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Old 02-12-2014, 02:55 PM   #1
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Solar sales alert.

40 Watt Coleman is going on sale this weekend at Canadian Tire ( $99 ). I may just have to buy a second one for 80 Watts.
Bit concerned about adding more weight and bulk.
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Old 02-12-2014, 03:42 PM   #2
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I'm not sure how their individual charge controllers would work together Glenn? You might have to wire just the 2 panels together and get a higher rated controller, but I'm sure one of our experienced solar folk will know what's possible.

I'm still looking at this one Paul suggested: Solarblvd
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Old 02-12-2014, 03:52 PM   #3
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Price is right and more watts than two Coleman. Of course, I know nothing.
I have one 40 watt panel that may take care of my needs if I use my generator every three or four days ( instead of every morning ).
One thing is for sure. Prices keep coming down and specs keep going up, so I can afford to wait and see.
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Old 02-12-2014, 06:16 PM   #4
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Quote:
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I'm not sure how their individual charge controllers would work together Glenn?
I have used two of those same Coleman units together before. No big deal, just put them in parallel, and all it does is double the charging current.
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Old 02-13-2014, 06:17 PM   #5
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Link to the details at Canadian Tire: Coleman 40W Folding Solar Panel

The specs say it comes with a 7-amp controller, which means that - as Jim suggested - you can just parallel two of them together and stay within the controller capacity, without buying a bigger controller. This is an even cheaper controller than the one available separately from the same store - Coleman 8.5 Amp, 12 Volt Solar Charge Controller - so I am sure that this is just a voltage-controlled switch (not a PWM regulator, and certainly not a MPPT controller), and thus there's no issue with performance optimization from just paralleling the panels together.

Many of the questions posted on the Canadian Tire site are this same one - "can I combine two?". They suggest the Coleman 8-in-1 Solar Panel Hub for making the parallel connection, and that does save you from making any wire connections yourself... you decide if that is worth 40 bucks (the "hub" is just a connector).

All of this Coleman-branded solar stuff appears to be from Sunforce Products.
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Old 02-13-2014, 06:24 PM   #6
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I'm still looking at this one Paul suggested: Solarblvd
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Price is right and more watts than two Coleman.
After shipping, the Solar blvd setup would be about 2.5 times the cost of the Coleman, with 2.5 times the output... I'll call that a tie. It's good to have these options.
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Old 02-16-2014, 01:57 PM   #7
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good tip
thanks
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