How To Tell Which Wire Is Positive Solar Panel

A simple voltage reading will show you the polarity of a solar panel even when inside.

How to tell which wire is positive solar panel.

When stringing in series the wire from the positive terminal of one solar panel is connected to the negative terminal of the next panel and so on. Grounding the positive is also nec compliant and would thus have a white wire carrying positive. Click on calculate to see the size wire required in awg american wire gauge. Feel the other wire which is smooth.

When solar panels are wired in parallel the positive terminal from one panel is connected to the positive terminal of another panel and the negative terminals of the two panels are connected together. If you have a wire where both sides are the same color which is typically copper the strand that has a grooved texture is the negative wire. On bare wires a red identifies the positive lead and black the negative lead. How to test a 12 volt solar panel vs other voltages.

Another way to find the polarity of the solar panel is to check with a volt meter. Enter solar panel output voltage. Enter the total amps that your solar panels will produce all together. On a quick connect plug b coming from the solar panel the covered female part is the positive lead and the exposed male prong is the negative.

You will want to ensure that you place the positive to positive and negative to negative when attaching your multimeter to the connection on the back of your solar panel. Run your fingers along the wire to determine which side has the ribbing. This is your positive wire. Enter the distance in feet from your solar panels to your battery bank charge controller.

If this is an ungrounded system also compliant in some circumstances then neither wire should be white. Red and black are acceptable colors to use. As most solar panels are 12 volts the solar panel test methods are basically the same. Usually 12 24 or 48 volts.

To measure across the solar panel terminals or wires put the red positive meter lead on one side and the black negative on the other.