Would you like a solar panel series?

I just taught a seminar at the Keedysville Green Team event, and here’s what they wanted…

New article series possibility!

My EV Charging Seminar at the Keedysville Green Team Event yesterday got a lot of questions about solar panels. So I’ve thought about starting a Solar Panel Basics series here.

Since I’m currently developing the content for an RV Tech class on solar panels, I could publish a consumer version here. See below for the syllabus so far. Let me know in the comments below if you would like that type of informaiton.

Solar Panel theory and selection

1. Solar Panels (rated in watts)

2. Solar Charge Controller (rated in amps and volts)

3. Battery Storage (rated in amp-hours)

4. AC Inverter (rated in watts, and type of AC power it produces)

Solar Panel Selection

• How many watt-hours of energy produced per day per 100-watts of solar panels

• What does this convert to in Amp-Hrs of battery capacity

• Flexible vs flat solar panel considerations

• Should they be wired in series or parallel

Charge Controller

• Selection is based on number of series or parallel solar panels

• What is an MPPT controller?

• Can it charge a Lithium Battery?

• Can it overcharge a battery?

Battery Storage

• Lithium vs AGM vs Flooded Acid batteries

• Matching solar panel size to battery capacity

• How to calculated Amp-Hrs of storage a customer needs for boondocking

• Watt-hrs or amp-hrs of various RV appliances

Inverter Selection

• Hybrid vs Standard Inverters

• Pass-Thru vs Stand-Alone Inverters

• What size inverter (in watts) is needed to power an RV?

• Pure-Sine vs Modified-Sine Inverter considerations