Our only source of solar for years was our portable 80w Sp now I have just ordered a 160 sp to replace the 80w panel,that I purchased years ago for $500,now many years later the much larger panel is $150 dollars thanks china.
anyway is there a way to join the two panels together, the way things are set up at the moment is simply a positive and negative cable wired directly to the battery connected to an Anderson plug outside the van....
Pos Panel, to Pos Panel, to Pos Regulator, to Pos Battery.
Neg Panel. to Neg Panel. to Neg Reg, to Neg Battery.
For Dumbo's like me hey.
160w Panel is a clumsy lump of a thing.
Think about mounting them. Takes ALL the hassles out of it.
I had a coupla 40w mobile panels yrs ago. Lasted 4 days into trip.
Drill. Pop rivetter and solder iron. Fixed. (still got the Iron)
Thanks for your replies Iam a bit confused there's two voltage regulators in play here ,just a thought,the panel is connected direct to the battery via an Anderson plug simple ,how about running another two leads from the battery to another Anderson plug and have them sitting outside the van together,then would it not be the case,Icould plug both into there individual Anderson plugs and have both feeding the system or have the simple option as well of using either one as the power source...
I put up a query on another webpage about using my portable panels as additional supply to my fixed battery/panels in the van. Reply from those with tech qualifications was that both sets can be hooked in to the battery in the manner you suggest because both fixed and portable panels had their own regulators. Both regulators sense the battery voltage and provide power as appropriate. I am in the process of adding an Anderson plug to my batteries so I can plug in the portables whenever I need extra power.
Cheers
More complicated answer is having two regulators is not recommended but can work OK. You could also look at the capacity of the bigger regulator and see if it can accept the straight unregulated power from the small panel. You should check the size of the wires. Those portable panel often work OK but the wires are very light and putting better bigger wires can improve them quite a bit.
We run moved voltage reg off panel and fitted it near battery . That way the higher voltage in wire to reg doesnāt suffer the same voltage drop . Having ONE reg works better . Just make sure itās up to amp spec .
Thanks for your replies Coop,Jaahn,and Ak I think I will take the easy way out with two Anderson plugs,moving regulators around and figurine out how big the new regulator should be and where to purchase it seems a lot of trouble although it's the best way to do it. For now two Anderson plugs and the correct sized cable seems the easiest way to go at the moment thanks again.
