Harbor Freight 100 Watt Solar Panel Kit

[Metalophile]

I must be really old because I bought the earlier version of the Harbor Freight panels maybe about 14 years ago. They do have metal frames, but I only have 3 of them, and together they were advertised as 15 watts apiece for a total of 45 watts. I used them for a couple of years just to keep my 12v deep cycle lead acid battery topped off in case of emergency or power outage. For that purpose they worked. However, just yesterday I bought 4 x 260 Watt polycrystalline panels which were used - 4 years old apparently from a solar farm that didn't make it. $100 apiece. Now, those are some real panels I can play with!

I do still have those older Harbor Freight panels. A couple of months ago I dusted one of them off and installed an Anderson Powerpole connector on it so I could actually use it. I hooked it to a DC-DC buck converter and set the converter to 14 volts and trickle charged my wife's 2nd car's battery that she doesn't drive much. It still trickle charged the battery at 12.6 volts and 0.7 amps in not quite full sun, so at least it is still useful for something. And if someone steals it off my driveway, no big loss. I also have a DC converter board with USB sockets, and I want to convert one of the other panels to a phone charger or to charge a phone power bank. I'm trying to think of another application for these. Maybe mount them on my kid's swing set, put a ~20AH lead acid battery and a cheap harbor freight plastic ammo box, and use it to run LED landscape lighting at night?

 

[Grumpy 49]

Claim is that old solar panels never totally "die". May lose some of their output, but still puts out some juice. Think that a set-up like those used to charge game feeders, is a great use of "old" panels. Mounting on a swing set, with some type of tilt adjustment, sounds like a great idea. Tilt "up" for Summer, and "down" for Winter, would be a cheap way to increase output. Only suggestion is to buy a new controller (PWM?). Please post pictures of your "Swing Set Mount" after you get it built.

 

[Metalophile]

Claim is that old solar panels never totally "die". May lose some of their output, but still puts out some juice. Think that a set-up like those used to charge game feeders, is a great use of "old" panels. Mounting on a swing set, with some type of tilt adjustment, sounds like a great idea. Tilt "up" for Summer, and "down" for Winter, would be a cheap way to increase output. Only suggestion is to buy a new controller (PWM?). Please post pictures of your "Swing Set Mount" after you get it built.

It's not really a mount. The swing set has monkey bars on top, which my kids don't use, so I was going to lay two panels along the monkey bars. I just need some way to secure them there in case of high winds. I just now put it out with a DC buck converter with USB sockets. I'm charging a phone battery bank.

 

[Tallguy]

So, I will be boondocking in Southern FL next winter for about 3 weeks. My only power needs are about 8-11aH each night for a cpap machine and about 15 aH per day for a small dc frig. I just got my hands on most of a HF 100w kit(3 of the panels) and 3 panels of a 45w HF kit. I have a 100aH LA battery. Can I wire the 3 15w panels in parallel with the 3 25w panels? I also have a renogy 100w setup w/20amp controller. I was rhinking of using the HF stuff w/ my 100aH battery. I should get 4 nights on the cpapwithout any charging and still keep the battery above 50%. I am not sure how much battery to use for the frig as a. Most draw will be during the day and b. The frig is mostly there for refreshing adult beverages and I have a backup cooler, but probably either a cheap35aH LA or something from Craiglist. Am I unduly optimistic?

 

[AE4KR]

That 8 - 11 amp-hours sounds really low for a CPAP unless it has no provision for warming or humidifying air. The small Peltier fridges draw about 3 amps when running, in my experience, but they run almost continuously. The 100 AH battery might be up to the task if you can unplug the fridge at night when using CPAP. Be careful not to use more than half the battery's rated capacity to avoid shortening its life. The weak link in your plan will definitely be the panels. My HF "100-watt" set is not adequate to replace a full night's CPAP drain in the desert sun in September.

If the HF panels have been used much at all, they'll be well below their rated output. I'm coming up on a year with my "100-watt" set; the four panels together will charge my 12V 100 amp-hour SLA battery at about 4.5 amps, or nominal 55-ish watts, in peak sun. I use the battery to run low-power communications gear, and charge the battery about once a week.

My next purchase is going to be used 250-watt panels from Santan Solar to build a 24-volt-based backup system for the home fridge. I'm considering using a pair of 12V, 198-Ah SLA batteries which float on grid power between outages, and figure micro-cycling the SLA will allow them a long life.

Regarding combining your various panels, I'd check the open-circuit voltages in peak sun. If they're reasonably close, they should be OK in parallel, and if you have the original 100-watt PWM controller from the "100-watt" set, it should be able to handle them all together at their age-degraded output levels.

What's that old joke? I was afraid someone would steal my HF panels off my patio, but I came outside and looked this morning, and someone had seen them and dropped off four more!

(Sorry, had to!)

 

[Grumpy 49]

Harbor Freight is OK for a number of items, but with vendors like HOME DEPOT, LOWE's. & Northern Tool selling newer and better quality Solar Panel Kits, I would believe it that you are finding that somebody have "gifted" you with additional HF panels. Only question is - do you have enough panels to use them as a power source, or are they only useful as a source of shade???>

 

[sunnydaze]

I was in Habor Freight and saw .99 sand paper and thought "well can't go wrong ?". When I went to use it it had 50% less sheets, 30% less sand and wore out twice a quick.

 

[Tallguy]

Does anyone know if you can use the two usbs and the 12v barrel plugs simultaneously?

 

[MobyHome]

Yes you can. I run the two LED lights on the barrels, a Netgear router and a fan On the usb.

 

[MobyHome]

Does anyone know if you can use the two usbs and the 12v barrel plugs simultaneously?

Yes

 

[Tallguy]

Thank you.

 

[PatBlack]

Yes, that push button "light bulb" switch turns on or off all 4 ports simultaneously. What I've never understood is why they sometimes turn on when I don't expect it. There may be a mode accessed with the switch below it that runs them like a security light or something. The documentation is abysmal.

Does anyone know if you can use the two usbs and the 12v barrel plugs simultaneously?