Mods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: adding solar to existing solar

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adding solar to existing solar

Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: Non-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Mods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Same as podmods, just... not for pods
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=15667
Printed Date: 12 May 2025 at 3:22am
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Topic: adding solar to existing solar

Posted By: Hood
Subject: adding solar to existing solar
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2023 at 2:53pm

My r pod came with a 190W solar panel from go power. I am looking at options to increase solar and curious if I can just add the renogy 200w portable unit to the battery without causing any problems with the existing until? Thanks

Replies:

Posted By: mjlrpod
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2023 at 3:44pm

Your controller probably maxxes out at 190 watts, so you would probably have to hook it directly to the battery. The only thing is you have to watch out for overcharging.

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2017.5 Rp-172
2020 R-pod 195
2015 Frontier sv 4.0L 6cyl
I'll be rpodding

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2023 at 10:52am

You need to check what the limits of your existing controller are. A 190 watt panel at 15 volts will max out at around 12 amps. Another 200 watts will more than double that. So if the controller is rated at (for example) 30 or 40 amps, then it might work. Otherwise, doubling your solar wattage will likely require a different controller.

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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: Hood
Date Posted: 19 Apr 2023 at 1:55pm

Thanks for your help. I am not sure if the solar panel is 110 or 190W, it is 12 volt came with 30 amp charge controller and I believe 1,000 W inverter. I am looking at renogy 200 W, 12 v system with 20 A charge controller. This is all new to me so a bit in the dark. I have read not using different systems but wondering if it would work directly connecting renogy unit to battery. I certainly

don't want to get out in the sticks and fry something. Any advise it welcome. Thanks

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2023 at 11:07am

With two panels, you will get more efficiency running them in series (higher voltage = less amps). If they're both 12V panels, their open circuit voltage is probably in the neighborhood of 18 volts (that's a guess). If they're in series, that means you can use an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) controller.

In any case, you need to find out exactly what the panels are, and that will drive the downstream decisions.

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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: mjlrpod
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2023 at 12:47pm

If you have a 30 amp controller, I think you could add the 200 watts of solar to that controller. 190 watts of solar would be just under 10 amps. You can call go power and they will advise on exactly what will be ok. 866-247-6527

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2017.5 Rp-172
2020 R-pod 195
2015 Frontier sv 4.0L 6cyl
I'll be rpodding

Posted By: Hood
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2023 at 6:23pm

I really appreciate the help from everyone. The go power number was great tip for the tech said if I am running PWN that I should have no problem hooking up to the battery with the renogy unit. Though I understand running is series might be more efficient, I don't trust my electrical skills at this point so just planning on setting up parallel.