If you are looking for a solar panel to charge your 12 V battery or battery bank then you've come to the right place. "12 Volt" in this case refers to the battery's rated voltage. In other words, you are looking for a solar panel that is capable of charging a 12 V battery. To be able to charge a 12 V battery the solar panel must produce an optimum operating voltage (Vmp) also known as a voltage at maximum power point (Vmpp) higher than 12 V otherwise it will drain the battery instead of charging it. This is why you need a charge controller hooked up between your solar panel and battery to prevent reverse current at night when the panel is idling (not generating electricity). Typically you would want the panel to have Vmpp starting from 16V. Besides Vmpp you should also look into other parameters of the panel. Among the most important of those other parameters are the rated power (Pmax) and efficiency. A 50 W panel can have almost the same operating voltage as a 100 W panel yet, in that case, the 50 W panel would have almost twice less optimum operating current (Imp) because power (P) equals voltage (V) times current (i) P = V x I: twice less power means twice less current when the voltage is the same. So, although the 50 W panel may also be marked "12 Volt" as the 100 W panel, it will take much longer time to charge a 12 V battery compared to the 100 W panel under the same weather conditions and solar irradiation. As mentioned earlier, efficiency is another important parameter to look at when buying a panel. It shows how good the panel is at converting the incident solar energy into usable energy. A panel with twice lower efficiency than the other panel has to have twice as bigger surface area than the second panel. Below is our pick of top 15 12V solar panels. Our selected panels include a rigid, foldable, flexible mono & poly panels. The most important panel specs are on the right-hand side for each panel. Clicking on the titles will take you to the panels details page where you can see more detailed specifications and related solar panel kits if the given panel is included in any solar kit.
Comments