Solar Panel Current Flow

As the solar panel generates an electric current the energy flows through a series of wires to an inverter see step 3 above.

Solar panel current flow.

Similarly batteries use direct current. A solar panel will generate electricity when placed in the sun. They have a positive and negative terminal and current always flows in the same direction between those points. To have a functional solar pv system you need to wire the panels together to create an electrical circuit through which current will flow and you also need to wire the panels to the inverter that will convert the dc power produced by the panels to ac power that can be used in your home and sent to the grid.

A standard solar panel also known as a solar module consists of a layer of silicon cells a metal frame a glass casing and various wiring to allow current to flow from the silicon cells. Home installation of a high quality solar power system can reduce or eliminate dependence on the community power grid that supplies electricity to light heat cool and operate your home. Silicon atomic 14 on the periodic table is a nonmetal with conductive properties that allow it to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. Blocking diodes are used to prevent your batteries from discharging backward through your solar panels at night.

Once the loose electrons hit metal plates the current is then directed into wires allowing the electrons to flow like they would in any other source of electric generation step 2 in our process. The solar panel systems are often referred to as pv or photovoltaic solar power systems. In short as diode only passes current in one direction so the current from solar panels flows forward biased to the battery and blocks from the battery to the solar panel. Because of these electrons flow in the same direction the current is direct.

If your solar panel controller also has a regulated voltage output voltage is never more than 12 13v dc then the current supplied to the battery may depend on the voltage that the battery has e g if the solar output is 12 3v and the battery is 12v then the battery is only being charged by 0 3v and the charging current will be small. The sun on the panels stimulates the flow of electrons creating current. How many amps of electricity the panel will produce depends on. Again current flows from high to low voltage.

So during a sunny day the voltage of a solar panel will be higher than the voltage of a deep cycle battery so current will naturally flow from the panel to the battery.