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groingo
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# Posted: 22 Aug 2025 01:21pm - Edited by: groingo
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Got the new Bigger 40 amp Powlsojx / Shengen charge controller yesterday, fired it up this morning to my new 800 watt solar to a 60% charged battery and input immediately showed 562 watts at 51 Amps at 36.7 volts early morning partial sky....have never seen such high numbers, everything running cool now throttling down to 27 amps, am looking forward to winter now that I can grab a lot more power over less daylight hours, my problem now is all three of my LFP batteries are fully charged...what a problem to have, all charged up and nowhere to go!
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 22 Aug 2025 03:05pm
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Wha Hoo!
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Brettny
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2025 07:41am
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Bigger charge controllers are awesome. You really see how much power you use to miss out on though. Lol. A good cheap way to "capture some power" is to freeze water bottles durring the day and put them in the fridge at night. Helps the fridge run less at night.
I went from a 40A to a 80A and added another 235w pannel to make 4 in series. I have seen more than 950w coming out of the 940w array on a day with lots of cloud edging.
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groingo
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2025 06:57pm - Edited by: groingo
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Brettney,
The object here is to be able to grab as much as you can in as short a time possible...planning for winter time season, this change has really made a BIG difference for little investment. My 600 watt old system with new Controller charges backup batteries only while the 800 watt new system with bigger new controller handles everyday needs and charges as well while also regularly rotating the batteries which are not allowed to discharge below 50%.
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paulz
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2025 10:02am
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Hmm interesting, congrats on the result. My SCC is an ancient Epever Tracer 40. Seems to do the job though but maybe an upgrade to a Victron or some such would capture more juice on lousy days.
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groingo
Member
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2025 05:39pm - Edited by: groingo
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I think there are two big things that have increased power output, first going from the old 10 AWG aluminum wire (recommended by Renogy) to 8 AWG fine strand copper wire and the new Charge controllers and of course checking your MC4 connectors for cracks, oxidation and leaks.
Just got the 60 amp controller for 800 watt new system, 40 amp for 600 watt old and the new 20 amp to be used on the new 400 watt portable charger.
As they say "I love it when a plan comes together"!
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2025 05:45pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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Ive never had any Renogy products but I find it hard to trust a company that would recommend alum wire.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2025 06:17am
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Depending on how the pannels are wired going from 10g to 8g may not have made any difference.
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groingo
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2025 12:36pm - Edited by: groingo
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gcrank1: The wire was from the Renogy of over a decade ago so I will give them a break cause their panels have held up better than expected and Renogy over the past few years is a very different company than they were then.
Brettny: The panels have always been wired in Parallel and the real wiring difference in performance most likely is in fine strand copper vs aluminum.
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