Hardkorr 200W Heavy Duty Portable Solar Mat with 15A Smart Regulator

G'day Steve,

This will connect to a lithium battery although I wouldn't be 100% that this will jump-start your zero volt lithium battery. Hard Korr advised it would be better to use any other 12v battery to help jump-start the dead one. 

G'day Andy, 

You can, just make sure you're using the solar controller with the correct charging profile for your crank battery chemistry.
If you want to use the raw pannels, its possible with battery alligator clamps, but you'll need to manually monitor the voltage.

G'day Geoff,

HardKorr do make a 300W blanket which you can find here.
They haven't done the 300W size in the Crocskin style panels at this stage, and not sure if they're planning to in the future.

I'd say as solar technology progresses the chances are good, but couldn't say when.

G'day KC,

The regulator provided with the Solar Mat has a max 15A output.  Assuming you've positioned the panels in a clear area facing the sun, with no cloud cover, you'd probably be able to expect around 8-9A in ideal conditions on a winter day.
Generally 200-250W solar is the standard most people go with for a 100Ah battery.
Hope that helps.

G'day Aimee,

Yep, you shouldn't have any issues with that at all.
Shoot us an email or give us a call if you have any other questions.

G'day Susan,

Yes, this would work with the Sphere 120AH Lithium Battery, you can connect the panels via the regulator with the supplied battery cables to top up your battery.

G'day Paul,

Solar blankets are made from flexi-panels, not fixed panels, so a certain amount of flex is normal and expected.
I know people who have owned these panels for 5 years and had no issues at all.  The flex doesn't worsen over time.

G'day James,

You'd need to check the specifications of the solar controller.  Given your set up it sounds like you'd be a-ok, but as long as the charge controller is rated to receive more than 12A you'll be fine.

This should be fine, Alex, just as your alternator charges a battery at the same time as a fixed solar panel would. If you have a DCDC charger or PWM controller on the caravan then you'd be best using that for both if possible to achieve a better charge profile.

G'day Russell,

Yep, you can secure the solar blanket through the eyelets - no worries!  Also of people also make loops with zip ties and then use something like carabiner, making it super easy to get them up and down.

G'day Barry,

Generally yes.  The best solar panel angle range is anywhere between 30-45ºc, which the legs account for.
Hope that helps.

G'day David,

Yeah, they absolutely would be.  They produce 11A max in tested conditions, although they're hard to replicate in real life you're still likely to get 8-10A in ideal conditions.  Your load would probably pull 5A max with everything on at the same time, and 2-3A on average.  So that's a good input/output ratio.
In winter or poor solar conditions, you may just need to move the panel direction a couple of times a day to maximise their output, but its 100% manageable & you should still be getting some reasonable power generated.
For the most part, the 200W panels are the most popular size for campers.

Hi Rob. With regards to matching hte size of the panels to the powerbank it shoudl be fine. The Rovin looks to have a buit in MPPT controller so you would need to leave the included regulator out of the system.

You would need to confirm the solar inputs on the Rovin though, t looks like it has a smaller solar input than the regular Anderson plugs that come with the Hard Korr panels.

G'day Steven,

I've checked the ITech500P specifications on their website. They list that the solar input as: Max power in 120W (11-24v)

Based on this information, the 200W panels won't be compatible as the output power is 200W.

G'day Cam,

Yes, you can use the 200W Solar Mat without the regulator if your battery management system has its own regulator. Just be sure to check the output specifications of the panel will suit your battery systems requirements. 

G'day Blanche,

By 'blanket' I'm assuming you mean the Hard Korr Lifestyle 200W Solar Blanket?
If that's the case, I would probably recommend the Heavy Duty 200W Mat.  The Lifestyle Blanket is a great entry level or budget friendly option, which still performs wonderfully but has some limitations - namely, its not off the shelf compatible with lithium batteries & does have the same level of weather protection.
I do believe the mat will give you abit more flexibility with set up, and will have the durability required to see you through the kind of use you have described.

Hope that helps!

G'day Laine,

Generally, panels designed for camping don't come with efficiency ratings, this is something that you more commonly see on commercial or residential system panels, where there can be a greater variance between brands.
If you are picking up a camping solar panel set that comes from a reputable brand you can be pretty certain that they have been independently tested to ensure the max output is going to be pretty close to what's specified, in ideal conditions.

If your query is relating more to overall efficiency of performance in less than ideal conditions, there generally isn't much specs around this for camping systems. The best way to get more info on this is to jump on YouTube and check out videos where people have lined up a few different brands and done immediate comparisons of outputs, etc in the same conditions.
Hopefully, this is what will give you more of the info you are after.

G'day Kevin,

PWM v MPPT is only really relevant to the solar panel output, whereas battery charging is a different issue.  If you have a lithium-compatible solar controller, it doesn't matter if it's PWM or MPPT.
MPPT charge controllers are known to be more efficient, however, in small-scale systems like portable camping setups, the difference isn't huge.
MPPT's have benefits if you are wanting to series panels to have a higher overall voltage (which is important for some inverters) or they can sometimes help maximise what you get out of the panels in poor conditions.

I think the product reviews/feedback on these panels speak for themselves, they're always come with a PWM controller and there's little disadvantage of that.  You can always upgrade to a MPPT controller down the line if you choose, its just a matter of swapping them out.

G'day Barry,

Yes, that is correct - the terminals on the Hard Korr panels are Anderson plug, and are compatible with the Rover 70.

G'day Barry,

The Rover 70Ah has an 80% capacity, which gives you 56Ah without any recharge.  We dont sell XTM fridges, so I'm not familiar with their power consumption, but hypothetically if your fridge is drawing 2.5A that will give you 22hrs running solely off the Rover.
The Hard Korr Panels have a max output of 11.11A, so I'd say in ideal conditions you'd be getting around 9A, maybe half that in winter months in clear sky.  
Basically, the short story is yes, they'll be more than enough - just keep an eye on in it very overcast or poor solar conditions.

The Rover 40Ah has a maximum solar input of 18-20v 5A. 
Given there is a small margin of extra amps that a charge regulator can handle on average, you can get away with an additional Amp, which takes you to 100-120W panels.

The 200W Solar charger has an output of 11A, so essentially this panel has more than double the maximum input of what you are trying to charge.
The Rover 40Ah inner wiring and componentry is rated to the 5A MPPT specs.  A charge regulator cannot cut off power beyond its capabilities.
The primary purpose of a solar controller is to regulate the flow of charge into a battery from solar panels, based on the feedback it's getting from the battery itself, of up to the maximum current it can handle - it doesnt limit or throttle the charge.
Cutting off power when it exceeds 5A is definitely a function, but it is there only really as a failsafe for the odd occassion over the life of the unit - therefore it's relying on people understanding what these specifications actually mean, and pairing it with compatible solar panels.

Regardless of what battery and solar panel & regulator combo you are using you must make sure the solar panel and input V and A requirements are compatible.  Unless you want to sit with your panels and battery all day and manually disconnect the panels when they exceed 5-6A output, you will have an inoperable system.

G'day Russel,

We've had questions on solar compatibility for this fridge before.
This fridge requires you to set the charge current to 12.8V max, which is different to the standard lithium setting that solar regulators have. Unfortunately, there's no other solar panel option that we carry that will do this except for the Companion Solar Charger panels.
I'm not aware of any other solar panel sets with this capability on the market, but you may be able to find a stand-alone solar controller with this capability to pair up with a solar panel of your choice.

G'day Paul,

You can, but not with the supplied gear.
You'd need a high current piggyback Anderson cable which you can pick up relatively cheap from somewhere like Jaycar.
Hope that helps!

G'day Betty,

The output of these panels are too much for the Rover 40Ah power pack.
Its input specs are Solar Input: 18-20V 5A, which means you'd need around about a 90-100W raw solar panel that's within the 18-20V output.
Hope that helps!

G'day Helen,

Generally if you have a solar charger in the system already you'll need to connect the panel directly into the system without the solar controller being attached. Just be sure to check the manual for your battery and Victron charger regarding their maximum voltage and amperage.

G'day Jon,

Yes, absolutely.  If you want to use an alternative solar controller you just simply swap them out.
The panels have Anderson connections & I'm not sure what is provided with the KickAss regulator, so you may need to hit up Jaycar for bits to make it all work, but its more likely it will be a straight swap.

G'day Pacita,

That's a great question, and not something I've ever considered in my many years of camping!
I haven't really come across anyone who does secure their solar panels - I think it's just the unspoken code between campers.
I suppose if you felt like your panels were going to get stolen you could somehow padlock them through the eyelet holes along the edge of the solar blanket.
What or how you would do that comes down to the kind of setup you have.

G'day Justyn,

No, as far as I'm aware you cannot have more than one solar input going into a battery.
The solar controller (MPPT or PWM) requires a feedback voltage from the battery to determine how it needs to charge, and if there is a secondary solar input it will mess with that feedback read.  If that happens that battery may not be charged correctly which isnt a great outcome.

G'day James,

Yep, thats absolutely correct, you'd just plug the panels Anderson Cable straight into the Anderson solar cable for the Rover 70Ah.

G'day Richard,

The Yeti 200x has an 8mm port solar connection and requires 13-22V up to 7A, 100W Max. input.
The Goal Zero Boulder 100 would be a great choice.

G'day Andrew,

I've actually got one of the Snowys crew who has these panels at home to test this out, and they certainly will still generate power.  You might assume that each panel produces around 50W but that's not necessarily the case. The output ratio wasn't consistent at all, so it's not something we recommend doing regularly or relying on.  Best to fully unfold wherever possible.

G'day Ellie,

Yep!  They are, and one of the common match ups within our range.
The Rover has the built-in MPPT, so you are correct that you'll need to bypass the CrocSkin panel regulator.

G'day Ellie,

The output of these panels are too much for the Rover 40Ah power pack.
Its input specs are Solar Input: 18-20V 5A, which means you'd need around about a 90-100W raw solar panel that's within the 18-20V output.
Hope that helps!

G'day Sam,

Absolutely, you should have no trouble swapping out the 15A PWM for the 15A MPPT controller.

G'day,

No, they won't be.  The PLB40 has an onboard BMS which means you'll need solar panels without a regulator (or bypass the regulator that comes with them) which have a maximum output of 10A.  Generally, 200W panels have a higher amp output, so you'd be looking at 170W or less

G'day David,

Yes, there is.  You'll need to ensure your solar panel voltage output specifications are the same.  If they're not the same, you won't be able to series them I'm afraid!

G'day David,

Yes, you can absolutely bypass the solar regulator on the 200W Portable Solar Panels with Crocskin Cell Armour.

G'day Andrew,

No, not as they stand 'off the shelf'.  The solar charge regulator on the Hard Korr200W Portable Solar Panels with Crocskin Cell Armour cannot be set with a specific voltage range.  You will need to buy an alternative compatible charge regulator that has this function, and swap them out, or alternatively look at the Comapnion 200w Solar Charger

G'day Scott,

We've had a chat with Hard Korr and they have said that a standard Anderson Plug up to 50 amps is needed.

G'day Cherbie,

Unfortunately, you won't.  Obviously you're only able to use 1 charge controller in you solar set up.
The Solar Controller that comes with the Hard Korr 200W Crocskin panels has a maximum input of 25V / 15A / 375W.
If you were to parallel the panels you'd end up with 18V / 22.22A / 400W.  Whilst there is a small amount of wiggle room on the Amps, thats much too far over the max capacity of the charge controller.
If you did want to parallel these panels you'd need to purchase a separate charge controller that can handle the overall increased output specs.

G'day Stuart,

The 200W Croskin Panels come with a solar controller, but if you're wanting to connect them directly to your Anderson input and use your own built in MPPT controller then that shouldn't be a problem. They come with a 1.5m Anderson cable that should connect directly into your system, and your MPPT controller will do the job to protect your batteries.

G'day Andrew,

We're only able to supply this item as is with the solar controller included. Hard Korr used to sell these without the solar controller, but only directly on their own website. It might be worth reaching out to them to see if they still offer this.

G'day Kimbra,

It will depend on the wiring and the set up of your trailer and batteries, and whether there are any fuses or regulators in the setup. However, theoretically you should be able to connect the panel into the system using the Anderson plug.

Hi again Steve, 

Thanks for the follow up, sorry for the previous confusion. As far as I can tell the Anderson connection is either input OR output, with splitter cables designed to push out to two devices, or push in from two power sources. I don't believe it is possible to use a splitter cable to allow input and output via the one port.

G'day Mark,

The maximum output of the panels under ideal conditions is 11.11A, so if you get consistently perfect weather for 8 hours of the day you might be able to generate around 80A in the day, however, this is the theoretical maximum, most users report the average output around 9A over the course of a day in non-cloudy conditions. 

G'day Steve,

This should be possible, without the need for a splitter, the Rover Lithium solar input is via the Anderson adapter cable, the output is a standard 50A Anderson Output. 

G'day Bastian,

The total weight of the carry bag is 11kg, including all cables and pegs, etc
Hope that helps!

G'day Matt,

Yes, you can use the Crocskin 200W Panels to charge the Engel Smart Battery Box Series II. You'll need to use the supplied solar regulator, and connect the panels to the box using the alligator clips supplied with the solar panels.

G'day Yap,

Thanks for that, yes you could also use the Anderson port as the solar input if you didn't want to use it as an output.

G'day Ruben,

The 200W Crocskin Solar Panels aren't compatible with the Yeti 200 or 500 unfortunately. They won't connect (the Yeti uses a brand-specific 8mm port), and the input from the panels is also a little too high for either of these powerstations. We'd recommend sticking with the Goal Zero Solar Panels to charge the Yeti power stations.

G'day Al,

We're not familiar with the Projecta Power Station, and I couldn't find a reference to the charging options or recommended inputs for the Power Station on the listing you shared. I'd assume it has standard positive and negative terminals, so if it has those, then I think you should be ok with the 200W Portable Solar Panels using the supplied alligator attachment clips.

G'day Rachael,

The 200W Portable Solar Panel will charge your cool power raps 44 battery, and I think you should be able to charge your Makita batteries, you'll just to double-check that the batteries don't have a limitation on input amperage.

G'day Heath,

You'll have no dramas using the Hard Korr 200W Portable Solar Panels with your Hard Korr battery box.

G'day Russell,

The Controller on the 200W Crocskin Panels is PWM.

G'day Troy,

The open-circuit voltage of the 200W Crocskin panels is 21.24V.

G'day Margaret,

The digital controller is connected via an Anderson plug, then the output cable is also an Anderson plug. If required you can also connect the end of the Anderson cable to the battery clamps if your battery has standard terminals on the top.

G'day Julie,

This should be fine, but you'll need to check the maximum input power of the battery itself. The panels are able to be used to charge Lithium batteries and has an inbuilt 15A 5-stage controller.

G'day Tom,

Yes you can use the 200W Solar Panel without the regulator. You just disconnect the controller from the system.

G'day Michael,

The maximum charging current the PLB40 can accept is 10A, so the 200W panels are a little too large for this battery. You'd be best off sticking to the Dometic Portable 180W Solar Panel. 

Hi again Michael, yes the 120W will also work.

G'day Rob,

I've called Korr and checked with them, unfortunately, you'll only be able to use the Grey Anderson plugs with these panels. They did say that if you know what you're doing you could swap it over to Red plugs if you wanted to use it with your DC-DC controller.

G'day Jez,

Its the 15Amp controller.
Hope that helps.