The easiest way to check is to put it in the sunlight and use a multimeter to check the output. If you want to charge at 24v you will need two panels connected in series. It is usually on a sticker on the underside. It will say something like open circuit voltage or peak voltage..

In the parallel system, each of the load elements is connected across the same terminals, therefore each has the same voltage drop: Voltage across each resistor is the same as the voltage across the parallel combination.

The basics of connecting different photovoltaic panels in series or parallel. Though mixing different solar panels is not recommended, it’s not forbidden and things would be ok as long as each panel’s electrical parameters (voltage, wattage, amps) are carefully considered.

For two cells connected in series, the current through the two cells is the same. The total voltage produced is the sum of the individual cell voltages. Since the current must be the same, a mismatch in current means that the total current from the configuration is equal to the lowest current.

The max PV input power is 12v 130 watts, and 24v 260 watts. The higher the voltage, the more efficiency. Since this manual is translated from Chinese into English, it is very confusing. You can have a 100 volt solar panel array, is what I get out of it.

Other things being equal, that would cause losses on 24v to be half those on 12v. so a 24v system is always better than a 12v system – provided you can physically fit two batteries. The amount of energy in the batteries is amps x hours x volts. Consider a 12v 60 Ampere Hour battery.

You can get much bigger inverters on 24V or 48V than 12V. There are a number advantages in opting for a higher DC supply voltage. 0.5v line drop at 12v = 4.6% supply drop whereas 0.25 v line drop at 24v = 1.04% drop. – Better inverter efficiency and regulation.

For a 12V LED strip, the voltage difference simply just needs to be 12V for it to operate as intended. Simply connecting 24V to the 12V LED strip copper pads will obviously cause the LEDs to burn out due to over-voltage.

1. Simple voltage dropping isn’t efficient, and efficient voltage dropping isn’t simple.
2. The proper solution is a 24 to 12 V switching regulator, at the end of the wire, as you have surmised.
3. You could wire up a relay on a timer to swap between the batteries every five minutes or so.

Its the “worstest: thing to do run something off one of the 12v batteries.. You will never successfully balance them when recharging. A 24v to 12v converter is the only way. But as has been pointed out most converters only put out exactly 12v and that is a bit on the low side for some devices..