Yukoners wrote:
Tow pro do you have both panels hooked up separately to the batteries?
I have a single 100 watt solar charger just to have the fridge run on propane while away and it won't keep up. Works OK for about a week and then batteries need topping up from the gen set.
I would consider an additional 100 watt solar charger if I knew you can hook up both at the same time.
yes you can hook them both up the same time, but your going to need something (solar charge controller) to regulate the voltage to your battery or you could over charge your batteries when there is no load.
look up solar PWM controler on amazon. (you can buy Renogy 30A PMW controller for about $25.00).
you could also look at MPPT controllers which are more efficient, but a 30A MPPT will run around $125 more than PMW. Some say that $125 will pay for an additional 100w panel, so is PMW cost efficient?)
with PMW controllers, you hook both 12V panel outputs together in parallel and send this 12V over a larger wire to the PMW controller.
With MPPT controllers, you can hook both 12V panels in series, and send this 24V over a smaller wire to the MPPT controller.)
you also need some fuses, but this is just an example).
both my 100w panels are hooked in parallel, they feed a Bogart Engineering Solar controller (PMW) that is controlled by my Bogart Engineering TM-2030-RV Trimetric system.
My AGM batteries are also 12V, wired in parallel.
I have seen 11.6 AMP solar charging in past but I have never really ran batteries down and tested in middle of day with full sun to see what max output of my system could be.
