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Author Topic: Harbor Freight Thunderbolt charge controllers noisy?  (Read 459 times)

WB0CJB

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Re: Harbor Freight Thunderbolt charge controllers noisy?
« Reply #15 on: June 27, 2022, 08:44:21 AM »

The Thunderbolt charge controller. No I didn't give it to Goodwill.

 I get so tired of the snarky, snide, condescending comments that people make about the products some people buy that isn't the top of line that is the preferred product.

I know there was one crack saying I didn't need a controller. That may be true and that person may have been using batteries for years, using chargers and swapping out the batteries when depleted.

I may be to that point someday but this was my first solar system and I mainly want to have it on hand in case I lose power and can still get on the air. One can only read so many books or twiddle their thumbs if the power is off for a couple of days. It has nothing to do with going green or being a tree hugger or any other horseshit.
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N8AUC

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Re: Harbor Freight Thunderbolt charge controllers noisy?
« Reply #16 on: June 27, 2022, 03:04:47 PM »

It has nothing to do with going green or being a tree hugger or any other horseshit.

Exactly that. It's about resilience, and nothing else.

Nothing wrong with the 100W solar kit from Harbor Freight.
You can certainly get better gear, but it does work as advertised, and the charge controller is RF quiet.
Add some decent batteries, and you're good to go. A Harbor Freight setup with some AGMs is how I got started in solar power for Field Day.

Do note that the supplied charge controller (at least back when I got mine) is only good for lead acid battery chemistry (AGM included in that). If you go with LiFePO4 batteries, you might want to replace the supplied charge controller with one that supports LiFePO4. Bioenno has a decent one that'll do AGM or LiFePO4 that is also RF quiet.

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WB0CJB

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Re: Harbor Freight Thunderbolt charge controllers noisy?
« Reply #17 on: June 27, 2022, 08:15:53 PM »

Thanks for the information. I plan to upgrade someday and I will certainly keep that in mind.
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