I just connected my 5 Watt 2V solar panel directly to my 300 Watt 2 inverter. It worked for about 2 minutes then it popped (sparks, smoke etc)! What the hell did I do wrong? I thought the solar panel was 2 volts? Can someone with experience with these things help me out?
An 300W inverter will draw 25 amps from a car battery but the solar panel will only produce about 4 amps. By drawing too much power with the inverter you lowered the voltage so much in the panels wiring that the amp rating on the internal wiring was exceeded and they melted. Next, time run the panel to a voltage regulator, then the regulator to a car battery, then the battery to the inverter.
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Those tiny inverters that plug into cigarette lighters are horrendously inefficient, as they assume you have the car's battery and alternator at their disposal. It's possible that the inverter itself needs 50 watts without even attaching a load at the output. Second, many 5-watt amorphous panels are too optimistically rated, and may only deliver 5 watts in the best sun. Given that, the inverter probably failed from undervoltage at the input. This is why there is always a battery connected. The idea is that the battery is charged over a long period of time by the panel, then discharged quickly by the inverter. The panel is probably fine. You can short the outputs, and generally nothing is harmed.
. A 5 WATT panel can NOT power a 300 WATT inverter. 2. IF using 2 volts, then you need a 2 volt battery in the circuit as well. Panel charges battery which powers inverter. When the inverter pulls more power than the panel puts out, it gets it from the battery until the voltage drops low enough to shut down the inverter. NOTE: SOME cheap units do NOT have protective circuitry, and when the voltage drops, the current rises and burns them up.
