45 Watt Solar Kit Model 90599 from Harbour Freight

[(unknown)]

Hello All!

I purchased from Harbour Freight a 45 Watt Solar Kit. This kit has what I believe is a Solar DC Charge Controller but I'm not sure if that's what it really is??

Here's where my concern comes from:

The current kit that you find on Harbour Freight's website shows a "Digital" Charger controller, however, I bought my kit 2 years ago and at that time the Charger controller that came with those kits are much different in appearance than what is currently being offered and sold with the kits of today.

Mine, for example, has on the back panel a +- post for the battery and a +- post for the Solar panels. Between the two is a round black cap. When unscrewed the fuse is found inside.

The front panel has on the left side both a Working & Charging light. Then there is a row of LED voltage indicators running north to south like this

---> 15.0 V

---> 13.5 V

---> 12.0 V

---> 10.5 V

On the bottom of the panel and aligned from the bottom right is a row of 6 empty terminals into which can be plugged "jacks" of various sizes. The terminals are like this:

                                    12V     12V     12V     9V     6V     3V

Then in the top right corner of the panel is a on/off switch.

So my question is for those that have the same unit I just described. Is this unit a "DC Charge Controller" or not?

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and for the insight you have to offer

Thank you.

[Rover]

It is a charge controller to regulate the charge from your panels to batteries. I used yo have one... still have the panels, deep six the controller it is not of the best quality. The "12V     12V     12V     9V     6V     3V" are auxillary output jacks providing voltages as marked. You kit probably came with a couple of light bulbs as well which can be plugged into one of the jacks.

 

[TheCasualTraveler]

     These charge controllers get a very bad rap. Personally I think if it is used as it is Intended to be used according to the instructions it will be OK. That means charging ONE battery, disconnecting the battery when fully charged and NOT combining it with any other wind or solar.

     In the event you want a system beyond 1 battery and the 3 HF panels then just connect the controller to the battery terminals and use it as a distribution box/ voltage indicator, disconnect the panels from the controller and connect the panels directly to the batteries and get Ghurds dump controller to regulate charging. Anyway, that's what I did.

[zap]

I can't find the manual that came with my kit but it seems like they referred to the "controller" as a voltage center on the old kit?

I think the problem is a matter of semantics.

It should be called a charge reminder and used as Andy directed.  His mention of Ghurd's controller is a good point.

I think most people, including myself, end up disconnecting the unit from the panels and using the HF charge reminder... only as a switch for the CFL lights and for the voltage taps.

Mine will still start screaming every once in a while for no apparent reason even when the battery's voltage is well within the units 'quite range'.  I shut it off and then back on and it's good to go once again.

[GeeWiz]

45watts is just over 4 amps at 12v dc.  At 4amps you don't really need much of a charge controller to prevent 'over charging'.  So I'm not convinced that it actually does charge limiting (don't see a heat sync). The 'off switch' does seem to stop the charging but I'm not sure how.

I too bought both their early version and a later versions with the two different controllers.  I like the new version with their aluminum design and panel mounts.  The new controller does have a useful USB plug that I've used.  I think they are cool, just undersized for most uses.

They say that the controller is 'weatherproof', but with the open ports for 12v and USB, I don't believe it.  Mine is outside, so I shrink wrapped the unit in plastic wrap and that's kept it dry.  It sure does keep the horses electric fence battery charged.

[dnix71]

The old style "controllers" were not very useful. I had one. All the rest of mine are the new style. It's okay for having something to plug the lights into, but that's about it.

It will drain your battery at night if you don't disconnect it.

It's pretty hard to overcharge a battery with just one HF kit anyway, you're only going to get 3 amps on a good day. A full size deep cycle battery should be able to handle that as long as you check the water occasionally.

[Rover]

I have one of these sets... pretty much to get  4 amps @ 12-13v , you need to position your panels beyond the atmosphere.

On the best days I have seen 2 amps.

However, as amorphous panels, they will produce when my mono and poly's don't (light cloudy days)

[hysteresis]

The best thing to do with these old controllers (I got 2 sets in 2006) is just put both the solar panel and battery lines across the battery terminal connections, and avoid the lossy controller altogether. IF you have several larger deep cycle batteries in parallel as I use it, you won't even see the voltage peak over 15V even in the brightest of sun in the summer, since that amount of batteries limit it to a trickle charge.

Also, when things draw from the batteries, it levels out the voltage to about 13 V.

With this kind of connection scheme, the voltage level led's and CF lights will still work as well as the annoying tone that occurs when to voltage goes above it's set limit to make the tone, which varies from one unit to another. The charging led won't go on, since you are not connected to those terminals.

I've run this configuration in a conversion van during the summer for three years with inverters from 400 watts to 1200 watts with not a problem. You can even have the front battery connected when driving to keep them topped off, and switch it off when parked for several days. I have a small 3 foot high Sanyo refrigerator that only draws one amp running after it starts, and I'm able to have it plugged in and drive along and have everything kept cold perfectly.

Make sure that you have the battery clips OFF the batteries when hooking up to the terminal posts with the panel wires. An accidental short and small arc from the battery lines across the terminal posts when hooking it up will immediately toast the internal circuit components. Your controller box then becomes an ornament that you can rewire just for switching on and off the 12v CF lights.

[Tritium]

If you open it as I did after my second one failed you will find it is not a charge controller since the only thing between the solar panel connections and the battery connections is a switch. It is a voltage converter and battery is full reminder. If you don't shut it off when the battery is full the voltage will rise and burn it out.

Thurmond