Calculating Wire Size For Solar Panels

To use the wire size calculator just follow these 4 simple steps.

Calculating wire size for solar panels.

Calculated wire diameter in inches or cable wire size in mm2 and rated maximum ampers for power transmission if cables are wired in a bundle or maximum amps for chassis wiring if each wire is routed separately. Read our wiring post to determine the proper wire size for your build. Cable wire size needed in mm2 cross sectional area wire diameter in inches. 9 november thomas karli reis allgemein designing string serial modules.

Wiring between solar panels back of solar panels when pv modules are connected in series the voltage adds up but the power a capacity remains the same. Usually 12 24 or 48 volts. To calculate wire size just enter solar system working voltage in v or working voltage over cable wire for example if this cable connects the battery bank to load add the voltage of battery bank expected working peak power. Use this to determine the right cable for your solar panels be safe and save money.

Enter the distance in feet from your solar panels to your battery bank charge controller. The cable should withstand maxumum current in a always choose cable type that satisfied both conditions. Besides this solar cable gauge calculator is designed to provide estimates for wire gauge size to determine your need for cables. Let s take a 450 watt 12v system.

60a 24v 1440w 1 1 or 1 25 1584w 1800w. We then go ahead and calculate the 110 125 of the maximum controller rating to get a range of 1584w to 1800w. The complete calculation looks like this. For that take the max string size calculated in step 2 12 panels and multiply by the vmp of the panel 39 28.

Using the known resistance of the various wire gauges it is possible to calculate the maximum length for a wire pair for each wire gauge size. In step 2 we calculated that maximum string size to keep the inverter operational. You can double the length for a 24v system or quadruple it for a 48v system. Solar panel kits eco worhty 600w solar kit eco worthy 800w solar kit fuses and wire gage size are going to vary depend on how long your are running the wires.

Enter the total amps that your solar panels will produce all together. 12 39 28 471 36v. For example solar array peak power in w or kw cable s working temperature in celsius or fahrenheit. Here is what that calculation looks like for a 12v pv system.

We want to double check that this falls within our peak efficiency range as well. Enter solar panel output voltage.