Hi im new and studying solar energy
I have a 12v using 8 6v trojan 225ah batteries and thinking of upgrading my system into 48v or 24v im also using a outback fm80 as CC and using 4 300w solar panels and planning on adding 4 more later at which system will gi e more benefit in sense of charging the batteries fater? And also keeping up the batteries charge

(02-07-2019, 11:55 AM)Percival Wrote:  planning on adding 4 more later at which system will gi e more benefit in sense of charging the batteries fater? And also keeping up the batteries charge

Yes
Your panel to controller ratio is a little low for 12v right now with an 80amp controller. You can push a max of about 1000w into your battery now out of the possible 1200w total of your panels. If you reconfigured to 48v and 4 more panels you would be able to charge the max amount the panels could output (2400w at 50 amps).  These are approximate numbers but you get the picture.

In my case - I wanted to power the house. I wanted to run lights / computers / cooktop (steady power) but also high demand things like power saws, microwaves - and all at once. I quickly determined I need 230v@50amp range. This is 48v@250amp and there is a good confluence of available controllers, inverters to choose from.

24v would be 500amp and 12v would be 1000amp - and you'll not find a good range of things to buy at reasonable price. Much less fooling with wire that can handle 500 or 1000amps.

Bottom line - figure out your end goal of power you want out the system. If its 230v@50amp range then do 48v as minimum. If its only 110v@20amp then maybe 24v?

I've heard (and followed) the rule of thumb '12V per 1000W of load'. IE if you have over 4000W load, you need to go 48V.

12 and 24 are better suited for much smaller loads ... 

Hope That Helps.  and welcome to the Forum! : )

IF you run 12 or 48 does not matter in lite span with same total capacity.... What matters is current since 12v is 4x current vs 48v so 12will need thicker wiring to Keep losses att same level.

That generally makes it easier and cheaper Long run to go 48v in high current systems