Doug/Vamonos
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Registered: 6-20-2006
Location: Fullerton, CA/Camp Gecko, Bahia de los Angeles
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posted on 8-18-2010 at 09:31 PM
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Recommendations for new solar controller
Hi. Now that I got your battery recommendations and you are all thinking "solar", how about suggestions for a new controller. Here's the deal. My
place at Geckos came with (2 years ago) four dried out Trojan 105s, three panels totalling 250 watts, and a SolarPro CC20 controller by ICP Global. I
think it is now the Sunsei CC-20000D. I made the mistake of replacing the 105s with two 4-year old 105s from my camper and two new 105s. Should have
never paired the old and new. Now all four are barely holding a charge. I've never felt good about the controller because it never shows more than a
3 amp charge and I've cleaned/re-terminated cables and such to be certain the wiring is correct. I've always believed I should get a 12 amp charge
when the batteries are low. So now I will replace the batteries and get a new controller. I don't really want to spend $$ on the MPPT and I'm not
sure it is even really needed (or beneficial) in my case. I'm only there a few days a month and never more than a week at a time. I have a generator
I use in the morning (coffee), evening (movies), and overnight for a/c if needed, so I am not dependent on the batteries. The only real load I put on
the batteries is to run the inverter and 5 cu foot chest freezer to keep ice while I'm there and I'll turn it off at night. I like to see the
voltage level of the batteries and charging level of the panels, which is what I liked about the SolarPro controller. Suggestions? I'd like to keep
the price less than $200. Thanks.
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Bob and Susan
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Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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posted on 8-18-2010 at 09:38 PM
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#1 don't waste your money on a good controller until you buy some more panels
an mppt controller won't even turn on until
you get more than ~250watts of sun
remember voltage has very little to do with battery charge
never rely on voltage numbers
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comitan
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posted on 8-18-2010 at 10:28 PM
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http://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/solar-power-that-works/
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What's Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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monoloco
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Location: Pescadero BCS
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posted on 8-18-2010 at 10:45 PM
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Morningstar makes a nice little PWM controller with a meter and temperature compensation in your price range. I had one in my camper and would highly
recommend it. I believe it was a 20amp model.
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comitan
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posted on 8-18-2010 at 10:48 PM
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I also have the morningstar 10Amp in my RV and am very happy with it
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What's Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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Doug/Vamonos
Nomad
Posts: 186
Registered: 6-20-2006
Location: Fullerton, CA/Camp Gecko, Bahia de los Angeles
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posted on 8-19-2010 at 03:50 AM
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A question about the Morningstars. I looked on the website and the sunsaver and prostar units each have + and - connectors for load. I'm confused.
What load connects to that? Obviously you can't connect an inverter or other high amp draw to it. Do I ignore the load connection and just go
straight to the batteries? Thanks.
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monoloco
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Location: Pescadero BCS
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posted on 8-19-2010 at 04:08 AM
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Yes, the inverter needs to connect directly to the battery.
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larryC
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Posts: 617
Registered: 8-11-2008
Location: BoLA
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posted on 8-19-2010 at 08:39 PM
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Doug
The TS series controllers are nice, if you go that route, and the agm batteries, then be sure to get the RTS with it. AGM's are sealed, so they are
very sensitive to voltage, and you do not want to charge them at too high a voltage. The TS series controller is user adjustable and the RTS will
automatically adjust the user set voltages in the hot summers in BoLA. Good luck
Larry
PS Almost forgot, you can just ignore the diversion settings for your application.
[Edited on 8-19-2010 by larryC]
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comitan
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posted on 8-19-2010 at 08:54 PM
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My Morningstar has a jumper you remove for flooded batteries, I think the load connection is for light loads, I'm not using that connection at all.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What's Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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bonanza bucko
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Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: San Diego
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posted on 8-19-2010 at 11:48 PM
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The new charge controllers....either Outback or Xantrex...make use of the "overhead" in the solar panels to reduce the inbound volts to the
batteries to boost the amps thus increasing charging and reducing the time to full batteries.
"Overhead" means that a 12 volt solar panel will typically produce about 17 volts...same differences for 24 or 48 or 60 volt systems. The charge
controller measures that overhead once every 60th of a second and reduces the volts to the system voltage (12V in your case) and thus increases the
amps.
Like getting something for nothing.
VXA=W. Watts always stay the same so you can boost the amps by reducing the Volts.
BTW...the larger the nominal voltage of your panels and of your system the more the overhead is.
BTW number 2...if you need new batteries you should look hard at Surettes (Rolls) L-16s...they will last a lot longer and are very, very much worth
the price. My old Interstate L-16 that were guaranteed for 12 years lasted 6.
Go to www.thesolarbiz.com for the details...good place to buy your stuff too.
A good charge controller...Xantrex the current hot ticket...is gonna cost you about $400. worth it.
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