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Harbor Freight 100 Watt Solar Kit

1L243
Explorer II
Explorer II
Looking for input on Harbor Freights 100 watt solar kit. A question I have is each kit comes with a controller if you put two kits together could you get by with one controller?
2017 Coleman 300tq by Dutchman Toy Hauler. 34.5 feet long and under 10k Gross. 500 watt Solar 2000 watt Inverter, 1999 Ford F250 2WD 7.3 4R100 DP Tuner, S&B Cold Air Intake, Gauges, 6.0 Trans Cooler, Air Bags.
12 REPLIES 12

ppine
Explorer II
Explorer II
As a rule of thumb, you need 10 amps of capacity on your controller for each 100 watts of panels. 200 watts should have a 20 amp contoller.

Sam_Spade
Explorer
Explorer
RobWNY wrote:
What? My 200W Zamp Solar suitcase (2-100w panels) pumps out 11.4 amps in ideal conditions.


Oops. Shouldn't post when I'm tired.
I will go back and fix that......if the system will let me.
Sorry.
'07 Damon Outlaw 3611
CanAm Spyder in the "trunk"

LittleBill
Explorer
Explorer
KD4UPL wrote:
Sam Spade wrote:
Get a look at the "manual" that comes with the kit.
Some panels and controllers are made to be "chained" with a single controller and some are not.

Note: Since there are some losses involved, a 100 watt panel likely will produce only about .7 amps at 12 volts. Barely enough to float a fully charged large battery.

Two together will get you about 1.5 amps IN FULL SUN, which still really isn't much.

You're math is way off. Likely by a decimal place. A 100 watt panel likely has a Imp of around 5 or 6 amps.

OP, what's this kit cost? HF is know for selling over priced junk. Large solar panels sell for around 50 cents a watt. Smaller ones like you're looking at are usually about $1 a watt. If this panel is much over $100 it's too much. What kind of controller? I'll guess a small PWM model with no adjustable set points and not monitoring or display. You can buy one of those for $40 ish from a good manufacturer like Morningstar.
If the panel is rated Imp 6 amps and the controller is rated for at least 20 amps it should handle 2 panels. Anything less than 20 amps and you may be wasting power or burning out the controller on a clear cold day when panels put out more current.


a lot of misinformation, the kit is 4 25 watt panels, and has 4.5 stars, the kit works fine, its a bit large for its wattage, but there is certainly nothing wrong with it. and yes it uses the cheap pwm charger, not sure what you expect at this price point. the double price suitcase kits on amazon aren't using a much better controller either.

and yes the math is way off its not .7 its 6-7A.

TomG2
Explorer
Explorer
Do a search of YouTube videos for dozens of reviews of the HF kits. Most are positive. Some have combined up to six kits for 600 watts. Be aware that the panels are of the Amorphous variety. Larger than some others for the same output, better in cloudy conditions.

red31
Explorer
Explorer
With the universal connector you can connect multiple kits to one controller.

https://www.harborfreight.com/400-watt-universal-solar-connector-68689.html

MrWizard
Moderator
Moderator
EXAMPLES

7 amps at 12v = 84 watts

0.7 amps at 120v = 84 watts

5 amps at 23v = 105 watts

so 5 amps at 14.4v charge = 72 watts charge max
I can explain it to you.
But I Can Not understand it for you !

....

Connected using T-Mobile Home internet and Visible Phone service
1997 F53 Bounder 36s

D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Explorer
In a recent post someone suggested looking at Amazon they have a 100 watt kit for $158.98. It is fully compatible with the standard connectors and controllers, the HFT is not. you would have to only buy stuff from them. With the Windy Nation kit you can add equipment from almost any mfg.
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to go". R. L. Stevenson

David Bishop
2002 Winnebago Adventurer 32V
2009 GMC Canyon
Roadmaster 5000
BrakeBuddy Classic II

KD4UPL
Explorer
Explorer
Sam Spade wrote:
Get a look at the "manual" that comes with the kit.
Some panels and controllers are made to be "chained" with a single controller and some are not.

Note: Since there are some losses involved, a 100 watt panel likely will produce only about .7 amps at 12 volts. Barely enough to float a fully charged large battery.

Two together will get you about 1.5 amps IN FULL SUN, which still really isn't much.

You're math is way off. Likely by a decimal place. A 100 watt panel likely has a Imp of around 5 or 6 amps.

OP, what's this kit cost? HF is know for selling over priced junk. Large solar panels sell for around 50 cents a watt. Smaller ones like you're looking at are usually about $1 a watt. If this panel is much over $100 it's too much. What kind of controller? I'll guess a small PWM model with no adjustable set points and not monitoring or display. You can buy one of those for $40 ish from a good manufacturer like Morningstar.
If the panel is rated Imp 6 amps and the controller is rated for at least 20 amps it should handle 2 panels. Anything less than 20 amps and you may be wasting power or burning out the controller on a clear cold day when panels put out more current.

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
If you do solar right, youโ€™ll be very happy. If you donโ€™t, such as a 100 watt HF system, you wonโ€™t be happy.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

RobWNY
Explorer
Explorer
Sam Spade wrote:
Get a look at the "manual" that comes with the kit.
Some panels and controllers are made to be "chained" with a single controller and some are not.

Note: Since there are some losses involved, a 100 watt panel likely will produce only about .7 amps at 12 volts. Barely enough to float a fully charged large battery.

Two together will get you about 1.5 amps IN FULL SUN, which still really isn't much.

What? My 200W Zamp Solar suitcase (2-100w panels) pumps out 11.4 amps in ideal conditions. Most of the time, I pump in 7amps to 9amps More than enough to replace the 50-60 amp hours I use over a 24hr period. Hard to believe the Harborfreight solar kits are that bad!
2020 Silverado 2500HD LT, CC, 4X4 6.6 Duramax
2021 Grand Design Reflection 311BHS

I asked him to do one thing and he didn't do any of them.

Sam_Spade
Explorer
Explorer
Get a look at the "manual" that comes with the kit.
Some panels and controllers are made to be "chained" with a single controller and some are not.

Note: Since there are some losses involved, a 100 watt panel likely will produce only about .7 amps at 12 volts.

EDIT: As several nice folks have pointed out, the above note is WAY off base. Please disregard.
'07 Damon Outlaw 3611
CanAm Spyder in the "trunk"