Diagram of proposed 2nd panel, controller and battery setup

[Off-Leash]

I bought a used 2012 4-Wheel Fleet and I'm adding a solar second panel, controller, and battery to it. The recent suggestion was to add a second controller instead of tapping the second panel into the existing controller. Here's what I think I'm going to do. Does it look right?
Would I put a fuse on the positive coming from the solar panel AND the positive going to the battery?
Thanks for your input.

 

[smlobx]

I’m sure some of our more knowledgeable members will be along shortly but to give you my $0.02 this is what I did.

i added a mobile solar panel to my two existing flexible solar panels and ran it into my existing solar controller.

I will also be adding a second LiPo4 BattleBorn battery and will wire it in parallel. Hope that helps. I think most solar controllers have a limit of how many watts it can take so that might be worth looking into.

 

[Outnabout]

On a FWC aren’t the roof and rear wall solar plugins tied together inside the camper? If so then the wires labeled solar, only two a pos and neg, would go into one controller?

 

[ntsqd]

I'd only use one controller. If it won't handle the combined current then upgrade to one that will.

I would also only connect one wire to each battery. If the controller's + chagre wire goes battery A then the controller's - charge wire goes to battery B.

 

[Jack]

Not sure when FWC added the portable connector on the back, but I'll assume your 2012 Fleet does not have one. If you do have one, just plug the portable solar panel into it (after checking polarity).

Unless you have a lot of solar panel watts, you should be able to connect the second panel to your existing charge controller.

Add up the wattage of both panels and divide by 12. This is your maximum solar panel current output. Your charge controller needs to be rated for this much current or more.

If you have a 160 W panel and a 100 W panel, your charge controller needs to be able to handle 21.67 amps. In reality, you will never get 100% out of your panels, so a 20 Amp charge controller can handle 260 W of panels. Look at your charge controller rating. If it is less than 90% of your maximum current output of the panel, upgrade, Upgrading is likely to be almost as cheap as a second charge controller and a much better way to go.

If you upgrade, consider getting an MPPT charge controller. They are more expensive than the PWM charge controllers, but they are much more efficient. And for MPPT, go with Victron Smart Charge Controllers, they are well worth the additional cost over Renogy and other brands.