Confused !

[hexed666]

Hi everybody,

I am confused about input amps at a certain voltage on a Xantrex C60. The manual says up to 60V and 60 amps. I have 300W 48V open Voltage on each panel. Do I have to calculate the voltage down to 12V per panel or can I just connect 4 panels parallel with 1200W and 48V to the charger?

In plain English, ... can I connect 4 of those panels parallel to on C60 to charge a 12V battery bank ?

Any help is highly appreciated

Tx
Mike

[LETitROLL]

Good news and bad news, the C60 is a PWM controller. Yes it looks like you should be able to hook the 4 panels up in parallel without issue (that is your only option in this case), I am guessing the Imp on your panels is about 8.3a x 4 =33.2a into controller, the bad news =VERY BAD NEWS if you need energy. With 33.2a to controller which will pass that current through to your 12v battery and charge it at 14v x 33.2 = 464.8w from your 1200w worth of panels. Of course that 464 watts is a Max. number that you will probably never see in the real world, so actual will be less. If you run a 24v battery bank that number would double to 929 watts.

[LETitROLL]

Hopefully you have not bought any 12v batteries yet, even if you have to use a 12v battery bank (hopefully you can use 24v), for best long term results you will want to build a series string using most likely 6v batteries wired in series.

[hexed666]

Hopefully you have not bought any 12v batteries yet, even if you have to use a 12v battery bank (hopefully you can use 24v), for best long term results you will want to build a series string using most likely 6v batteries wired in series.

OK, thank you very much!

I did not buy the batteries yet, but I do have a Xantrex Inverter 12V to 110V 2000W 3000W max

Can I charge the batteries with 24V but get 12V for the Inverter at the same time? Is there such a hookup ?

Tx
Mike

[inetdog]

OK, thank you very much!

I did not buy the batteries yet, but I do have a Xantrex Inverter 12V to 110V 2000W 3000W max

Can I charge the batteries with 24V but get 12V for the Inverter at the same time? Is there such a hookup ?

Tx
Mike

Not really, no.

[SunEagle]

OK, thank you very much!

I did not buy the batteries yet, but I do have a Xantrex Inverter 12V to 110V 2000W 3000W max

Can I charge the batteries with 24V but get 12V for the Inverter at the same time? Is there such a hookup ?

Tx
Mike

You will need a 24VDC to 12VDC converter or power supply to do that.

[Amy@altE]

Since you have a 12V inverter, you need to have a 12V battery bank. If you have 300W panels, they are definitely not 12V panels, you may have nominal 24 or even 27V panels. You have to have an MPPT charge controller, or you will be losing most of your power. If you have 1200W of panels, with your PWM C60, I bet you'll only be able to use 300 - 400W of them total, the rest will be thrown away.

The manual says up to 60V input, but that's for a 48V battery bank, you need a 12V bank with that inverter. So either replace your inverter with a 24V one or replace your charge controller with an MPPT one.

[hexed666]

Thanks again

Since you have a 12V inverter, you need to have a 12V battery bank. If you have 300W panels, they are definitely not 12V panels, you may have nominal 24 or even 27V panels. You have to have an MPPT charge controller, or you will be losing most of your power. If you have 1200W of panels, with your PWM C60, I bet you'll only be able to use 300 - 400W of them total, the rest will be thrown away.

The manual says up to 60V input, but that's for a 48V battery bank, you need a 12V bank with that inverter. So either replace your inverter with a 24V one or replace your charge controller with an MPPT one.

Thanks again to all of you, I think best is in my case to change the inverter to a 24V model

Tx
Mike