Hi everyone,
I'm very new to electronics so bear with me here. I'm trying to make a small solar panel that I can charge a 12 volt deep cycle battery with. I would like to use solar cells that have an output voltage of about 0.5 volts and 6 amps, which I understand is pretty typical. Since I would like to make the panel with only 6 cells, after I hooked all of them up in series, I would have a panel with an output of about 3 volts and 6 amps. Since 3 volts is obviously way too low to hook up to a charge controller, I would need to first run it through a step-up or DC-DC boost converter. Plus, I don't need anywhere near that much current. The problem is, however, I haven't been able to find a step up converter that can both handle 6 amps and step around 3 volts up to 12 (Also, keep in mind that the panels won't constantly be producing 0.5 volts. It could be less). My question is, could I hook up two step up converters in parallel to the solar panel so the amperage would get cut in half (6 amps to 3 amps each) since I have found a converter that can withstand this much current, or would this result in an uneven distribution of electricity? I did a little research and I read that the resistances had to be the same on each line for the distribution to be the same, but it should be pretty similar since I'll be using the same converter, correct? Is there any other way around this or is there a custom boost converter I can make so that it will do what I need? If not, should I look at either using different solar cells or just more of them? Thanks, Chris
I'm very new to electronics so bear with me here. I'm trying to make a small solar panel that I can charge a 12 volt deep cycle battery with. I would like to use solar cells that have an output voltage of about 0.5 volts and 6 amps, which I understand is pretty typical. Since I would like to make the panel with only 6 cells, after I hooked all of them up in series, I would have a panel with an output of about 3 volts and 6 amps. Since 3 volts is obviously way too low to hook up to a charge controller, I would need to first run it through a step-up or DC-DC boost converter. Plus, I don't need anywhere near that much current. The problem is, however, I haven't been able to find a step up converter that can both handle 6 amps and step around 3 volts up to 12 (Also, keep in mind that the panels won't constantly be producing 0.5 volts. It could be less). My question is, could I hook up two step up converters in parallel to the solar panel so the amperage would get cut in half (6 amps to 3 amps each) since I have found a converter that can withstand this much current, or would this result in an uneven distribution of electricity? I did a little research and I read that the resistances had to be the same on each line for the distribution to be the same, but it should be pretty similar since I'll be using the same converter, correct? Is there any other way around this or is there a custom boost converter I can make so that it will do what I need? If not, should I look at either using different solar cells or just more of them? Thanks, Chris