Do You Need A Regulator For A Solar Panel

A fully charged 12 volt battery is around 12 7 volts at rest around 13 6 to 14 4 under charge so the panel has to put out at least that much under worst.

Do you need a regulator for a solar panel.

So what does a regulator do. A solar charge controller is designed to receive power from a solar panel or array of panels and use it to charge a battery or bank of batteries. If we were to look at the job description of any solar regulator the first item and in some cases the only function is to prevent the battery bank from being over charged. The charge process is performed in a smart or intelligent way.

If you have a five watt panel in the above example you take 100 divided by 3 300ma and you come up with 333 3. Why do you need a solar charge controller. Why do we need a solar regulator. This solar charge regulator protects and regulates the charge of a 12 volt storage battery using solar panels.

The panels need to provide some extra voltage so that when the sun is low in the sky or you have heavy haze cloud cover or high temperatures you still get some output from the panel. This involves varying charge stages voltages and current depending on the type of battery and other factors. As a general rule panels that produce less than 1 5 of a battery s rated capacity in amp hours don t require regulation. Since this is larger than 200 you do not need a charge controller.

To determine the size regulator you ll require check the amp ratings of your solar panels and add those figures up and that will give you the minimum size charge controller you ll need or you can use our system builder tool which will tell you the size you ll need based on various selections. A solar charge controller frequently called regulator is similar to a regular battery charger i e. Selecting a solar regulator. It regulates the current flowing from the solar panel into the battery bank to avoid overcharging the batteries.

However you still need a blocking diode to prevent the battery from discharging to the panel at night. So at a really basic level the regulator is just a switch. This means that a 1 5a panel is the largest you should use without a regulator on a 100 amp hour battery. The solar charge regulator features three led indicators high voltage low voltage charging and three connections for the solar panel keyed two pin connector battery keyed two pin connector and 12v output 3 in.

In conclusion a solar panel regulator is just a switch that regulates the current and voltage coming going into the battery from the solar panel. Do you need a charge controller. Choosing the right solar charge controller regulator. See all solar charge controllers.