Part 1-Hook 8 Harbor Freight Solar Panels together in Parallel - OOPS - "Houston We Have A Problem"
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Part 1 - Today I show you how to connect 8 Harbor Freight Solar Panels together using the Harbor Freight Universal Solar Connector. Along the way we discover a problem and investigate a solution. Make sure to also watch part 2 listed below:
• Part 2-Hook 8 Harbor F...
Not sure how much volt your controller can handle. But if it can handle 32+ volt. Try running 4 panels in parallel, in series with another 4 panels in parallel. Thus doubling the voltage and reducing loss due to reistance in the wires.
Your system is being limited by the load. The PV specs are potential voltage and current specs. Measure your voltages off of each panel. If your batteries are near a full charge or your have a max charging rate, these factors will make the system seem to be under performing.
Stop power washing the house to get rid of the mold. Go to Lowes, Home Depot or a good hardware store and purchase some Mold Cleaner. You spray it on with the water hose and walk away. I use to do the same thing you are doing but a neighbor introduced me to the stuff and it works great. I think the name of the stuff is Mold B Gone or something like that. Its a green bottle with a hose attachment.
Sure Will!! It's a lot of work power washing a two story house.
Power washing also damages the finish on the vinyl then mold and dirt are harder to remove and will get dirty quicker.
Your battery is fully charged, the charge controller will limit the wattage to it. Put a load on the battery and your input wattage should increase. Thanks, I have one of these HF 100 watt panels and really pleased with it. I intend to buy more.
I had put a 1400W heat gun on it to no effect. This charger will charge full open untill it reaches 14.5Vdc when it enters Boost mode. Boost mode maintains the 14.5Vdc. This isn't working like a Jackery charge controller which dials back the charging rather early. This appears to be a limitation of the Charge Controller to get the max out of the panels at 16Vdc.
@@thechiefsway2618 I used the connecter that came with hub wired it strait to the controller. With 4 panels I was making 20 v with the same 40 amp controller as yours!
The Renogy will only count the power it’s sending to the batteries. With batteries at near full, the Renogy will only sent what is needed to top them off. That will look low but is normal. For a real test, run the batteries near empty and watch the panels actually charging the battery. That will give you a realistic idea of performance. I made the same mistake the first time trying new panels with a newly LiFoPo4 converted trailer . I had tested voltage as good and they only put out half their current rating, until I let the batteries run down.
I have the same problem as this guy But with lower numers. But Im running a flooded battery. If I hooked a lithium ion I would have different results
I ran the batteries down to 19% and recharged with solar. Only picked up about 20W from 338W to 359W. See the video I just did on 6/27 about how the Renogy charger charges in the Lithium mode. The Controller charges full power till approx. 14.3Vdc, then quickly ramps down the power till the Voltage quickly reaches 14.5Vdc and the battery is full and remains in the BOOST mode until the battery is used again. Basically the problem is the Renogy Charge Controller is limited on its ability to get the max out of the panels at 16-18Vdc. Switching to series/parallel and 60Vdc has cured the problem.
@@WizzRacing Yes the MPPT Channel Voltage is 16-18V when connected in parallel. The Charge Controller lowers the Voltage and increases the Amps to the level on the battery that is programmed in the controller. No batteries are being ruined, they charge to 14.4 just fine.
Sounds like the 400w hub is where you are losing your power, those connections aren't strong enough, also the extra connectors in your long run
I had disconnected the HF Universal Solar connector and ran a straight Y connector and also saw less power than I should have out of 2 100W panels. I believe the Renogy Charge controller is limited in its ability to get the max out of multiple panels at 16-18Vdc. I single panel works great, and it works great in a series/parallel set-up at high DC voltages also.
Your small wires killing your power. I'm running 5 panels and getting right at 500 over 30 amps
If you use the wire gauge calc, you should be using minimum of 8ga, but 6 ga would work best ( allowing only 2.5 v drop)
However as on of the guys mentioned, if your controller will handle HIGHER voltage, maybe 36 or 48v nominal, might do the trick, as 48v would be less than 2v drop with 10ga wire at 60 ft
Items to test several series configurations are starting to arrive. I believe your right, series connecting two to three panels (36Vdc, 48Vdc) will do the trick.
I have 4 100w HF panels running avg 17 volts, 12-15 amps Peak watts 100w on a flooded battery! W/ Same 40amp controller as yours! I think its only pulling what it needs from the panels when you dont have a load!
Those connector’s are strangling your power output……😳😳
I'm building something similar to this setup but using 3 40 amp Charge controllers. I know my SRNE are not to be pumped over 550 watts each so this makes 6 panels max in 12 volt systems. My 18 panel array is going to push these but when I go to 20 panels I will get another controller. Also seems as though your in float mode for the batteries. Its basically just keeping things topped off.
MPPT can be over paneled just fine. The controller will just limit output to the max amperage rating.
This was the most understandable exclamation on RUclips so far ty for this upload
Check at the junction and at the controller with a meter to check for voltage drop and to verify the accuracy of the panel.
Get a better charge controller there cheap and have usb outputs for around 40 bucks bud I thank it will boost your efficiency
Since switching to a serial 3S-2p configuration it works perfect. Serial is much superior to parallel. Watch Part 2 to see the transformation.
I have 4 harbor freight panels wired 2s2p and will get 380 watts into my Bluetti EB200
That looks like it's working pretty good. I'm going to switch to a Series/Parallel setup also to see if that cures my issue.
@@thechiefsway2618 the Bluetti seems to have a decent MPPT algorithm to squeeze what it can out of panels. In my experience, the higher the PV voltage the lower the losses.
Yes 24 volts is better than 12 and 48 volts is better than 24. I would go 24 volts using these panels. If you have 12 volt things to run you can tap the center of two series batteries to get your 12 volts. Just a thought. 73
@@thechiefsway2618 that much wattage at 12volts you need wire in the car starter thickness. the more in series 12 ,24,36,48,60,72 the thinner the gauge wire you need.
I bet your power wire is warm
@@ronb6182 How do you tap in to 24v series to get 12v?
I just bought that universal hub today. I have 2 of the 100 watt panels. Each put out 22 volts and 10 amps. I hooked both to the hub and tested it. The voltage and amps coming out of the hub is still 22 and 10. No increase.
Have you tested that? I'm new to this so I'm trying to figure out why the volts or amps don't double with a second input.
I have Harbor freight panels too and I changed out the SAE to Mc4 connectors then series connected five 100 watt panels to see what power I could generate and to verify they can be series connected. The manual states in bold not to connect in series but if you need to it must be done by a qualified electrician which is BS in my mind.. I connected the 5 in series to my Bluetti AC200MAX and brought in 465 watts at 5:30 pm just recently (June) with hazy sky conditions. I've found that these panels out perform their specifications as a norm. I will say that if you modify the panels you obviously void the warranty so I verified their operation prior to modification. By the way, retired ATC here.
ETC here. Thank you for your Service Chief. We should meet the qualifications.
@@thechiefsway2618 I think we do, might of been a problem if I was a AE, more than 1 wire. LOL. We use to call the AEs one wires.
also play with the tilt of your panels , they could be off a little
I don't believe the angle has anything to do with it. Permanent mounted on a 4/12 or 6/12 pitch roof that's a difference of 2 inches per foot. That's a 8 inch difference on a 4 foot panel that is stationary year round. Mine are mounted on a six foot chain link fence at 50 degrees angle year round. I did add two of those long closet door mirrors to direct more sunlight to the panels and that made a big difference.
Won't use those universal connectors I saw what they said about them and those universal connectors would get blown right up if I use them cuz I'll hook for 100 watt solar panels to each connection from harbor freight cuz I ain't going small I'm getting 4,000 watts. 100 watt solar panels like those little solar panels.
Keep giving you comments over the watching the video before you even finish the videos and it's not to changing your cable wires that's not the problem because I got the same cable wires actually I got both types of cable wires but those are two different solar panels bigger solar panels my problem is solar panels I only can run as 12 volts because it's for 100 watt solar panels harbor freights are only 12 volts while they're Little More voltage in there but they only have a 12 volt connection which does actual power on that if you want to run 12 volts which everything you're in a house you could actually run 12 volts on so far what you're hooking it to or want to hook it to it might be your charger in the house which I doubt but you might want to test it if you had a 400 solar panel or a 500 watt solar panel or 600 watt solar panel well probably with a 500 watt cuz it probably give a little less than 500 watts and I don't got those kind of chargers I got a 12 volt or a 24-volt charger I don't get one of those fancy it really expensive chargers I can't afford to buy one of those things so I get to charges that are 12 volts and or else 12 volts and 24 volts at this time I got them both hooked up to the same battery system so I can't run 24 volts but if I disconnect one of them the other two are 20 could be 12 volts or 24 volts and then I could run 24 volts but I only got two inverters that could run 12 volts or 24 volts the rest of my inverters are 12 volts that and my system is so small it's not enough to run my house I haven't tried to get anything bigger than that yet cuz I don't have enough solar panels and what I found out I don't even have enough batteries or enough solar panels to charge the batteries are full but then again I got scammed so many times I should be getting 42 275 watt solar panels but I was scammed so I'm not getting those at least not after 3 months but I can report it in cuz it was through PayPal and they might fix the problem but I also ordered 300 solar panels 14 of them and I was also scammed on that because I'm not getting them and I tried to call a couple of them up and phone numbers are not existing according to the phone company but a couple of them do exist and I got three call and a good time they actually talked to him about it to see if they're actually company and see if they're actually stealing or see if somebody is sexy using their number cuz I want to know if I can actually get my solar panels cuz that's all the solar panels I will need it's just not as many as I want and it would also give me 6,000 watt inverters that I run between 12 24 36 and 48 volts also at 120 vote and 240 volt and it also came with four sets of 200 amp AGM batteries every six came with 14,200 Watts bottom when they're on sale but the sale was probably way too low and was a scam cuz I haven't received them but now I'm finding out what actual real companies are from RUclips videos and companies want me to call them directly to make deals and payment plans which I will not do unless I can pay for everything right out so I got to save money and that might take years to do and I only pay for things right out I don't want to make payment plans I don't want to be indebted or in debt to anything I own my house I owe no money on it I am a broke person that has the day by day through whatever make each week which leaves me very little money but I managed to suffer on one thing on one bill to buy a solar panel here and there but then I'm able to catch up on the bill next week maybe not all the way on a bill that I pay after that but I get to pay on it and then the following could catch up on that bill plus another bill and sometimes that's all I can play is try to catch up and that sometimes is a problem especially when winter comes if I don't have enough solar and when I'm using a lot more electricity so much more electricity cuz I'm not home enough to burn wood and I don't expect my daughter to be able to do it she might be old enough but instead of fire is more difficult sometimes in the wood stove that you cook on while I got two of those those that you can actually cook on one of them is actually have an oven which is kind of surprising for a wood stove but then again you looking at antique wood stoves that are more than 100 years old but I also have an electric kitchen oven stove that is 3600 Watts 240 volts takes a lot of power to run that I don't have enough solar panels for that that's my biggest downfall and if I would have got all four of those 6,000 watt inverters that are 120 240 volts all those solar panels plus the solar panels I have which is already 2,700 Watts but I haven't hooked up to two different sets so it is actually 2540 wat which is for running my house not enough power but generac to change that if they ever come over and do it like they said they would but they sell me that 6 months ago and you only called me once after that let me know that they're out of state and it'll be a while before they get here which was five and a half months ago and you didn't tell me when to come back to here to do anything am I understanding is they're one of the companies that would actually do the work here in Wisconsin when I got generac companies in the same town I work in or the same city I work in. Two towns from where I live in a small City that's more like a medium sized town.
voltage drop is also an issue that will cause losses.
A long distance of only 10 gauge wire and multiple connector pairs will be less efficient. The voltage tolerance is pretty tight. The 'type' of cable and connectors is not an issue. MC4 connectors are unnecessarily expensive, unless you need water proofing. reducing the qty is what matters, while increasing the _wire gauge._
let's call it 15 volts, 6 amps = 90 watts each * 5 = 450 watts at the solar panels.
6 amps * 5 = 30 amps available.
120 feet of 10 gauge at 30 amps Voltage drop: 4.28 volts
that is over 25%
voltage at the end will be like 10.7, but you can measure that (on both ends & compare).
Also check the output of each of the panels connected individually.
Series connection, for 24 volts would help with the voltage drop, but the H.F. panels *are not* rated for that. And, especially, don't mix & match when in series.
Checked the panels and they are good. Also, the charge controller always displays between 16-18Vdc which is right in the wheel house of those panels. I will be switching from a pure parallel configuration to a series/parallel configuration soon. Increasing the Voltage and lowering the current should do the trick.
@@thechiefsway2618 ETCS (ret) here. That's what I did with my 6 HF panels. 3 in series plus 3 in series put into parallel. Output is now 60VDC with low current. I'm using 12AWG landscape wire 50 feet or so with MC4 connectors. I built a fused 6 port junction box like what is used on boats. I have an EcoFlow Delta Max 6KWH setup. I run the entire house off of this. No load shedding. After 20 hours I'm down to 20% on the Li batteries. HF panels are working great. Got em on sale for $90/ea
Do like the harbor freight solar panel it's not actually my pic I don't know why people that kind of want solar panels it's making a bigger solar panels less than that's worth it and more and more expensive I do believe and that's the best people buying it and trying to buy more 100 Watts when it's not really enough power for much of anything but it is a good backup power for a little bit of essential things that you need if you have enough of them or if you have enough batteries for the syrup and you don't use it for a central power where if you just charging batteries for a whole week and have that many batteries to charge up to work I don't like the connections on harbor freight solar panels but I do like 100 watt solar panels for a different reason if I need a little bit of extra power I can get down and watch other pounds but I won't get I'll get them from Walmart or summer supply tractor supply whatever is called which is closer to where I live just in the same town I work or maybe it's called a city I don't got something like 10,000 people or so I know it's bigger than the city I live in my city is called the city and I just think it's a average size town with a 2000 some people especially when there's towns nearby the same in the same county that has just as many people or a little bit more even though one of them actually went down in population about 200 or so to little less than what is in this city but anyways both Walmart and that place is there beside each other basically while it's another set of a car place but that's besides the point but I say there was a quarter mile beside each other actually Walmart towards parking lot which was the old Walmarts store before they decided to make a super Walmart there besides they got to sell the parents connect together we don't have to cut wires and put new connections on it which I don't have so you can make it 12 volt 24 volt or 36 volt or 48 volt which makes the product a little more valuable and they sell it for less both of them sell it for less one of them are delivered to my house which they really would have to I could go and pick it up the other one I have to go pick up anyways cuz I don't want them to deliver to my house cuz they never deliver anything to my house yet and I don't know if that actually make it there so that just rather go and pick it up and that works for me but Walmart always says to me so I'm still trusting them on that until I get to really big orders but which I probably end up have to have them delivered to me but I'm not sure yet it depends how they delivered a small or just to me and a little bit bigger orders into the bigger orders but they always seem to get things with it with to my house within two or three weeks of me ordering it but if I order something big I probably have to wait a couple months I mean they'll give me time dates when it actually come and then they always beat that time I just ordered something from Walmart today 240 watt solar panel and they said it would be here by Thursday what today is only Sunday so they're saying they get it to me in about 4 days or four and a half days that's really impressive special I expected to be two or three weeks about the same time I order another one of those solar panels and they are 240 Watts and some reason they're really cheap in price right now I don't know if it's on sale or I don't know if that's what they really saw them for cuz I ain't going to give me that price I'm going to keep ordering them because they have bigger than 100 Watts and I'm going to try to get at least 20 of them that are 240 Watts.
James Klingler is right about being in float mode or nearly topped off on the batteries. the charge controller will automatically lower the output when the batteries get close to full. I do not have the Renogy one so not sure what the book says.
I would guess the problem with the panels power is the connector box. I would recommend wiring each group of panels in series, then the two groups in parallel and bring that into the house without the harbor freight connector box and see if that helps, raise the volts and amps that way but still get same wattage they are rated for. You will most likely get more power out that way. the charge controller will still charge as it needs to if batteries are almost full. Just make sure not to overload the ratings on the charge controller.
Also if you did not know, if the panels have different voltages, it will limit provided voltage to the lowest voltage, not sure if the different types of panels you had are rated at the same voltage or not. But if you have 20 volt panel hooked to 30 volt panel, you will only get 20 volts out.
Series connections coming soon. Ordered items are beginning to arrive.
But I will do you another favor I'll buy another four harbor freights solar panels that are not connected to my system and I'll test them for you I attach them apart from one another and I'll test them together just two way the best way to get to solar power you need I'll even buy that little round thing and see what it can handle I burn it up trying which is quite easy to do with solar power something I'd rather not do cuz they got one charger that I got a 15 watt set of four solar panels I'm going to test as well that is a charger smaller than a 30 amp charger and I don't go away with the watch says I go by with the amps is but the one doesn't tell me it's amps I'm going to find out what it's amps are what it can handle what it can do what protection has on it or protections it needs it doesn't have and I'll give it a review and I'll let harbor freights know about it and then tell him what they need to do to fix the problem and that's what I do for you just a little round thing you connect on your solar panels too which you actually supposed to connect to 15 watts solar panels to it I think one connection is 15 watts one connection is 100 w one connection is 50 Watts another ones 100 watt and another one is 100 w and another one is 15 watts and that's what you can connect to those little round things and connect your solar panels too and that's kind of what they told me in the store too it only can handle so much not all the plugins as 100 Watts that won't work and a burn out the system and it destroy it but I'll test it and that one I won't give a review on because I already know what they said they told me that when I was at the store and ask him about it then I said it's not worth the dirt that it's made out of it's one of those rejecting they should probably send back but they still have them but they probably could fix it with I don't know how well actually I do but I'm not working for them and I'm not doing that kind of work. I'm actually making food for people to eat and I fix their machineries but I make the food I'm not a maintenance person but I do not fix it and I do fix it just because of what I did in the past I know I can do it so I do at least what they let me do but they find out I know more than it'll let me do but I'm responsible for making food so 100 million people won't starve in the United States well that's not quite true I mean it only takes out 2/3 of everything that's in a store doesn't take all the food out of the store just all the breads all the peppers all the salad dressings all the mirror clip all the male all the mayonnaise all the gravy all the pepper peanut butter which I was surprised that when I just found out that the other day we actually make peanut butter not completely but a good remedy of it which is kind of surprising to me and many of the spices meaning the sauces for a lot of the canned goods gravy back in the 80s the original owner got his hands into just about everything for food that are in stores and restaurants and fast foods and so on and so forth the company must never close and I can't say that's not going to happen but I know it ain't going to happen for many years and I'll probably work to the rest of my life cuz I know they tell me I'm the main person I'm the one that can make things get done cuz I do so much more than I'm supposed to because I'm able to I pull more than what is required a lot more than what's required for a daily work and the same amount of time so it's harder for me to move up at the company for a better positions but they're finally doing it now after how many years it's surprising so they replaced me with three people and it said if I have to hire two more to take my place but they still put me down there every now and then too but that's life I like where I work I just don't make very much money. And most people quits because it's such low pay. I can't quit I got a conscience and that's what keeps me working there even though I grow most of my food I eat. Of course I know I could grow all the food I'm eating but I'm not a vegetarian I do like meats but I can get my mates from a farm anyways my brother's got two of them so I do okay but that's besides the point I have a conscience I will keep working probably for many years I'm just trying to make it so I don't have to work but I'll still work anyways unless it comes to my family whether you me around more for a certain reasons cuz my family becomes first out of anything else people should take that to heart we need more people working not people not wanting to work.
Your voltage drop is HUGE while running 60+ feet of that small wire...Your losing half your power in the wire. Simple as that.
Checked voltages and found no significant drop. The problem is the Renogy charge controllers limitation on maximizing more then a single panel in parallel at 16-18Vdc.
You're trying to push too much current through too small wire.
one more issue is when you connect different type of panels together like you had them, the weaker panels will pull down your whole system
Your SAE Extension is too long, Defenitely loosing there
Need your outside wire to the panels to be 8 gauge wire that far!
Dude your really breathing heavy, and labour to talk. You okay?? Relax for a moment after being in that sun before doing video, relax bro...
Have a really bad septum and what you hear is 100% mouth breathing.
Running all your panels in parallel means you need to run thicker cable, I get you are use a 10gauge which is rated for the amps but the length you are running them does not fit in that rating. Run them in series/parallel or swap out the cables for 6 gauge. I recommend running a majority in series if the controller can handle it because the harbor freight panels come with a 14 gauge cable
In part 2 I configured in Series/Parallel and fixed the problem. Raising the Voltage was the key. Believe the charge controller is limited in its ability to maximize the panels out put at 16-18v. Got 122W out of a single panel, but even connecting one more in parallel would start to lose power. Pretty sure its a voltage thing.
You're capped with the current flow going through the wires you get 100 watt solar panel at the end of the panel cord any further than that in your losing current you got five cords hooked up and splitter take two panels put them right beside the house put one y Splitter on it and plug it in the wall outside the house. Then go inside and look at your voltage reading plug jewelry extension cords into it and look at how much you losing power times that by 4 you need freaking welding cables or take your charge controller off the wall up there to where your round disk is with all the wires plugged into it plug it in right there and see what you get
Check out Part 2. I switch them into a series parallel configuration to lower the current and they worked great. Recently with a larger charge controller measured 702 watts out of 600 watts of panels.
That is interesting, when you did the April, May, and June watt ratings were the battery full or near 97% since the charge controller/BMS will limit the amount of input the battery needs. Also, you're running everything in parallel where the amps are high, maybe connect a couple of the panels up in series rather than all in parallel to bring the voltage up. I had to do the opposite since I didn't have enough amps for my power station.
The batteries were probably near full. Not many Ah were created those days. On this charger there are two charge modes MPPT (Bulk), Boost. Boost maintains the battery at 14.5Adc. I have noticed that this charger will charge wide open right to the end the quickly ramp to 1a in the Boost mode. The charge controllers in my Jackery slow ramps down the charge but this doesn't. Series connections coming soon. The items are beginning to arrive.
Your using 12 gauge wire to push 60 amps of current at long distance. Not only are you losing lots of power from heat, but it's a good way to cause those wires to catch fire. You should be using at least 8 gauge, maybe 6 gauge wire.
10 AWG Wire being used. Good up to 30A. Charge controller has a max input of 520W and at 16V is 32.5A which in no way will cause a fie. Max value will only be reached for short periods of time. Switched over to Series/Parallel set up and have cured the issue in video Part 2. Even with only two panels connected and less then 10A the value was below what it should have been. Don't think it is loss. Believe the problem to be the charge controllers limitation to get the maximum out of the panels at 16-18Vdc. Charge controller is working great with the same cables at 60Vdc.
@@thechiefsway2618 The higher the current going through the wire, the greater the power loss. It's always better to connect panels in series if possible.
rewire the panels to 24v configuration and drop line loss more volts less amps less lose
Check out Part 2 to the Video where I convert all the SAE connectors to MC4 and connect the panels in a 3S-2P configuration. Problem Solved.
Would a 4 panel setup in series, times 2, then parallel both 4 panel groups I'm doing this with 4 panels...I got white pvc pipe in 10 ft sections, and snake the wire through to keep out moisture and sunlight from the wire & SAE connections
Yes you can connect the panels that way. That is a 4S 2P configuration. See my Video below on 3S Configuration but just use 4 panels. Just be aware that your open circuit voltage (VOC) will be about 88Vdc, and the full sun voltage (MPPT) will be about 72Vdc if using 100Watt Panels. Make absolutely sure you charge controller can handle that high of a voltage. I will be doing a 4S video this summer.
ruclips.net/video/wh-JdIQfAZ4/видео.html
I have a 30 amp mppt controller: rated at 96v max & 400 watts max for a 12v system, I have 4 of these panels, and have recorded the Volts & amps so far. These panels are the newer Harbor Freight 500w & not the older 300w panels. These are 6.2 Amp & 18 or 19 Volt max panels. My panels have gone to 6.2A and 14.8V so far, but stable at 5.3A & 14.2V during charging and usage (21.3A & 14.2V) Total of 4 X 100W panels. This is a great emergency power source.
30 second works on mold.
Perhaps the cause of the problem is, that perhaps the Harbor Freight Universal Solar Connector ('Solar Hub') is not designed to be connected to / combined with, another Harbor Freight Universal Solar Connector ('Solar Hub'); perhaps combining two of the Harbor Freight Universal Solar Connectors puts too much load on the relatively thin wires you are using to connect to your charge controller. Or, perhaps six of your Harbor Freight 100 watt solar panels are either 24 volt or 48 volt solar panels instead of 12 volt solar panels. If so, this may perhaps confuse or damage your Harbor Freight Universal Solar Connectors which perhaps are not designed to be used with solar panels above 12 volts. If any of your solar panels are above 12 volts (24 volts or 48 volts), perhaps it confused or damaged your charge controller. Perhaps charge controllers are not designed to have more than one voltage rating of two or more solar panels.
I had disconnected the HF Universal Solar connector and ran a straight Y connector and also saw less power than I should have out of 2 100W panels. I believe the Renogy Charge controller is limited in its ability to get the max out of multiple panels at 16-18Vdc. I single panel works great, and it works great in a series/parallel set-up at high DC voltages also.
Please watch RUclips video titled Tutorial: Solar Panel Protection in Series and Parallel (end of title) Video channel name: Off-Grid Garage (end of video channel name). Video URL link: ruclips.net/video/GFjL0-r6LbY/видео.html (end of URL link). You may have a faulty connection to one or more solar panel or possibly one or more faulty cells of one or more panels; if so, current may possibly be back-flowing to the faulty panel(s) instead of flowing to the charge controller. Or, perhaps you should be using two charge controllers instead of one charge controller, and use a separate wire connection for each of the two charge controllers (use one positive and negative wire to connect four panels to one charge controller, and use one positive and negative wire to connect the other four panels to the other charge controller. Perhaps the current produced by one set of your panels is flowing from one of the Harbor Freight Universal Solar Connectors to the other Universal Solar Connector instead of flowing to the charge controller. Using two solar charge controllers instead of one, and two sets of connection wires to separate one set of your panels from the other set, would solve the problem. A solar tech on RUclips informed me that when using six Harbor Freight 12-V 100-W panels, to connect two panels to one 30 amp charge controller and connect 4 panels to the other 30 amp charge controller. I then asked him why not connect 3 panels to one charge controller and the other 3 panels to the other charge controller so that it would be balanced out, but he said it would be more stable if I wired 4 panels to one 30-A charge controller and 2 panels to the other 30-A charge controller. However, I do not understand yet why. Perhaps he was incorrect, perhaps not. @@thechiefsway2618
The problem with you have with harbor freight solar panels doesn't sound right does every 100 w solar panel and harbor freight with 5.5 amps it's kind of a lie it's more like maybe 135 Watts cuz one person is using them and he was getting a lot more wash than 100 Watts from each solar panel of harbor freights and you may not be 135 Watts they might be 110 Watts on 105 Watts something with 5.6 amps or 6.5 amps I was watching that video the other day I got 4 freights 100 Watts solar panels for the 25 watt solar panels they seem to work good for me but I hook them up with a string connecting them together and then bring them in the house without using one of those little round things I don't trust them they don't look right and it looks like they're a problem with them I didn't buy one to study it to figure it out also tell you what the problem was with that and when you having a 20 amp charger 500 w I would not look at the 500 watts part I'd look at the 5.5 amps that each harbor freight has and add that up to four harbor freight solar panels at 22 amps is what it is at 5.5 * 4 is 22 amps and it might be a little bit better than 22 amps I would get a 60 amp charger and hook it up to him see what you would actually get cuz eight of them would be 44 amps 10 of them would be what 55 amps and running too many amps into your charger can't actually started on fire melt it I know I sort of did that once.
HOWdy T-C-W,
Thanks for the Walk-Thru ( with "SAE" Connectors )
those metal "ends" crimped on STRANDED-WIRE
are referred to as " FERRULES "
and really help if a person plans on several Insertions / Removals
from an INSTRUMENT or DEVICE
"PARALLEL" connections do not PRODUCE as well as SERIES Connections ...
especially with any LONG Runs from ARRAY to HOME Inverter
SUGGESTION: when converting to MC4 connectors - UPGRADE your AWG up too / to maybe 8 AWG Gauge WIRING ...
Thanks
COOP
...
Hub and cables are only rated to put out a max of 500. Says so on the box. TRY to use an extra hub on anything over 8...Mix of panels also will decrease your energy ceiling. Double your hub output at your breaker going to your controller. Lol 😆 I've gone through a lot of trial and errors too but been playing with them for a decade.
I should tell you I only run my cables about 20 ft my solar panels aren't any farther away from my house than 20 feet none of them are.
Know what your problem is you're using that little round thing underneath the solar panels connect to solar power too it only can handle so much power and you can look at it at harbor freight it shows you what it can handle and it might not be a handle that much but if you get the string where you can find strings together we can combines four or three solar panels together you'll get all the power in there and it works just fine connecting it from that to your inverter charger.
You need to make it a 48v system.
Being a 12volt system you have additional losses due to the length of your cables. You also need a solar charge controller that allows for higher input voltages so you can put the panels in series. However, if you do that you should use the same panels. You are mixing different panels with different parameters and that can cause issues. If I were to guess you are taking a system from a RV or something similar and trying to make it for use in a house type situation resulting in an over complicated system with a bunch of losses and poorly matched elements. Watch Will Prowse's videos. Good luck
Thanks for the advice. The specs on those panels actually match up pretty close.
Two things I see may be your problem. Battery is almost full charge. Did you calculate voltaage drop from the panels to your house? Another item might be panel angles.😎⛏⛏🔥🔥
There may be a slight bit of Voltage drop but a single HF Briefcase Panel pulled in a massive 122W on the same cable. As far as the battery being almost full see the video I made on 6/27 about how the Renogy Charge Controller works in the Lithium mode. I basically charges full power till approx. 14.3Vdc, then quickly ramps down the power till the Voltage quickly reaches 14.5Vdc and the battery is full and remains in the BOOST mode until the battery is used again. Basically the problem is the Renogy Charge Controller is limited on its ability to get the max out of the panels at 16-18Vdc.
The length of your house wire is hurting you. Too many connections
Dont know what your charge controller is doing under the hood. But in order to get maximum power transfer, the output impedance (resistance here) needs to be equal to the input impedance of the load (your charger). If they are not equal you will not get maximum power transfer. Find out what the input impedance is of the charge controller, and then rewire your array (combinations of series and parallel connected panels as necessary to produce the same resistance) and it should then give you max power. Alternatively, you might want to look at how much current you are putting through those wires from the panels to the charger. It was not clear to me how the panels are connected, but if in parallel, that is likely a lot of current, and then your cables may be too thin for that much current, and might be dropping your power. Shorten all those lines to as short as possible (i.e. get the arrays very close to the house) and see if it makes a difference. If it does, then you need thicker cables. If it doesn't, then you need to match the impedance as described above. If that does not work, then your charger may not be performing as it has been rated, or you are violating one of its parameters for optimum performance (too high or low a voltage input or too high or low a current input.).
Check out part 2. I switched to a 3S-2P configuration and the system is now making greater then full power.
I have a question about my 25 watt solar panels that I bought from harbor freights I bought four of them in a package there they're like 12 volt battery chargers they give something like between 14.7 and 18 votes well the other day they'll give me 31 volts I don't understand why they can give me 31 volts when there's only four 25 watt solar panels I was hoping you might better answer that to me for me good friend and I'm going to do one favor for you I'm going to go to Walmart by there 100 watt solar panel which they say is 120 w solar panel exact same size as harbor freights I'm going to go to tractor supplies get there solar panels that are rated the same as harbor freights with a slightly higher amperage for a little bit lower price you got to order those off the app store though and either they'll come to your house if you want to or you pick them up at their place I'm going to test those because those are a little bit cheaper than harbor freight solar panels and it seems like that year round I'm going to see if I can travel a shortage distance to go pick him up cuz I will pick him up at the stores cuz not every time you're delivered to my house I don't think and I work in a town where two of those places are called Walmart and tractor supplies but Walmart does deliver to my house so I don't got a problem with that one. And I'll tell you after all about the same or which ones are better.
Those Harbor Freight 25W Solar panels are only about 17W. I have one ane have never gotten more then 17W.
i use crimp lug with terminal block
What I’m figuring out is is the wiring you might need heavier wires to your controllers or the battery and to your other advice
Watch Part two if you can. I fix the issue by switching to the 3S-2P configuration. Up'd the volts to about 56 and dropped the amps to 12.
Your batteries are at 97%. Good thing your controller is working or it would blow up your batteries. Try putting a load on your system. You may see the numbers you want.
Have put a load on it before switching to a Series/Parallel which cured the problem. A load did not raise the low ceiling I was seeing at approx. 350W. The problem is the charge controllers ability to get the max from the panels in parallel at a lower voltage of 16-18Vdc. In a Series Parallel set-up at approx. 60Vdc its working great. The Batteries are LiFePo4 with a BMS. They won't blow up ever. Working properly now it will charge at +300W right up to 99.9% when it will ramp the charge down in the Boost mode to approx. 14W which is the idle power consumption of the inverter and charge controller.
You definitely need to run several groups of panels in series, then parallel those groups together. In addition, you need to ditch the Harbor Freight combiner, SAE connectors, and tiny wire you are using. The purpose of an MPPT charge controller is to allow you to run higher system voltages to a charge controller which then converts to the lower battery voltage, but there is a reason why Edison lost the battle with Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse between his DC electrical system he proposed and the AC distribution system we have today. Voltage drop of wire, the higher the current flow in a conductor the more losses you will have. You need to increase the system panel voltage as well as increase the wire size going to the controller, that is where your losses are occurring. As soon as you add more current the wire begins to heat up more, the connectors heat up more, and your losses increase. I would also not have a system connected through my house wall if it is to be considered temporary emergency backup, those SAE connectors are low quality and if you have a fire I promise you the insurance company is not paying out on your claim and your neighborhood looks beautiful, I am assuming your home is as well and I think the inexpensive wiring and connectors present a huge risk you are taking. I appreciate the intent if this system, and I agree it is a great idea, but my entire career was as an aircraft electrical system specialist and I fully understand the challenges you are facing, and a little corrosion on those connectors over time and you will really be having issues. Good luck and have fun with the system, but please take a little rime and research some better wire insulation types, diameters, and connectors. The Renogy controller is putting out what it can based on what it us receiving, the losses are before your controller, additionally you will nit see full output to lithium batteries that fully charged due to stadium effect of electrons trying yo find a place to go in the full batteries. Take care.
Check out part 2 to this video. I switch to a 3S-2P configuration, modify the SAE to MC4. System runs great after that.
your wattage is low on your input of your charge controller is probably due to your battery is almost full, your charge controller knows this and will back off to a float charge rate
There isn't a Float Charge in Lithium mode. It charges wide open up to the very end and then quickly ramps down to the Boost mode. The problem had been fixed with configuring it in a Series/Parallel by raising the voltage.
Worst with them is they are indoor use only and can't take rain . If you have them close to the solar cell put them in a small enclosures to protect from rain . Have one but have now just bought wires that combine into a parallel connection and then you can run just two wires to one next to the charge controller. Nice set up for all your other stuff .
This is awesome! You think you could make a video on how you installed that house plug, please? Thanks in advanced.
The cheap Amazon connector on the back of the house did not survive the weather well. I have ordered a better on and it should he here soon. As soon as I get it I will make a video replacing it which will cover installing it. Not to much longer. Thanks for being patient.!!!
State of charge... Fuller the battery the slower the charge.
This charge controller will charge at full power them drop off quickly at .1vdc of being full. See this video. ruclips.net/video/xLTatNDXbVk/видео.html
Are those panels 24v
No, they are considered 12V. The open circuit voltage is about 22V but operates in full sun at 18V.
@@thechiefsway2618 what is your controller? PWM or MPPT?
@@TheJ7777777777777777 MPPT
Take out the other solar combiner I did the same thing and took out one of the combiners and got four hundred out of my four panels and was only getting a little over a hundred at first
I had done that in the video while I was troubleshooting. I had hooked 4 panels up to the one combiner and was getting a max of 235W. It was a little later in the day but the output should have been much higher. When I added the second combiner which individually was making 227W with four panels the combined output only went to 293W. Believe the problem lies with the limitation of the Charge controller at 16V. New items are starting to arrived that I can put them into several series configurations and see what happens.
@@thechiefsway2618 hope you figure it out let me know what happens and what you find
Good morning everyone!
Thank you, and Good morning to you!
put a load on your system then recheck input change current I bet it goes up
I had put a load and only gained about 20W. The problem is the charge controller is limited in its ability to maximize the panel output at 16-18V.
@@thechiefsway2618 ok ,in the video your battery look pretty topped off
@@chadjones99 The battery was at 97%, but that was 97% of 400Ah. There was still quite a bit of battery to charge yet. The way this Charge controller works in the Lithium Mode is it will charge full power up till 14.1Vdc which is probably 99.9% and then quickly ramp down till the Battery is 14.4Vdc at a 100% and enters Boost Mode. Doesn't work like a Portable Power station like a Jackery that slows charging very early for it's battery chemistry which is not LiFePo4.
You are not getting any power because your batteries do not need any power. Run the battery bank down and you will get blasted with power. Also....your renogy charge controller likes higher voltage.....so do like others have said and run in series.
Had also ran the batteries down when troubleshooting and still had a ceiling of about 340. I think you right on the voltage and have ordered all new cables & MC4 connectors. I’ll report back with another video part 2 on what happens.
@@thechiefsway2618 i have the exact same charge controller and it wont let juice in until the batteries need it. I am running 100 volts at 5 amps...in series of course.
@@Texasprepper At the time of recording the batteries were down by 13Ah, I had also run them down by more then 20Ah during troubleshooting and still had that ceiling of 340W. I'm trying to get 32A out of 16-18Vdc which is obviously not happening running everything in parallel with the original Harbor Freight SAE connectors. I think you nailed the solution by running a higher voltage and lower current. I've ordered everything I need to switch this over to MC-4 connectors and a Series/Parallel configuration and we'll see what happens. Thanks for the comment.
@@thechiefsway2618 battery voltage is what triggers the charge controller. You need to run them down to like 12.5 volts or lower.....this is one reason that you want more than 12 volts incoming. That charge controller can only handle 500 watts....it will NEVER give you 800 watts.
@@Texasprepper I was attempting to over panel on purpose to max out at 520W earlier and have it run at max later into the day and produce better on cloudy days. Prior to this video the max I had connected was 4 panels. I will certainly experiment with running the batteries down and see what happens.
Awesome
Thanks
No series?
Series connections coming soon. Ordered items are beginning to arrive.
@@thechiefsway2618 ok. And don't put those suitcase ones on with it. They are likely lower volts and will kill your output. Also don't go over the voltage the charge controller can handle