Hi, this is Amy at the altE Store. I'm going to give you a quick demo of how to wire up
two solar panels together in parallel, using couplers. Now these are a real nice easy way
to wire up two panels, and you're just going to be using it for a system that's got 2 panels,
you're not going to use this for a big system. This will be able to handle up to about 30A
for this particular model, so if you do get couplers, double check that they can handle
the amount of current you are going to be putting through them, and you don't want to
wire more than 2 in parallel using couplers, because this does not give you overcurrent
protection between the two panels. So the panels are usually designed that they can
handle being backfed from one panel, but if you have a whole bunch, you do run the risk
of ruining your solar panel. So, this is again for a small system. It's really really nice
if you are wiring up for a little cabin or a boat or an RV. It's a really nice easy solution.
So the first thing you need to do is figure out what kind of connectors you've got on
your solar panel. Now here I've got an MC4 compatible locking connector. Now this is
a newer panel, so if you have an older panel, maybe 2008 or older, it might have a non-locking
connector, such as the MC connector. Now this is important because these are not inter-connectable,
so you want to make sure you know what kind you've got, either check the datasheet or
check it might have it stamped right on the connector. So you are going to get couplers
that match that type of connector. And you'll get 2, you have to have a pair. You have one
that's got 2 females and one male, and one with 2 males and one female. A quick little
thing about how they actually decide which is which. Now you would look at this and a
lot of people think that this is in fact a female connector. It's not, this is a male
connector. They base the sex of the connector of them on the pin that's on the inside, and
this has got a male pin on the inside. This one here, again, looks like a male, but it's
actually a female connector when you look at the inside. So it's very important that
you understand how they sex these so that you can get the right ones. But you are going
to have one of each. One that's one female, 2 males, and one that's one male and 2 females.
OK? So you are going to take the female from one, and plug it into the connector, you're going
to take the female from the other panel, and you click that in together, you hear it's
got a nice click with that locking connector. The you are going to do the same, so that
wired your positives together. Now I'm going to take my negatives and I'm going to put
it in the connector, so I now have my two males wired together and my 2 females wired
together. So what this did is it took my two panels and it kept the voltage the same, but
it doubled the current, because when you wire in parallel, you're going to be doubling your
current. So this is important if you want to keep things at the same voltage but increase
the current. So, now I end up with these solar connectors at the ends. So what do I do with
that? Now I'm going to get an extension cable that's going to go the distance between here
and the breaker that I'm going to, whether I'm going into a DC Load Center or a charge
controller that's got a breaker built in. So you are going to need to know the distance
that you are going, and you would get connector cable, an extension cable that is 2x longer
than what you need the distance to be, because what you are going to do is you are actually
going to cut it into two. And so that will give you one cable for your negative and one
cable for your positive. You are going to cut and strip each of them, so you'll end
up with a female on one end and cut and stripped on the other. And a male on one end and cut
and stripped on the other. So now we are just going to very simply, take these two cables
and connect them to the output of my couplers. So I now have two solar panels, wired in parallel,
and they are now able to go the distance back to the rest of my system to my breaker and
my charge controller. I hope this video was helpful, if you liked it, give us a like and
a share. And in the comments of the video, write down what other questions you've got,
if you have any other videos you'd like us to do, we'd be happy to do them. And subscribe
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to our website at altEstore.com, where we've been making renewable do-able since 1999.