{"id":116719,"date":"2015-03-05T08:10:29","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T16:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sma-sunny.com\/?p=116719"},"modified":"2020-12-23T08:57:36","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T07:57:36","slug":"understanding-pv-wiring-in-series-parallel-and-polystring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sma-sunny.com\/us\/understanding-pv-wiring-in-series-parallel-and-polystring\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding PV Wiring in Series, Parallel and Polystring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Module stringing and the question of how many and in which orientations, voltage windows and, lest we forget, available roof space, play pivotal roles in system design. To properly design a system, it\u2019s imperative to know how stringing impacts the total power delivered to an inverter.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>With the vast possibilities in stringing, today\u2019s inverter technology offers unforeseen abilities to capitalize on creative module stringing. Inverters like the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sma-america.com\/products\/solarinverters\/sunny-boy-3000tl-us-3800tl-us-4000tl-us-5000tl-us-6000tl-us-7000tl-us-7700tl-us.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sunny Boy TL-US<\/a>, with dual maximum power point tracking channels and built-in string combiners make it easy for customers without south-facing roofs to enjoy the same benefits from generating their own power.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>See the power<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>A good way to visualize how electricity works is to relate it to something that we are already familiar with; let\u2019s consider water.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine a water tank that is full and with a half-inch opening at the bottom, the pressure from the full tank would force the water through the opening really fast. That same tank with a one-inch opening would disperse more water with less constriction.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if the water tank was only half full, the pressure wouldn\u2019t be as strong and it wouldn\u2019t move nearly as much water. In this analogy, voltage is the water pressure, current is the size of the opening and wattage is the total amount of water that is displaced.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7141\" style=\"width: 272px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smainverted.com\/files\/2015\/02\/TL22-strings.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7141\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7141 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sma-sunny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/TL22-strings.png\" alt=\"Sunny Boy TL-US Sample Stringing\" width=\"262\" height=\"308\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 262px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 262\/308;\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7141\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of stringing the Sunny Boy TL-US with polystring configurations for both tracking channels.<\/p><\/div>\n<h5><strong>Solar stringing 101<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>When wiring module strings together, which happens in series (e.g. positive to negative), voltage is increasing while current stays constant. When wiring multiple module strings together in parallel (e.g. positive to positive and negative to negative), current is increasing while voltage stays constant.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the adjacent\u00a0image: Channel A and Channel B have two strings each that are wired in parallel on the DC combiner inputs at the inverter. The total number of modules on each channel is different, but the number of modules on each string within Channel A and B are the same (eight on Channel A, five on Channel B).<\/p>\n<p>When wiring strings in parallel the current is additive, great for designing parallel strings with different orientations because the variable current will not constrict the other string. This is referred to as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smainverted.com\/2012\/12\/04\/sunny-design-polystring-configuration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">polystring configuration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Inverters like the Sunny Boy TL-US are ideally suited for systems using polystring configuration, a great design tool to have when southern roof space can\u2019t fit the needed amount of modules or a home\u2019s roof faces southwest and southeast. To stick with the water tank analogy, it\u2019s like having two separate tanks so the pressure from one tank won\u2019t adversely affect the other, yet the amount of water that comes out is the amount that\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-auto kksr-align-left kksr-valign-bottom\"\n    data-payload='{&quot;align&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;116719&quot;,&quot;slug&quot;:&quot;default&quot;,&quot;valign&quot;:&quot;bottom&quot;,&quot;ignore&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;reference&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;count&quot;:&quot;3&quot;,&quot;legendonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;readonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;score&quot;:&quot;3.7&quot;,&quot;starsonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;best&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;gap&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;greet&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;legend&quot;:&quot;3.7\\\/5 - (3 votes)&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;22&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Understanding PV Wiring in Series, Parallel and Polystring&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;84.6&quot;,&quot;_legend&quot;:&quot;{score}\\\/{best} - ({count} {votes})&quot;,&quot;font_factor&quot;:&quot;1.25&quot;}'>\n            \n<div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 84.6px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 1px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 22px; height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n                \n\n<div class=\"kksr-legend\" style=\"font-size: 17.6px;\">\n            3.7\/5 - (3 votes)    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<div class='printomatic pom-default ' id='id3993'  data-print_target='article'><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Module stringing and the question of how many and in which orientations, voltage windows and, lest we forget, available roof&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":123797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solutions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understanding PV Wiring in Series, Parallel and Polystring - Sunny. 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