Boat Solar Panel Wiring

These are dc wires for a 12 volt system so you need 2 sets of wires.

Boat solar panel wiring.

Enter solar panel output voltage. Enter the total amps that your solar panels will produce all together. Small panels maintain or trickle charge batteries while you re unplugged from shore power. This is great for a sailboat with lots of shadows from lines mast boom etc or a cabin in the woods with varying shadows throughout the day.

I recommend an inline fuse on the positive wire from the solar panel to the positive terminal to the charge controller use heat shrink butt connectors. Run the wires into the main cabin this usually means drilling a small hole in the cockpit. Mount your panel on your stern rail see photos details below. The positives of course must be installed on the correct gang associated with the respective switch for that load.

Panels wired in series can be wired all the way to the solar charge controller with a thinner gauge wire than those wired in parallel. These connectors are easily disconnected. The purpose of a controller is to prevent batteries from being overcharged apply the optimal charging current to the battery bank and prevent current from back. Connect the negative wire from the solar panel to the negative input on the charge controller.

If one panel is shaded it will not affect the entire solar array. The benefit of parallel wiring each panel works independently. Attach marine grade copper wires to the panel. Most decent 12v nominal panels will output a voltage of around 16 0 to 19 0 volts.

Most are terminated with standard 8 ring terminals. Installing one or more photovoltaic solar panels on your boat is a great way to keep your batteries topped off and in larger installations replace the power consumed by house loads. The wiring of your panel to the boats battery bank is critically important. Enter the distance in feet from your solar panels to your battery bank charge controller.

Just hookup your existing boat wiring infrastructure to the terminal block and buss bar. Solar controller except for small trickle charge systems all solar systems should have a solar controller. Click on calculate to see the size wire required in awg american wire gauge. By tom burden last updated.

Choosing whether to wire the panels in series or parallel on a boat affects the wire gauge required which is why many solar power installers lean toward wiring the panels in series. Usually 12 24 or 48 volts. Giving up any of this voltage to voltage drop can affect how quickly your bank is recharged. Mc4 connector a water proof connector used in solar wiring.

Positives to the terminal block and negative to the bus bar.