Here are 4 easy steps to follow. You can easily connect solar panels in parallel wiring to increase the electricity output voltage of a 12-volt battery. All you need is the battery, an appropriate charge controller, cables, and solar panels to harness energy from the grid and regulate the output voltage.
All the current goes into the battery if the solar panel is directly connected to it. A 12V battery only requires 12 volts, at most 14.4 V to charge. A single 12V solar panel may produce up to 20 V. But 20 volts in a 12-volt battery will overcharge and cause damage. By installing a charge controller, you will avoid a mishap.
This is important because overcharging a battery can cause permanent damage and reduce the battery’s ability to hold a charge in the future. Most 12 Volt solar panels actually put out about 16 to 20 Volts of electricity, especially during midday when they are exposed to direct sunlight.
12V panels actually generate more than 12 volts (sometimes up to 20V) of voltage, especially when there is a lot of sunlight. If this voltage from the solar panels is sent directly to the battery, it can damage it. The solar panels’ charge controller will ensure that the voltage being sent to the battery is at a safe level.
Fortunately, lithium batteries have a built-in battery management system (BMS) that protects the battery pack from overcharging and overvoltage. Therefore, the risk of damaging a lithium battery is low. Nevertheless, it’s still not advisable to directly connect a lithium battery to a solar panel.
Most of the basic residential solar power systems you will see use one or more 12 Volt batteries for the power bank. This is because these solar batteries are both affordable and reliable. Assuming you are using 12 Volt batteries, you will need to determine the size of the panels you are going to connect to those batteries.