How To Keep A Solar Panel From Overcharging A Battery

As peter said you can overcharge a battery if you don t have a solar controller between the solar panel and the battery.

How to keep a solar panel from overcharging a battery.

It is around 14v at 40c. It safeguards the deep cycle batteries from being overcharged during the day. A cheap pwm controller will do this ok though they are less efficient for the charging process. Connect the wires from the controller to the solar panel.

Even a small solar panel hooked directly to a fully charged battery can overcharge it. Once you ve attached the input wires to the charge connector you should have 2 loose wires each ending in an mc4 connector. A solar charge controller is a component that helps manage the power that is going into the battery store from the solar panel. Match up the male and female connectors with the opposite ones coming away from the solar panel and snap the mc4 connectors into place.

A solar controller with a battery temp sensor and adjustable setpoints will eventually pay for itself in battery life especially if one charges in areas with wild temperature extremes. I ve spent the winter designing a pwm solar charge controller which is now finished and working. Using a solar controller limits the charging voltage to a safe 14 5v or so and protects the battery.