I have that HF 100 watt system. Let me answer generally first for all interested readers, and then about your specific application.
If you knew absolutely nothing about solar and wanted to learn what lowest end solar panels are and what a lowest-end PWM charge controller is, this might be the thing. But if you wanted to actually accomplish much more than powering the 3-watt 12v light bulbs, save your money and buy better stuff. It really is a toy. I paid $144 for mine on sale a few years back, but then you need a battery and an reasonably sized inverter and some cabling if you want to use the power at night and use AC power, so then you're in for couple hundred more dollars.
Here's why it's bad:
- the solar panels have plastic frames. they will easily break if you try to mount them. tighten a screw too tight through the frame and it cracks. real solar panels have metal frames
- at 7200 feet in the sunny, clear sky desert and 2 years of using them, my 4 x 25watt panels combined together have never put out more than 34 watts total. The most they have ever generated is 230 watt hours in a day. That's not enough power to do very much. It will run some 12v lights, nothing much more.
- the manual for the charge controller is useless. I still have no idea what the various modes are. I now I just use charge controller as a DC switch and don't have it control any battery charging.
- it's bulky for what it does.
- when it's cloudy is produces almost nothing, even tho amorphous is supposed to be better
- in 18 months of using panels and logging the data, they have produced a total of 48kWh. So in a place with 300+ days of sun, I'm averaging less than 90 Wh a day.
If you want it as an emergency lighting system, to charge a phone and a laptop, it can do that.
So now my question is, why do want to run around in a golf cart during a hurricane?!
But seriously, for your application, I think you can do better. I've not run mine in series so I can't speak to that. Good you are not thinking of using the supplied charge controller. The panels are heavy for your application, about 10 pounds each and makes more like 8 actual watts per panel peak sun rather than the nominally rated 25. I don't think you will get much usable production if anything on cloudy post-hurricane days. Not enough to do much with a big 48v golf cart battery bank. I haven't had a cloudy day in the 30-day look-back period to verify, but if I recall correctly I get like 40 Wh total from the 4 panels combined on a cloudy day.
Hope that's helpful.
