I’m new to the solar charging party. I recently bought a AC500 and B300s for (among other things) powering up a tool shed.
Bluetti says don’t leave the panels out in the rain. This doesn’t make much sense. Aren’t they supposed to be outside ?
But I’ll probably default to that over time.
What’s going to happen to them if they get wet?
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Being outside and getting rained on are two different things. The portable panels are not designed to be exposed to rain. They will not immediately short out and die if they get a light sprinkle now and then but they will be damaged if left out exposed to rain.
If full exposure to the elements is desired then hard panels are the way to go. They are designed to be left set up full time in adverse conditions.
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Unless you’re using the AC500 in an RV or something mobile, you should invest in rigid panels instead of flexible. From what I’ve seen the rigid panels have more “bang for the buck” price wise, and are designed for stormy weather, (except hail storms, obviously). If anything, the rain washes off accumulated dust, dirt, bird droppings.
When shopping for panels, you are limited to 150 Volts VOC. Very important. You can NOT exceed the 150 Volt VOC input limit on either of the two inputs. Ignore the Vmp volt rating.
You can exceed the wattage and amp ratings no problem. Both input accepts up to 1500 watts and 15 amps. What you want are a combination of panels that will get you to 1500 watts without exceeding 150 volts VOC.
Voltage will add in panels connected in SERIES.
Amps will add in panels connected in PARALLEL.
Wattage=Volts x Amps.
You may have to have a combination of SERIES AND PARALLEL wiring to get the most wattage while staying under 150 volts VOC.
Panel power ratings are somewhat a lie. You will NEVER get the full rated wattage. For example, a 100 watt panel might give you 80 watts on a good day, so you have to “over panel.”
My first array ended up with 18 100-watt panels, to get me 1500 watts for the AC500.
It has 3 strings of 6 panels wired in series, then those 3 strings are wired together in parallel. This gives me 145.8 VOC at 15.63 amps. The app shows about 1497 watts most days.
Very large panels are better if you can find them locally. Having to pay truck shipping charges suck, as they can be almost as much as the panels. Some people sell them on local Craigslist; I found a guy who had a relative in the rooftop panel business, so he sold them out of his garage. I managed to get a few before he quit.