Are two solar panels better than one?

[Kelpie]

My hatch garage measures 70x54cm. Big enough for a single 50w panel or a pair of 25w ones.
My thinking is that if I get two 25w panels, only one is likely to be shaded by the boom at any one time. I've heard that even a small amount of shade will greatly reduce the panel's output.
It will be a little more expensive, of course...

 

[LadyInBed]

By my logic I would say yes.
They give me more versatility as I also have a 24v and 12v system. Also gives redundancy if one fails.

 

[TQA]

My hatch garage measures 70x54cm. Big enough for a single 50w panel or a pair of 25w ones.
My thinking is that if I get two 25w panels, only one is likely to be shaded by the boom at any one time. I've heard that even a small amount of shade will greatly reduce the panel's output.
It will be a little more expensive, of course...

Go for two as your shading fear is spot on.

 

[TQA]

My hatch garage measures 70x54cm. Big enough for a single 50w panel or a pair of 25w ones.
My thinking is that if I get two 25w panels, only one is likely to be shaded by the boom at any one time. I've heard that even a small amount of shade will greatly reduce the panel's output.
It will be a little more expensive, of course...

Go for two as your shading fear is spot on.

 

[JumbleDuck]

My hatch garage measures 70x54cm. Big enough for a single 50w panel or a pair of 25w ones.
My thinking is that if I get two 25w panels, only one is likely to be shaded by the boom at any one time. I've heard that even a small amount of shade will greatly reduce the panel's output.
It will be a little more expensive, of course...

It all depends how the panels are constructed. Individual cells are connected in series to get the right volts and then these series chains are connected in parallel to get the amps. Shade across the whole of one cell knocks out the chain it's in but doesn't affect the others. If you instal your panel(s) so that the chains run parallel with the boom it's shadow will cut down output a bit; if you put the chains across the boat the boom shadow can switch them all off.

Doesn't matter whether you do this with one panel or more than one.

 

[MikeBz]

Some panels have built in bypass diodes so they still produce meaningful output when partly shaded.

 

[TQA]

Also better to have higher voltage panels and a MPPT .controller

The shadowed cells drop out but but the panel output is still well above battery volts.