Solar Freaks

Hello, my team would like to implement a switch in order for us to change from parrallel to series wiring for the solar panels by flipping a single switch, and we understand the 2011 rules will not let us put any switches on the solar array it self. Not a problem, we drop the 4 wires from the panels down and have a plug installed so they can then run to the switch to be removeable, however the rules also state that connections for both Series and Parrallel on the array it self for panel testing by officials.

However, i am under the impression that only the array is taken, and not the car thus i would need a way to provide two sets of connection on the array, without the use of the switch... How would our team go about doing this?

Thanks in advance,

Hi starpwnage,

Welcome to solarfreaks.

starpwnage wrote:Hello, my team would like to implement a switch in order for us to change from parrallel to series wiring for the solar panels by flipping a single switch, and we understand the 2011 rules will not let us put any switches on the solar array it self. Not a problem, we drop the 4 wires from the panels down and have a plug installed so they can then run to the switch to be removeable, however the rules also state that connections for both Series and Parrallel on the array it self for panel testing by officials.

However, i am under the impression that only the array is taken, and not the car thus i would need a way to provide two sets of connection on the array, without the use of the switch... How would our team go about doing this?

It's good to hear that teams are seriously considering giving themselves the no-electronics option this year.

Yes, your approach to setting up the panel for series/parallel configurations appears sound and you are quite correct in saying that there aren't allowed to be any switches on the array as well as that only the array is taken for power measurement at scrutineering.

Section 8.8 in the 2011 regulations reads:

8.8 Solar array wiring.
All wiring on the solar array must be visible. All panels must be presented for scrutineering with
a pair of connections marked +ve and –ve for connection to the alligator clips on the power
measuring equipment. Teams using panels of their own construction or modified commercial
panels must provide a wiring diagram. Where the panel has multiple individual sections to allow
for series and parallel connection, teams must supply pairs of connections as described above for
each section of the panel. The power of each section will be measured and the values obtained
added together. All wiring must be carried out with standard copper or tinned copper conductors.

So in other words this basically means that teams must simply supply something for the for alligator clips from the power measuring equipment to grab onto. For a panel that has 2 sections that can be connected either in series or parallel teams must simply supply 2 pairs (+ve and -ve) of connections to grab onto rather than a single pair as is the case with an all series panel.
This is easily done by having a duplicate of the plug that is used from the switch and having the wires coming from it not connected to anything. Something similar to that seen in the following diagrams would be suggested.




Here, the top diagram shows what would be done with the example panel seen in the solar-panel-configurations-t471.html thread with 2 deans plugs. The bottom diagram shows an example of what might be done with a single 4 wire plug arrangement.

Officials will then measure the power output from each section and combine these together to determine the total panel power.

Marc