camelot-forum.co.uk

I’ve only just noticed this.
The commonly-sized pv panels are about 1722mm x 1134mm overall. The cables on the rear are only about 300mm in length. So you can only connect any two panels with the longer sides together. This is fine for a row in portrait mode but impossible for a row in landscape.
Am I missing something?

It is easy enough to make off an extension…

Chop connector off and through crimp a longer cable if required.

That’s a lot of extensions with a lot more potential failure points. The leads used to be long enough to reach all 4 sides of the panel.

I think you are missing something !

Have you actually got such a panel ?, I doubt it, you are taking the picture literally, the cables are circa 1m long on those type of panels and will fit no problem in both portrait and landscape.

You will find the cables are tightly coiled up with a couple of cable ties to cut off.

One of the problems I have encountered with the new panels is that the diode boxes on the back protrude out more than the panel thickness, so if you like me slide them around on the rails, you impact them and I have had a couple of the covers pinging off.

But the covers seem to go back on ok on the occasions its happened to me.

I seem to remember one of the manufacturers, maybe JA Solar? did different versions of the same panel, one for portrait and one for landscape, with identical spec but different length cables, maybe check if your panel has a twin with the longer leads. The data sheet will say which is which if that is the case.

I asked the question of Grant Atkins at Bimble Solar. This is his reply.

It totally depends on the panel, generally yes as you align nose-tail-til-nose-nose etc in landscape, but some do have short middle leads, specifically for portrait.

Datasheets on every listing show the panel and leads and length, let me know if unsure : )

Grant Atkins
Director
Bimble Solar
www.bimblesolar.com

That reads to me be careful what you order.