You will lose 50% of your power with the wrong charge controller. The reason I got the MPPT solar panel charge controller is because it makes my solar panel system from 95-97% efficient. Why pay for PV panels and lose 1/2 of that energy using a typical charge controller. RESOURCES: How to check if your solar power MPPT is working correct: www.youtube.com Charge controller recommendations: www.youtube.com
25 Responses to “Harbor Freight Solar Panels: MPPT Charge Controller”
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Costco
LDSprepper, Where did you get your new solar panels from?
You can but that isn’t what I use. I use golf car batteries. They are designed to be used and charged every day so they last at least twice as long as car batteries. Car batteries are designed for a big surge of power to start the car.
do we just use car batteries?
nice!
I agree I gave up on these too. poorly made.
Cannot wait to see this LDS! Just found your channel and really getting a lot from it, thanks for helping/sharing!
I don’t know where you live but. Here in Canada we have solar products at both home depot and lowes
HF got me started too. I totally agree with what you said. HD and Lowes do carry some solar panels in some stores but it should be more available. I’d love to see a video on your setup.
Great, I just finished a 480 watt system myself. But I have to give Harbor Freight credit for getting people started on solar. It’s one of the few stores I know of that one can walk in and buy solar equipment. It’s a shame that you can’t go into Home Depot or Lowes and buy solar panels and charge controllers. Why is that?
Great comment. I too came to the same conclusion. That is why I have scrapped my HF system. I now have 4 220 watt systems with dual charge controllers. I’ll have a new video of the system shortly.
Ok, I bought a Harbor Freight 45 watt solar kit a year or so ago. It was a good foot in the door. But friends, that kit is expensive, about $150-200 for 45 watts of amorphous solar panels that register 5-10% efficiency. Pairing an MPPT controller with HF panels is like putting racing tires on a Yugo. One can buy a 100 watt polycrystalline solar panel (15% eff) on Ebay for $180 to $200. Pair a few of those with a Rogue MPT 3024 controller, and now you’ve got some real juice. But HF got me started
Harbor freight has a 100 amp charge controller.
Awww man, I went & placed an order for one of these while watching this video, after placing my order I read the comments. I just bought a piece of junk for $58 I take it you guys are saying?
Morning Star has a ton of controllers here: ecodirect Solar Charge Controllers I hope this will help everyone who is looking for controllers that allow you growing room. These are not that much more than the cheapo brands. They go from 6 amp 35 dollar units to 80 amp 600 buck units with everything you could ever need plus. I am still using my HF one, however I am going to need a new one with more flexibility for wind and water inputs. Cheers all, and thanks for the info!
Thank you for the recommendation. I sent this one back and I am in the market for a new controller.
I would get a morningstar controller at the very least. They are a little more expensive but you get what you pay for. These cheap chinese controllers are not going to be reliable and the Morningstars are sealed to the elements.
I am sorry to say this but that it not an MPPT, the video search term “WELLSEE MPPT new inductor testing”, not my video, demonstrates this. This is a fake product, with a fake plastic box and everything fake. What makes it worse is that you wan get a decent charge controller for the same amount. This devise will not get you the extra 35%
Maximum power point tracking
is a technique that solar inverters use to get the maximum possible power from the PV array.
I am glad the info helped.
Thanks for all the great Information and ideas.
Yes
thanks, i tried the search and got a couple other controllers show up. Does the mppt controller you have allow the load to be from solar as well as batteries? I’m looking for one that will regulate the load directly from the sun since I don’t need a battery yet.
I don’t know how you would test for a “real” MPPT controller. It was recommended to me and it says MPPT on it. So I imagine it is a real MPPT controller. Others have commented that it isn’t but noone has said how you can tell. I bought it on ebay. You can check for the brand on ebay by searching for “MPPT controller.”
Hi what brand is this mppt and are you able to know if it is real mppt controller?