Have in mind when cable interconnects solar modules on an open rack it may experience temperatures of 61 70 c 141 158 f.
Cable size for 120w solar panel.
So when connecting solar panels in series always try to keep the electrical properties of the solar panels identical to get the full benefit of the solar array.
Step 1 the first step is to decide on the voltage for your system.
Commercial solar pv panels over 50 watts or so use 10 gauge awg wires.
Higher working temperatures cause an increase in the cable s resistance which in turn leads to a voltage drop increase and decrease in maximum current which this cable is capable of sustaining.
The chart below shows the capacity of various wire gauge sizes and their typical amp rating and application for both residential and solar applications.
The main issue is the wire size needed for the usually fairly long run to the solar panels.
Simply stated the higher the voltage the smaller the wire size that is needed to carry the current.
If we assume that only 1 3 of the day is sunlight hours then it is safe to assume that the panel can supply between 6 and 7 5 amps for this period.
Solar sizing calculator allows you to calculate your energy consumption and requirements to help you decide on your solar panel requirements.
Detailed instructions for using the wire size calculator.
A 120w solar panel can supply between 6 and 7 5 amps on a sunny day for most of the sunlight hours of the day.
Use a wire sizing calculator for solar arrays that will figure out the size of wire you need.
This allows up to 30 amps of current to flow from a single panel.
The 140w panel actually drags the 3 other 160w panel s wattage down to 140w as well meaning we effectively have 4 x 140w solar panels.
Besides this solar cable gauge calculator is designed to provide estimates for wire gauge size to determine your need for cables.