solar regulator. The purpose of the box is to regulate the amount of charge going from the panel that flows into the deep cycle battery bank. A solar regulator is a small box made up of circuitry in a solid state that is located between a battery and a solar panel. Even with a small panel if the bank is left on charge for multiple days or weeks at a.

Likewise if i took that same solar panel in miami fl installed it at a 25 degree tilt i d have an annual average of 5 2 sun hours. Again assuming a fully depleted battery you would need 20 amps average charging current 100 ah 5 hours. Open circuit voltage can vary depending on your solar panel but the readings we are usually looking for are in the range of 15 to 23v.