Installing My New Solar Panels

We got some new solar panels yesterday and today I installed them. It was long and tedious and would of been much easier if I waited for Addie to get home to help. BUT I wanted to surprise her by having them all hooked up when she got home.

We used to only have 4 panels. 2 were 100watts 12vdc each and 2 were 50watts 12vdc each. Now we have 2 more at 100watts 12vdc each…

This is a picture of the original solar panels:

And here is the process I went through to add the new ones:

These are the new ones 🙂

First I unplugged everything then checked each individual solar panel with a voltmeter:

Then I ensure I have enough cable connectors to connect 6 panels while maintaining a 12vdc setup. If you wire them another way you get 24vdc or more…

Here I take a 2way cable and attach a 4way to it for negative side and then repeat for positive side. this will allow me to connect a total of 8 solar panels. I am hoping to get 2 more of these next month.

Then I connect them to the lines going into the cabin:

Now I have to redo the top of the turntable so it can accept more panels. Keeping in mind I only have six right now but want to get two more later…

I add some 2x4s to widen and lengthen the table but forgot to photo it 😦

But here is a shot of the brackets I mounted for attaching the solar panels:

And here is the first solar panel setup…

Now to get the rest attached. This was the hardest part…

I wish they were all the same shape and size but every time we go buy new panels the ones we got the time before are no longer around. No worries though because they still work. You just need to get creative when installing them 🙂

Here is a picture of their wiring…

And we are all done now. Just need to turn the fuse box back on and wait till morning to see if they still work…

We are using 100watt 12vdc 5amp monocrystaline solar panels. They start charging about an hour before sun rise and continue to charge until about an hour after sunset. They charge off the full spectrum of light. Our eyes can only see white light. Even after the sun has begun to set and it looks dark to us, there is still UV light pouring down on us for a bit. These panels can also charge with up to a foot of fresh snow on them.

Hope you enjoyed the article 🙂

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