6v or 12v

[Ludovic326]

Hi

I want to build a solar power bank with USB port to charge my phone and other device. I bought 10 0,6W 6V solar panels. I want to know witch king of circuit will be the best. 2 solar panels in series and six packs of two in parallel or all the 10 in parallel ? I will connect them to a buck converter to regulate the voltage at 4,2v

Thanks

This is my first project with solar panels

[bcroe]

With a simple buck converter you could have start up problems; with inadequate sun generated current to
supply the load, the buck would tend to go to 100% on duty cycle, effectively a short. If the panels can't
supply the load current directly, it won't get started. This effect would be minimized with the panel voltage
closer to the load voltage (paralleled), if you don't mind the heavier wire needed. A circuit to first start the
buck into a cap with no load, then turn on the load, might help. Bruce Roe