Boat Solar Panel Wiring

The wiring of your panel to the boats battery bank is critically important.

Boat solar panel wiring.

These are dc wires for a 12 volt system so you need 2 sets of wires. Mc4 connector a water proof connector used in solar wiring. Individual silicon cells produce only around 0 6v and so enough of them have to be connected together in series to produce a voltage high enough to be able to charge a 12v battery. These connectors are easily disconnected.

Run the wires into the main cabin this usually means drilling a small hole in the cockpit. Most are terminated with standard 8 ring terminals. Giving up any of this voltage to voltage drop can affect how quickly your bank is recharged. 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.

Enter solar panel output voltage. Enter the distance in feet from your solar panels to your battery bank charge controller. 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. 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.

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. Attach marine grade copper wires to the panel. 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. The benefit of parallel wiring each panel works independently.

Typical marine solar panels are comprised of a number of silicon cells normally 32 connected together in a series string. Click on calculate to see the size wire required in awg american wire gauge. Mount your panel on your stern rail see photos details below. 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. 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. 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. The positives of course must be installed on the correct gang associated with the respective switch for that load. Usually 12 24 or 48 volts. Most decent 12v nominal panels will output a voltage of around 16 0 to 19 0 volts.

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