Hooking up two panels

mcgraw58
mcgraw58 Registered Users Posts: 2
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Brand new question:

I want to get two 5-watt panels for an RV. Each has a 12-volt male connector. Can I plug them into a "Y" and then plug the Y into a single 12 volt female recepticle and get both to charge the two parallel RV batteries simultaneously? If so, will this speed up the charge cycle over a single panel?

As you can see, I am a true expert wannabe.

Thanks,

mcgraw58
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Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,660 admin
    #2
    Re: Hooking up two panels

    Yes it will... But 5-10 watts is closer to trickle charging for storing a battery rather than giving you very much power to run loads.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • mcgraw58
    mcgraw58 Registered Users Posts: 2
    #3
    Re: Hooking up two panels
    BB. wrote: »
    Yes it will... But 5-10 watts is closer to trickle charging for storing a battery rather than giving you very much power to run loads.

    -Bill

    Thanks. Right now I'm after more of a trickle charge, but any more would be a bonus even if small.

    Kim
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  • PNjunction
    PNjunction Solar Expert Posts: 762 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Hooking up two panels

    Trickle-charge is kind of a misnomer. At best, the typical setup like this is a "maintainer", just barely able to offset the natural self-discharge of the battery. Basically it helps to just keep the battery in the state the panel first found them in. Fully charging the battery at first is a must - otherwise if you start out with a half-dead battery, when you go to check on how well the small solar-maintainers are doing, the batteries will still be half dead - probably more due to sulfation since there is no REAL charge taking place. There may be a slight surface-charge to fool your voltmeter, but as soon as you put a load on it - it's gone.
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