Author Topic: Combining two 45 watt kits??  (Read 993 times)

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RetGuns

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Combining two 45 watt kits??
« on: July 25, 2008, 03:56:20 PM »
Howdy, my name is Steve. Let me preface by telling you up front that, 1), I am brand new to solar powered tinkering, and, B), I have almost no electronics expertise, so please respond using Sesame Street terminology.  I bought two of the HF 45 watt kits to use with our camper and would like to "tie" them together to produce a, theoretical, 90 watts.  Even though I got the newer controllers with the USB receptacle, digital readout, etc, it's my understanding that I can't use one of them for all six panels.  Can you recommend an inexpensive controller that will allow me to hook both kits together for a 90 watt system?  I kinda like the 3, 5, 6, 9, & 12 watt plug-ins so if there's a controller out there that has those, that would be cool.  Also, any other improvements I could make, (heavier gage wiring??), to improve overall performance without getting too deep into it.  I mean, I'm a real handy, jack-of-all-trades, kinda guy so following installation instructions or basic wiring instructions isn't a huge problem, but I know nothing about electrical theory or schematics or grown-up stuff like that.      Thanks for your time and trouble, and go ahead and take the rest of the day off!!       Steve
« Last Edit: July 25, 2008, 03:56:20 PM by (unknown) »

Jeff

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Re: Combining two 45 watt kits??
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2008, 10:29:41 AM »
I'd definitely recommend Ghurd's dump load kit. It's:

http://ghurd.info/


You can still use your HF controllers for those 3,6,9 volt sources, you just don't need to hook up the panels to them. Warning! They won't handle very much drain from whatever you plug into them! You would think they would handle close to the 4 amp fuse limit, but not even close! I even changed the fuse to a 3 amp, was probably drawing 1 amp, and it still blew the controller!

« Last Edit: July 25, 2008, 10:29:41 AM by Jeff »