Solar Panel System

I independently worked on this project as a demo for students to learn more about renewable energy. This system is now used by the engineering department at Cabrillo Community College.

The system is equipped with 5 20V solar panels wired in parallel to supply 100W of power to the system during full sun. Additional components included a circuit breaker, charge controller, 700W inverter, 4 12V DC batteries, and a 120V AC outlet.

Initial Challenges: The charge controller wasn't supplying the expected currents to each element, the solar panel wasn't producing the desired power, and the old inverter was burnt out.

Troubleshooting Faulty Wires:

The expected overall current of the solar panel system was 5A, but the measured amperage was coming out at 3.6A.

I went through a lot of troubleshooting to determine the cause of this power difference. Using circuits analysis and voltmeters, I determined that it was just one of the five panels that was carrying no current.

I opened the individual panel's wiring system and replaced the faulty wires.

After this, the overall system was measuring in at 4.8A as desired.

Inverter Replacement:

The old inverter was completely burnt out, and the replacement inverter was 700W. The panel being 100W, adjustments had to be made.

Starting with 1 12V DC battery, 3 more had to be purchased to compensate for the large power draw by the inverter. I wired the 4 batteries in parallel.

Now, the battery system can collect a large enough charge for the 700W inverter to run.

Charge Controller: The charge controller ended up also being damaged so a new one had to be purchased.

Let there be light!

The system was up & running.