Fuse Between Solar Panel And Controller

If the panels are connected in series the voltage of each panel is added but the amperage stays the same.

Fuse between solar panel and controller.

I need to put a fuse between the battery and the solar controller. The size of this fuse is dependent on how many solar panels you have and how they are connected series parallel or series parallel. These are off grid so we ll have 55w solar panels charging 12v 100ah deep cycle batteries during the day and the sensor gnomes use that battery power to listen for bats at night. When sizing this combined fuse breaker we must first determine the worst case current that will flow based on our specific panels.

With an 8 awg copper conductor between the controller and battery you can use a fuse or breaker up to 80 amps using a 90 degree conductor insulation in free air. The first version of this system used 20a class cc fuses and a bulky fuse box meant for home solar. The second fuse between your solar panels and charge controller is a little bit different to figure out. That does not mean you should use a 80 amp ocpd it just means that is the largest you can use in your application.