Gary wrote in news:uVSyg.273940$IK3.20678
@pd7tw1no:

Is anyone familiar with "self regulating solar panels"? I would like
to
hear from someone who has installed one without a regulator and how
well it keeps the batteries up.

Thanks,
Gary



As long as the AH created by the solar panels is LESS than the AH needed
to keep the batteries charged up full, you don't need a regulator. Ours
puts out 5 A in bright sunshine, hardly a battery buster to two banks of
L16H beasts who simply digest it and feed it to the pumps and lights...
(c;

The solar panels aren't "self regulating", per se. Their open circuit
voltage is around 18V in bright sunshine. Their internal resistance,
which makes the cells get hot when charging the batteries, drops the
difference between 18V and what voltage the batteries are producing at
the time, like 13V. 5V X 5A = 25W across the whole panel. You'll notice
old panels that have been powering stuff for a few years turn brown on
the part of the silicon that's producing the power because of the heat.
Around the edge, they're still blue like new where it doesn't produce
power. Silicon melts at a very high temperature, but you can damage the
cells by causing migration of the doping across them if they get too hot.
If any cell isn't in the sunshine, like a shadow from the
boom/mast/rigging, output drops like a rock as that cells voltage, around
..3V to .6V depending on the sun, is lost. The stupid idiots who run
South Carolina DOT put up solar power panels along the interstate to
power the radars and traffic cams. Of course, true to their idiotic
thought, they put the panels on the NORTH SIDE of the pole the radar/cams
are on so the panel has a shadow that moves across it all day. Dumb,
very dumb.