Solar panel connectionI

Question

I have 2 solar panels one is 15 watts 12 volts 1.2 amps or -

The other is 50 watts 12 volts 2.6 amps or-

Can I ...and what is the best way to hook them togeather to increase my amps being put back to my battery ?? I would be hooking them up to a 7 amp 100 watt charge controller

The panels are rated 12 volt but the specs say they will produce more when

not connected to charge controller

Please advise and should I even bother with the smaller panel ?

Answer 1

You should probably ask this in the electronics section.

Answer 2

The answer is that the two panels should be put in parallel.  The voltage out will drop to the voltage of the lower panel, but you should get most of the power, if the panels aren't too badly mismatched.

I would try to get a multimeter and try to measure the actual current coming out of the panels in full sun.  Sometimes the specifications on these smaller panels are very optimistic.  If the whole setup is putting out less than 2 amps, I'd say wire the whole thing straight to the battery - little chance of boiling the electrolyte at those currents.