How to Connect Carrizo Solar Panels Together

Used solar panels are often offered at heavily discounted prices.

Carrizo solar panels, photovoltaic panels resold by the huge Carrizo solar power plant in California after its closing in 1994, are a common find in the used solar panel market, often at heavily discounted prices. Carrizo panels sometimes require minor repairs and show visible signs of wear, including the characteristic browning of the plastic outer shell from solar deterioration. Nonetheless, most Carrizo solar panels are still perfectly capable of producing power, albeit not with the same efficiency as many modern photovoltaic (PV) panels. Given the prices at which they are offered, they are a good investment if you have enough space to accommodate several of them connected together. Like all other solar panels, Carrizo solar panels can be connected together easily in either a series or parallel connection.

Things You'll Need

• Carrizo photovoltaic panels
• Electrical wire
• Wire cutters
• Wire strippers
• Electrical tape

Instructions

Series Connection

1. Cut lengths of electrical cable equivalent to the distance between your panels. Use the wire cutters to cut two lengths for each panel you wish to connect, one for each terminal (positive and negative) on the panel.

2. Strip the ends of each length of cut wire to reveal the copper wire. Cut away about 1/4 inch of insulation from both ends of each piece of electrical wire using the wire strippers.

3. Connect the positive terminal on your first panel to the negative terminal on the second panel. Wrap the exposed copper wiring from one length of wire around the positive terminal on your first panel (or around the exposed end of the wire from the point clearly marked with a "+" sign on your first solar panel). Connect the other end of the wire to the negative terminal on the second panel and insulate any exposed copper wire with electrical tape.

4. Connect the positive terminal on the second panel to the negative terminal on a third panel. The remaining negative terminal on the first panel and positive terminal on the third can be connected to a battery or charge controller to capture the energy produced by your solar panels.

   Alternatively, you can continue the series by adding more panels and continuing the pattern of attaching the positive terminal on the last panel connected to the negative terminal on the following panel. Of course, you can also end the series at any time by connecting the negative terminal on the first panel and the positive terminal on the last to the appropriate terminals in a battery or charge controller.

Parallel Connection

1. Cut and strip lengths of wire as you would for a series connection.

2. Connect a wire to the positive terminals of each of your solar panels. Bring the multiple wires together and twist the exposed ends around each other to connect all of the positive flows. You should have one combined end for all of the wires leading to each positive terminal on each of your panels.

3. Connect a wire to each of the negative terminals on each of the panels and, as before, connect the ends of all of these wires at the opposite end, joining all of the wires.

4. End the circuit by connecting the combined positive end to the positive terminal on a battery or charge controller. Connect the negative end to the negative terminal on the battery or charge controller.

Tips & Warnings

• In order to facilitate maintenance and repair, color code the wiring using the accepted standard of red wire for positive connections and black wire for negative connections.

• A series connection will increase voltage but keep capacity constant. For example, if you wire two 12 volt, 3.5 ampere panels in a series, you would have a 24 volt, 3.5 ampere current.

• Parallel connections increase capacity but keep voltage constant. Two 12 volt, 3.5 ampere panels wired in a parallel connection, for instance, would produce a 12 volt, 7 ampere current.

• Adjust capacity and voltage as needed depending on how you want to use the panels, but make sure that your panels and your battery have the same voltage. Capacity refers to the amount of energy stored, so increasing capacity will only increase the flow of energy but the current will remain at the same voltage.

• Avoid touching the tips of live wires and insulate connections to prevent electrocution hazards.

References

• Advanced Energy Group: Solar Power
• Other Power: Used Solar Panels

Resources

• Energy Savers: Small Solar Electric Systems