Harbor Freight Thunderbolt Solar Panel Review - 1 Year in Service on My Solar System

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My solar system consisting of two Harbor Freight Thunderbolt Solar Panels has been in service officially a year as of this post. This post will serve as an update as to how things are going with my system and specifically the Harbor Freight Thunder bolt solar panels. My solar system consists of five Harbor freight solar panels, two of which are the 100 Watt thunderbolt and three are the 15 watt solar panels originally sold in kits.

The three 15 watt solar panels have been in place since 2010ish but they are now being used within the same system. The new solar panels being on one charge controller and the old solar panels being on another.

As of this post, my solar system is still functioning fantastically. The thunderbolt solar panels still work great, 1 year into service. I have even added applications to my system and the batteries still stay fully charged - with even one LED light running all night long despite the 2 others being sensor activated.

Winter Time Frustrations & Tribulations

Although my system did hold up through the last winter, there were some frustrations and lessons associated with the solar system. I found out the lead acid batteries do not like cold weather and solar panels do not work while covered in snow.

Thunderbolt Appearance after 1 Year

Both solar panels are still physically in the same spot on the roof of my facility. Mounted with silicon caulk they have not moved a bit as of this post. Additionally both are in good physical condition despite having gone through the weather seasons.

Power Production

The lead batteries are still healthy - despite increasing applications and battery age. One of the two batteries dates back to 2021 from Wal Mart. Most of the applications listed in Practical applications for harbor freight solar panels are in active use here.

In theory, under full sunlight, my system should produce 240 watts given the 5 solar panels. Under the amperage meter the thunderbolt's produced over 6 amps a piece under full sunlight however the voltage was around 19 volts as opposed to the 24 proclaimed on the box.

Gloomy Day Voltage Check - 1 Year of Service

System floating voltage on a gloomy day on July 3rd. This voltage is maintained while powering system applications: security camera and wireless access point. The voltage read on the MPPT charge controller is always just slightly higher than what the actual voltage reads.

Cost Analysis

As of this post I am overall happy with solar system. It appears to be quite durable in that each application I have wanted out of it works past expectations and everything remains healthy. As outlined in another post there is a pretty penny invested here into my little DIY solar system. Although parts come from eBay and Harbor Freight I still have over $300.00 invested into my system.