Solar Panel Sizes? How many Watts? What Kind of Cells.

Any size you can imagine. There are tiny 6V panels for charging solar fences and yard lights. There are 300+ watt panels for grid interactive systems.

60 cell panels are popular, as are 72 cell panels. They are typically used for grid tie installations because they are large and cheap per watt. If your goal is to get as much solar power for as little cost as possible, large 60/72 cell panels are the way to go.
What do you want to do? Just play with solar? In that case I'd recommend a cheap 12V panel, a small charge controller and a cheap lead acid battery, say a flooded deep cycle RV battery. Get a Radio Shack inverter to convert to 120 volts. Key here is to keep everything very cheap, because you're just learning at this point. Do NOT try to make this system "expandable" - it will be a learning system; you'll quickly trash the battery and likely do some other assorted damage, but that's fine because you'll be learning what not to do and you won't need to "save" anything for later.

After you mess with such a system for a while you will have a much better idea how solar works and can make better decisions about a larger system.

Probably a simpler panel to make would be one with 36 cells. These usually fall into the 80 to 100 watt category with a Vmp ~ 18v (0.5v per cell).

Ones that work.

Solar panels are like automobiles. They come in lots of models. Small, large, sports, sedans, SUV, pickups, etc. Each designed for a purpose. Until you define the purpose there's no recommendations that can be made.

WWW

Thanks alot guys!

I was thinking 36 Cells too. Seems there are plenty built that way that is the standard for charging battery


I'd like to know whats most common solar panel Size for charging battery. 1 battery. or 2 or 3 or 10. ya know.

I like to write a manual about this stuff

Probably the best way to determine what size panel is needed to charge a battery would be the panel's Imp = 1/10 the battery Ah rating.

So if you have say a 100 watt panel with an Imp = 5.5amps then the best match up would be for a 12v battery with a 55Ah rating.

I know there is alot of confusing stuff to learn. But what exactly is Imp

Imp = amount of current or amps at maximum power the panel can put out in watts.

How do you figure out how much a panel puts out maximum. How does one test this. Wait for a nice sunny day? or Test under lamps?

Cool bright sunny day, with the panel oriented directly facing the sun, at solar noon. Calibrated high power flash lamps are how commercial manufactures produce their data, but that is an expensive proposition for DIY or residential use.

The max output in watts is the panel wattage rating. That is calculated using the Vmp x Imp = Pmp. Or the voltage x amps = power or watts.

Im having problems trying to calculate Amps. There are more amps in one cell, and when connecting them in series my amps go down.
Shouldnt they multiply much like Voltage does in series?

Everytime I connect more than 6 solar cells in series the amps go down from .50 amp and end up being like .20amp after a few cells in series
Why do amps subtract in series like that?

or Am I doing something wrong

Series wired components = the voltage adds up but the amps stay the same.
Parallel wired components = the amps adds up but the voltage stays the same.

Im writing these down. im making manual for beginners

LOL. Well there are some easy to understand electrical practical and theory books for beginners.