Dear Members, I am a bit new to all this so please help me out. I have the following setup: AC500 (5000W) + 2 battery units B300K. My solar panels have following specs:JKM555M-72HL4-V. VOC is 49.72V and Isc is 14.12A. I bought 4 panels but I am reluctant to add the 4th panel because of the 150v limit on my AC500. 49.72x3 and I am basically maxed out. Am i correct? Can I only use this setup with 3 panels not 4?
You can use the 4 panels. AC500 has dual PV input with the DC input cable (DC1 & DC2).
Each input has to comply with 15A/150V.
2 panels in serial connection on DC1 and the other string on DC2.
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thank you very much！ at this point i have another natural question. With these 4 panels with those specs did I max out how many pannels i can put?
The AC500 also supports PV parallel mode what this means is as well as the option mentioned by Bikerwally of adding 2 panels to DC1 & another 2 to DC2. You can connect them as below-
Connect two sets of panels in series then connect the two sets of two together in parallel with a MC4 Y Splitter. A single pair of cables then goes to the AC500 where another MC4 Y Splitter in reverse splits the cables for the DC1 and DC2 inputs on the AC500. You then enable PV parallel mode on the AC500. As up to 30A of current will go other a single pair of cables you need to make sure the gauge of your cable is sufficient if you want to do this.
The advantages are this allows the dual Charge controllers to work together and increases the maximum current on the AC500 to utilise the full 30 Amps from the panels. If two panels are shaded the other two can utilise more of the available current, and you end up producing more power on average.
Eventually you could expand your system to 6 panels. With 2 sets of 3 panels either connected separately to DC1 and DC2 or using the above PV parallel mode. You might need to be a little carful because you are very close to the VOC max even with 3 panels.
If the panel VoC is less than 50V you can put 3 panels in serial on one DC input, 6 panels totally.
Only if you live in a place where it can freeze in winter, the VoC will exceed 150V. Victron has a tool on their website to calculate this: https://www.victronenergy.com/mppt-calculator.
Over paneling with current (Amps) is no problem, the AC500 will only take 15A maximum on each DC input.
Thank you very much for this information. no winters where I am… I am on a pacific island so it’s fine. Great maybe i will buy another 2 pannels