Why 24 Volt Vs 12 In A Solar Panels

24 volt systems cut the current in half which is a big deal when buying battery inverter cables and fuses etc.

Why 24 volt vs 12 in a solar panels.

This means the wiring of the house does not have to be different from any other grid connected household and cabling cost is greatly reduced. Panel voltage should be 1 5x higher. Most rv appliances operate on 12 volt systems making this the most compatible and therefore making 24 volt systems unnecessary or even counterproductive for use on recreational vehicles. Using a 24 volt supply instead of a 12 volt supply greatly reduces the wiring cost to almost half the original cost.

Most residential solar systems operate at 24 or 48 volts and supply power to the house with a 230 volt a c inverter. With a large 12 volt system you may require twice as much cabling and twice as many regulators as with an equivalent 24 volt system. Higher voltage residential panels tend to be fairly large and the higher voltages are more efficient and use smaller wiring. Overall 12v is safer for dc circuits as opposed to 24v.

Solar regulators are generally limited to 100 amps maximum. You are so correct about 12 volts versus 24 volt systems. Many people who decide to purchase a 12v solar panel do so in order to charge a 12 volt automotive battery. 12 volt used to be a standard for extra low voltage power systems.

So in order to have more panels in the system you could wire another series of panels and connect those series in parallel. Read this article to prevent yourself from succumbing to these common pitfalls that are specific to 12v systems using 12 volt solar panels. It also has the effect of making the batteries last longer due to peukart s law. This is so because increasing the voltage of a system causes a reduction in the current through it and in turn reduces the size of the wires you need.

This limitation can be overcome by having several solar arrays separately wired through separate regulators. Today most systems are 24v or 48v and include a 230v ac inverter. I believe almost all rv systems are based on 12 volt panels.