I'm jumping in and need to know how to speak the language.

fabricator · April 2015

There is a local gentleman selling Avancis 115W panels, they are very good looking panels, he gets them from Certainteed, they come from Germany, I already have a Schneider 6848 inverter and two Schneider 60/150 mppt charge controllers along with a gen start module a system control panel a comm box and a battery monitor all this stuff ties together and lets you monitor it on any mobile device or computer.
Anyway, the label on the panels might as well be written in Chinese, can somebody explain how to decode it all and what it means to me as far as what series and parallel strings will mean to me?
Here is a pic of the panel label.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/fabricator01/Solar%20panel%20spec%20label_zpsmfzcxntw.jpg

waynefromnscanada · April 2015

Hi "fabricator", welcome to the forum.
Open circuit voltage is the voltage the panel produces in sunlight when there are no loads connected or drawing from the panel.
Short circuit current is the max current the panel can produce, and will happen in full sun when the output of the panel is shorted out.
Voltage MPP is the voltage the panel will produce in full sun when the panel is loaded to the max power point.
Current MPP is the current the panel will produce in full sun when it's loaded to the Max Power Point.
Max fuse rating is the max fuse size that should be in series with the output of this panel.
Max system voltage is the max voltage this panel should ever be part of in any system.
As to your question re parallel or series panels - - -
If you connect two or more in parallel, the total voltage will stay the same as any one of the panels, but the amps will add together.
If they are connected in series, the voltage will add together to give higher voltages, but the amperage will remain the same as any one panel.

Photowhit · April 2015

Yep, you need to know the language, also need to know what you're going to power. If you're not powering anything, don't buy anything and you will be money ahead.

You're asking for gas, but we don't know where you're going!

Attachment not found.

These are thin film panels, they produce less energy per square foot that poly or mono crystalline panels. Since they produce less there is more hardware required to hook up the panels.

Here is a like to the wiki about CIGS

There are issues with hooking these up, depending on your area, you might not even want to run pairs of panels! This might make charging a 48 volt battery bank impossible.

If you could hook them up in pairs a pair only gives you 230 watts, where if you use 230 watt panels in strings of 3 or 4 you can save 2 or 3 breakers or fuses for each string of panels. as well as wiring.

Without going into a full class on solar, these panels produce low amperage with high voltage, you charge controller(60amps/150volts though I thought this was an 80 amp unit?) only handles a VOC (Volts Open Circuit) of 150 volts, a string of 2 produces @120 volts and in cold temps it will produce more. A low voltage high amperage panel may be in the range of 230 watts at 29 volts VMP(Volts max Power) with an VOC of 37 and a vmp of 29.5 this would give you strings of 3 with a VOC of under 120 and produce 690 watts per string rather than 230 watts.

I personally would have to get this at less than 30 cents a watt to be interested. there is also some question about the longevity of thin film and the annoying fact that they tend to produce 15-20% more energy the first 4-6 months then settle into their true panel rating.

I'm jumping in and need to know how to speak the language.

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