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So, I just wanted to share my observations and experience with this. I have a midnite classic charge controller, and 10AWG coming off the roof. I have a western facing array made up of Solarworld 260 watt panels, 3 in series to give me 780 watts. I have another array, East facing, made of 3 Trina 240 watt panels, all in series. These are paralleled into a combiner box with a 10 amp breaker on each. These go into the same Midnite Classic. Starting from dawn, I start making power. I have seen 1.3 KW at the highest reading, which is really good for this type of setup.
The 2 arrays aren't perfect, as the Vmpp for the 2 are about 3-4 volts different, so I am leaving power on the table, however, I got a sweet deal on the Trina panels, and couldn't pass up. It works well, and I really do see a huge jump in power, not twice the power, but about an 80-85% increase in power, and it is pretty much all day. It's 9:41 AM here, and I am making 850 watts, so I really can't complain about the results.
Only reason I wanted to share this info is I couldn't find all that much good information about this type of a setup, and everywhere I looked, I was being told to get a second charge controller and run a seperate set of 10AWG from the roof. I am doing this as an extension to my power, and the part of the island I am on has had reliability issues with power. I work in the power industry, although it is emergency power, and I get batteries for free, so I decided to go through with the project.
Anyways, just though I would share.
The 2 arrays aren't perfect, as the Vmpp for the 2 are about 3-4 volts different, so I am leaving power on the table, however, I got a sweet deal on the Trina panels, and couldn't pass up. It works well, and I really do see a huge jump in power, not twice the power, but about an 80-85% increase in power, and it is pretty much all day. It's 9:41 AM here, and I am making 850 watts, so I really can't complain about the results.
Only reason I wanted to share this info is I couldn't find all that much good information about this type of a setup, and everywhere I looked, I was being told to get a second charge controller and run a seperate set of 10AWG from the roof. I am doing this as an extension to my power, and the part of the island I am on has had reliability issues with power. I work in the power industry, although it is emergency power, and I get batteries for free, so I decided to go through with the project.
Anyways, just though I would share.
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