Measure Current Of Solar Panel

To clear things up lets look at the above spreadsheet.

Measure current of solar panel.

If a 22 ohm resistor drops 88 mv then i 88 22 4 ma. Calculate the current in amps by dividing power in watts by the voltage in volts. For parallel solar arrays it is only necessary to measure voltages at one panel. To begin measure solar panel amperage you will need a solar panel tester known as an amp meter.

A multimeter is a device that you can use to test the voltage and current of any device. Or i in ma gives v in mv. To test a 18v solar panel voltage output directly put your solar panel in direct sunlight set your multi meter to the dc volts setting. Including the solar panels.

To measure the amp output of your solar panel you will need to attach the meter to the positive and negative. To get an accurate measurement you will need to ensure that your panel is in full sunlight when you test. Short circuit current isc flows with zero external resistance v 0 and is the maximum current delivered by the solar cell at any illumination level. For r ohms you get r mv per ma.

So if a 10 ohm resistor drops 33 mv then i 33 10 3 3 mz. The video shows you how you could check the function of a solar panel by measure the open circuit voltage and short circuit current uoc isc. So for 1 ohm you get 1 mv per ma. Using a multimeter to test a solar panel.

You ll probably find that i is under 5 ma. The current for that entry is 22 2 1 000 000 or 2 22e 6 amps 2 22 microamps. Solar current should be constant. Similarly the open circuit voltage voc is the potential that develops across the terminals of the solar cell when the external load resistance is very large figure 3.

There are two types of multimeters. If not you can find the current by dividing the voltage by the resistance. You will need to pop open the waterproof cover on the back of a solar panel to access the terminals. For 10 ohms you get 10 mv per ma.

I recorded current three times during testing and calculated the average. Once you have the current just multiply it by the voltage. You want to choose a voltage range capable of displaying the maximum possible voltage of the panel in open circuit this means that if you have a panel rated for 20 volts you should set the multi meter to read up to 200 volts to ensure that you receive an accurate reading. Switched multimeter this type of multimeter manually switches between the ranges to get the most accurate reading.