Mixing Harbor Freight panels and Renogy Kit

Hi my name is Keith.

I'm looking to add to my solar setup.  Currently using the harbor freight 45 watt solar panel kit to charge a bank of 3 batteries. Don't know AH at the moment.

Looking to upgrade and add a 100W Renogy kit to help with maintaining the bank of batteries.

Whats the easiest way to mix them? 
Should I just run the kits separately through the charge controllers each kit came with to the battery bank?
Should I run them in parallel wanting to stay with 12V? Feel the problem here is the volt/amp difference.

Thanks for any input.

Hi Keith,

In my opinion, the easiest way to do this would be to run the kits separately. Connect the solar panels to the controller that came with them and then run the outputs of each controller to the battery bank. When you're done, they should meet at the battery bank in parallel with each other.

Each controller should watch the voltage of the batteries and adjust its own output accordingly.

It's a similar configuration to what I'm using, except instead of a second solar kit, I have a battery charger in parallel to the Renogy controller. If I have limited sunlight, I can turn on the charger to compensate. The Renogy controller watches the batteries and cuts back the current from the panels as the bank gets full. The charger's controller does the same thing with its output.

Thanks jsb2000 for your response. That's the answer I was looking for.

-Merry Christmas btw.

Keith, you're very welcome. Happy holidays and New Year to you as well.

-Joe

Hello Keith,

The way Joe described is a good way to connect your system.

There is also a possibility that you could connect all the panels to one controller. To do this you must compare the operating voltages and currents of the Renogy 100W and the Harbor Freight 45W kit.

If the voltages of all the panels are similar, then you could connect all the panels in parallel to one controller. If the currents of all the panels are similar, then you could connect all the panels in series to one controller.

If the voltages or currents differ greatly, then when the panels are connected together, the all panels will operate at the lower voltage/current thus reducing its output.

Renogy Tech Support
SR

Thanks jsb2000!
That's just the answer I was looking for. In my case I have a HF 45 watt system, a Renogy 50 watt system, and a 100 watt Renogy system. Run the controller of each in parallel to the battery bank and I'm good to go. 

Hey gang - just had an issue w/ my setup - similar to this, I have two 45 watt HF systems along with one 100 watt system. I just tried to add two Renogy 100 watt panels to all that. I've noticed I have 17V coming from the Renogy and 14V coming from the HF systems - now wondering if I should marry the HFs like I did, and whether 14 to 17 is too big a difference. I certainly don't want reduce charging. I'm checking the voltages of the independent panels tomorrow.

Thanks.

I don't think I would mix different panels if I were you... It might burn out your CC...