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Connecting solar panel help?

Ok so i have to solar panels to charge a battery however the panels hooked up in series does charge the battery very slowly because series connections only multiplies the voltage but leaves the current the same. Is there a way i can also hook both of them up in parallel at the same time to multiply the current for faster charge? I know i can do this with 4 panels but i dont want to spend extra. So is there a way to hook up 2 solar panels in series and parallel at the same time? Thanks in advace

Answer:

Homemade okorder /
never hook up solar panels in series, you reduce the total power produced, and may hurt them, only voltage out, never voltage in. Don't forget to vote for best answer!
No. You can only hook them up as one or the other. Attempting to do both would simply short circuit the panels and you'd get no output at all. Your panels should produce an open circuit voltage in full sun that is almost twice the voltage of the battery you want to charge (it's because solar panels produce the most power at their maximum power point, which is usually about 60% of the open circuit voltage). If a parallel connection does that, then use it, otherwise you'll need to use series. You didn't say what the capacity and voltage of the panels or the size of the battery was. It's quite possible you don't have enough panel - you need panels that will put 5% (at least) of the ampere hours capacity of the battery in as current. For example, if you have a 00 amp-hour battery, you'll need enough panel to put 5 amps in at the voltage of the battery. DK
No. Series means one thing, parallel another, and they are mutually exclusive.

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