Help With New Setup on RV Application

[Biopwr]

I have a 270 watt mono 24 volt panel and a 265 watt mono 24 volt panel for my RV what is the best way to run the wires down to the Mid-nite Kid what is the difference in Series and Parallel and how do you connect the wires. I am running 4 six volt batteries with 420 amh.
I am 30 feet from the panels to the Kid and I have AWG 10 wire for the feed down from the roof.

Could someone help me with the wiring and combing them.

Tim

[Westbranch]

what are panel specs?

It's likely that they may match well and you will have the equivalent of 2 265 watt'ers

You want to run the Midniite solar sizing tool to see if 2 in series is better than 2 in parallel

http://www.midnitesolar.com/sizingTool_kid/index.php

hth

[tecnodave]

Tim,

Please post a bit more detail on these panels. There are many different cell count panels out there.
Most grid tie panels have 60 cells......about 29-30 volts at max.power......then there the 72 cell panels that are about 34-35 volts at max.power.

And a bunch of oddball ones best to stay away from unless they come dirt cheep......54 cell?.....80 cell?  96 cell?    Too hard to find a match to

It is important that the panels match in voltage if you want to use them in parallel.
You did not state battery voltage so since you are in an RV I assume you will be 12 volt with two sets of 6 volt batteries in series.......not really ideal as batteries in parallel will never balance completely.

If you are 12 volt then best would to connect these panels in parallel  (assuming the voltage is same).
Voltage drop will not be an issue as wiring runs are short.....10 Guage wire is good.......if it will be exposed to sun use p.v. Extension wires.....get ones that are long enough for the round trip and cut in half.......don't cut the connectors off the panels and splice as this voids the warranty.

One breaker between the panels and the kid and one more between the kid and the battery

Two choices here.   MidNite baby box of Big Baby and MNEPV breakers.    (din rail mount)
                      OR. MidNite Quad box and MNEDC breakers.      (Panel mount)

30 amps maximum for both breakers.

@WB where did you get 4 panels......I read one of each!    Not great but let's see just what he has!


td

[Westbranch]

@ TD   Oops, typo, should have been 2 not 4 ... changed text to 2