Solar Combiners Installation Tips
What are solar combiner boxes? This simple, yet concise explanation helps demystify solar combiner boxes.
A solar combiner box houses and combines several solar panels into one output box. This output connects directly to the charge controller. This electric distribution box places circuit breakers and fuses into one central location. The box itself then combines several inputs and converts them into one single output. The output is then connected to a solar charge controller.
What type of solar panel combiner best meets your needs and what simple steps can I follow to ensure maximum productivity.
- Determine how many strings the solar panels have. Remember that a breaker or fuse is required for each string.
- Using a voltmeter and ammeter, you can measure the operating voltage of the combiner box. Always keep in mind the weather conditions – is it cloudy, sunny or a combination?
- When installing a solar combiner, remove all fuses from the solar combiner; check each individual string’s circuit voltage and the current levels it is producing. Any major and minor deviations should be addressed. This method is also excellent for continually checking your system to ensure the output is not decreasing over time. This ensures maximum efficiency of your solar system.
SolarBOS specializes in offering a number of combiners, including source circuit combiners, disconnect combiners, contact combiners, current monitoring combiners and multi-combiners.
Additionally, SolarBOS not only provides detailed product literature on each product they offer, but includes manuals and warranty information. Fore example, the source circuit combiner literature includes the following detailed information:
- Number of Input Circuits
- InputConductorSizeRange
- Max Fuse Size
- Max Rated Current
- Number of Output Conductors
- OutputConductorSizeRange
- Steel Enclosure Dimensions
- Approximate Weight
- Fiberglass Enclosure Dimensions
- Enclosure NEMA Ratings
- Product FeaturesÂ
SolarBOS strives to provide thorough information, helping benefit those that are both new and experienced with solar products.