Well maybe failed is a bit much, but highly ineffective definitely in the November sun here in Kingston, ON. This is a 36V cart and we use it from May-Oct at our trailer so its used Fri/Sat/Sun at most, and that drops it about 20%. The plan was to get a system that could trickle in 1A all week and it would be full again the next weekend. We have to pay a small fee every year to have the cart on site for charging so this was to remove that.
I used (4) what were AliExpress advertised 20W panels in series, and a generic controller that could handle 12/24/36/or 48V batteries. The panels output 18V, and I assumed I need more voltage so they could work. I tested and in series they put out 71.8V. Hooked up and on the direct sun I did see the controller putting in 37.8V and about 300mA for a few hours, but far less than I thought I would have gotten.
Don't know if its the sun at this time of year, or that the 20W is an inflated value for these panels but it seems like I need more panel. The issue is I have limited roof space. I have a spare CSP-260 that would fit, but its open cct voltage is 39V and I don't know if that, through this controller is high enough to successfully charge the batteries. During the charge the controller wants to put 41.4V into the batteries.
Does anyone make a small footprint 100W panel (or similar) lightweight or flexible panel that has the larger output voltage of a bigger panel? If I could get two panels 32x32 or something that had a higher output I could fit them up there.
Thoughts?
I used (4) what were AliExpress advertised 20W panels in series, and a generic controller that could handle 12/24/36/or 48V batteries. The panels output 18V, and I assumed I need more voltage so they could work. I tested and in series they put out 71.8V. Hooked up and on the direct sun I did see the controller putting in 37.8V and about 300mA for a few hours, but far less than I thought I would have gotten.
Don't know if its the sun at this time of year, or that the 20W is an inflated value for these panels but it seems like I need more panel. The issue is I have limited roof space. I have a spare CSP-260 that would fit, but its open cct voltage is 39V and I don't know if that, through this controller is high enough to successfully charge the batteries. During the charge the controller wants to put 41.4V into the batteries.
Does anyone make a small footprint 100W panel (or similar) lightweight or flexible panel that has the larger output voltage of a bigger panel? If I could get two panels 32x32 or something that had a higher output I could fit them up there.
Thoughts?
Last edited: