www.TheDoItYourselfWorld.com

My solar xpiereince has been a positive one with 3 harbor freight kits inclusding there charge controllers all working with a harbor freight 400 watt inverter is was able to finally cook something in the crock pot at the 90 watt setting.

But for the most part I have been running the following systems :
Cable Modem 134.4 watts
Blue ray Disk player 12 watts
Cable Box 15 VDC 60 watts
the Aiwa Stereo system (unknown not about to break my neck reaching up and manovering it.)

For a total of 206 Watts

I am currently not able to run the TV as of yet as I do not have enough panels at this time. But after the holidays, I plan to restart my aquisition of the solar sytems.. and I plan on getting a single charge controller to controll the systems charging.

One thing That I have learned was that inflatables and crocks seem to take more energey to run then standard electronics.

and here is the weird thing
Pumpkin with Spinning Eyes 88.2 Watts
Halloween Tree With Ghosts 66.96 Watts

Halloween kitty 17.5 Volts Dc 2.45 watts

total 157.61 watts
yet the inflatables kill my system and the electrics don't?
and the 90 watt crock pot on full sun does not kill it.

45x3 =135
each controller is 4 amps each
4 (amps)X 3(controllers) =12amps x 15vdc =180 watts ?

What the? doe these charge controllers step up the current?
This is illogical for you can not have Incoming current less then out going current. it it must it must be equal to or less than out going for there to be balance.

The charge controllers are rated at a slightly higher wattage than the solar panels with the Harbor Freight kit so that the solar panels will not mess up the charge controller. The charge controller does not convert what could be as much as 135 watts all the way up to 180 watts; it is able to take in up to 180 watts of solar electricity if it operates 15 volts (which it likely isn't). For example, I have a 30 amp charge controller for 2 100 watt solar panels, but 30 amps times let's say 15 volts is 450. This means my charge controller would be capable of dealing with 450 watts of solar panels if they're at 15 volts, no more.

But that's not the case to my knowledge. I always assume the charge controller is for 30 amps AT TWELVE VOLTS, meaning 360 (12*30) watts and not one more than that. Assuming it is a 4 amp controller at 12V, 4*12=48 watts, it will be 3 watts more than your panel kits are rated for per kit.

As a side note, I don't recommend using Harbor Freight. They might have a pretty good kit, but it's also at a pretty bad price. For the $600 it can cost to get 3 45 watt kits, you could buy a few 100 watt solar panels from windy nation on eBay. (Not an advertiser, this is my own personal experience) I bought a 100 watt kit from them for ~$180 last October and a 100 watt solar panel for ~$130 from them in April of this year. I plan on possibly buying one more solar panel from them. That means I will have spent ~$440 on panels, plus about $60 on a 30 amp controller, wood, and wiring for it all. 360 watts for $500 is a great deal compared to your 135 watts for $600.

Also, use a pure sine wave inverter. Using a modified sine wave inverter will mess your stuff up. I bought a 2,000 watt pure sine wave inverter by Samlex for $400 I think and it is awesome. It runs my window air conditioner, a fridge, power tools, heater, etc. If you want to spend a little less money for a little less (but much better than modified sine wave and won't break your electronics) quality, purchase a Tiger Claw 2,000 watt pure sine wave inverter. It's around $200-$250.

TL;DR
-Your charge controller doesn't up convert solar panel wattage; the charge controller is rated for what is able to receive.
-You should always multiply amps by 12 volts and not 15 to be as safe as possible.
-Harbor Freight is a rip-off. I recommend you use WindyNation on eBay. They take around a week to ship but have excellent customer service.
-Get a pure sine wave inverter. Modified sine wave inverters have destroyed my laptop chargers and messed up fan motors. I recommend Samlex as it is top of the line but Tiger Claw is a perfectly fine alternative if you're on a budget.

Good luck and lemme know if you have any questions!