Wiring combo of panels in series and parallel?

(Seemingly) simple question that I'd like some clarification on: somebody I'm helping has 3 residential panels that I am looking to wire in to a battery system. My plan was to wire them in a series, however that would put the total output right around 140v - requiring a more expensive charge controller (compared to the standard <150v controllers) that can handle 170v+ to accommodate for fluctuations in voltage.

My second thought was to wire two in a series and add the third separately via a combiner before the charge controller. BUT I believe that I am correct in thinking that this won't work, because they will then be producing and different at different voltages, which will cause all sorts of issues. So my thinking is that I only have a couple options:

1. Wire all 3 in a series and use a charge controller that is compatible w/ 170v-ish (any recommendations on sub $500 options for this are appreciated)
2. Wire all 3 in parallel w/ a combiner box before the charge controller
3. Wire 2 in a series and 1 by itself, running two separate charge controllers

You need another panel to parallel 2S2P otherwise the third panel will be mostly ineffective if at all

nyyankees588 said:

Wire 2 in a series and 1 by itself, running two separate charge controllers

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Without much info or the particular SCC that you have, option 3 sounds the best to me.

Option 1 is unlikely with your budget.
Option 2 would require fusing all 3 panels before combiner (a close 2nd).

12VoltInstalls said:

You need another panel to parallel 2S2P otherwise the third panel will be mostly ineffective if at all

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This would make a terrific solution. You would not need an identical panel but being close on volts and amps is important.

What is the actual stated Voc of the panels? 3, 60cell will work in series on a 150v input. 3, 72cell, maybe not.