panels no longer made

[maple flats]

I have 8 Kyocera 185 watt panels. specs:
SPECIFICATIONS
Electrical performance under Standard Test Conditions (*STC)
Maximum Power (Pmax): 185W (+5%/-5%)
Maximum Power Voltage (Vmpp): 23.6V
Maximum Power Current (lmpp): 7.84A
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc): 29.5V
Short Circuit Voltage (Isc): 8.58A
Max System Voltage: 600V
Temperature coefficient of Voc: -1.06 V/˚C
Temperature coefficient of Isc: 5.15x10-3 A/˚C
*STC: Irradiance 1000W/m2 , AM 1.5 spectrum, cell temperature 25˚C

I tried to order 4 more panels and was told they are no longer available. I searched a few vendors and found none. It seems these have been discontinued, which I discovered as I tried to order more.
My situation: I have 2 strings of 4, then connected to an FX80 controller and to my battery bank. I need more panels, :
Do I need to use a different controller to charge the same bank or is there a way to tie a different panel to the same controller without losing significant energy because of different specs being incompatable? Please advise. My goal is to end up with near the max of what the FX 80 will handle. My battery bank is 48V.
Thanks,
Dave

[Naptown]

I have 8 Kyocera 185 watt panels. specs:
SPECIFICATIONS
Electrical performance under Standard Test Conditions (*STC)
Maximum Power (Pmax): 185W (+5%/-5%)
Maximum Power Voltage (Vmpp): 23.6V
Maximum Power Current (lmpp): 7.84A
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc): 29.5V
Short Circuit Voltage (Isc): 8.58A
Max System Voltage: 600V
Temperature coefficient of Voc: -1.06 V/˚C
Temperature coefficient of Isc: 5.15x10-3 A/˚C
*STC: Irradiance 1000W/m2 , AM 1.5 spectrum, cell temperature 25˚C

I tried to order 4 more panels and was told they are no longer available. I searched a few vendors and found none. It seems these have been discontinued, which I discovered as I tried to order more.
My situation: I have 2 strings of 4, then connected to an FX80 controller and to my battery bank. I need more panels, :
Do I need to use a different controller to charge the same bank or is there a way to tie a different panel to the same controller without losing significant energy because of different specs being incompatable? Please advise. My goal is to end up with near the max of what the FX 80 will handle. My battery bank is 48V.
Thanks,
Dave

Look around for panels with the closest spec's for Vmp and Imp There should be something out there that is close.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

Use panels with the same VMP (23.6V) or as close as you can get.

4 in a string would be 94.4VMP for the string. You could use panels with a VMP of 31.5 and wire them 3 to a string for the same String VMP.

You could also use panels with a VMP or 18.9VMP (5 to a string).

Remeber to add fuses for each string when you have more than 2 strings.

WWW

[maple flats]

Would this work without losing power in system and not getting full potential of the panels? If I wire 2 Kyocera KD185GX-LPU to 2 Kyocera KD 235 GX LPB panels in series.
Specs:
235 watt
Vmp 29.8
Imp 7.89
Voc 36.9
Isc 8.55
tolerance +5/-3

185 watt
Maximum Power (Pmax): 185W (+5%/-5%)
Maximum Power Voltage (Vmpp): 23.6V
Maximum Power Current (lmpp): 7.84A
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc): 29.5V
Short Circuit Voltage (Isc): 8.58A
With these in series my unskilled math tells me I get 106.8V and 420 watt nominal/string. Will this work? If yes I can order 8 of the 235 watt panels, wire 4 strings as shown and get a nominal 3360 watt array. The voltage will work with my FX80 controller. Is there an incompatibility here to squash this idea?
I'm just trying to grow my existing 1480 watts using the controller, wiring and gain what I need without a technical reason not to wire them this way.

[maple flats]

I finally ordered 8 Kyocera KD220GX LFBS panels. After seeking answers here and from the Kyocera engineers I decided to wire 2 185 watt panels and 2 220 watt panels in a series string for now and sacrifice potential power. At my next expansion I will add more of the 220 watt panels and split into 2 systems. One of 4 panel strings of 220 watts going to my FX80 controller and a second of 4 panel strings in 185 watt going to a new MPPT controller. This change will happen when we build our home on site. The whole system is going to be grid tied this year but we plan to keep battery backup.

[Sunking]

Flats your best bet in the future is to use two controllers with like panels feeding a common battery.

[Naptown]

Something I have noticed lately is the 220-230W panels are getting harder to find.
The manufacturers are leaning toward the higher 245+ watt panels. This may be due to the popularity of micro inverters which favor economically the larger wattage panels.

[maple flats]

The 8- 220's arrive Monday. My next order may even be this summer, adding about 8 more 220's. If I do this it will max my equipment. From there I'll wait to see how the system works. If I manage to get the extra 8 more 220's I'll be running 2 charge controllers and will be at 5000 watts.
We also finally decided to go grid tied, this year. Then we can use the rebates and tax credits, and we will be net metered with battery back up.