New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Windsun

Almost hidden near the bottom in the new 2008-09 Morningstar catalog is info on their new mini MPPT charge controller.

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/ProductCatalog.pdf

Expected to receive them May 2008.

Solar Guppy

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Got you beat by three months

http://www.solar-guppy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=597

Windsun

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

It has been in the works for quite a while, first saw it on a price list released in error back in July or so, but at that time they said availability was unknown.

The new flier is the first "official" mention of it.

crewzer

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

How about 4+ months? :p

See: http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=1540&highlight=morningstar+MPPT

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

boB

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

crewzer wrote: »

How about 4+ months? :p

See: http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=1540&highlight=morningstar+MPPT

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

Sorry guys... Old news... I knew about this one last June, 7 or 8 months ago.

boB

Solar Guppy

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

hey, I heard about the new Midnight classic before boB left Outback:roll:

Any updates?

boB

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Solar Guppy wrote: »

hey, I heard about the new Midnight classic before boB left Outback:roll:

That's funny... Even ~EYE~ didn't know about the Classic before I left OutBack !

BTW, we heard that Morningstar was working on an MPPT charge controller around 4 years ago !

>> Any updates?

No updates except that it is still vapour-ware. Some alpha testing is coming forth-with. It is very cool though !
The Classic is WAY more complicated than the MX was, as I remember.

boB:D

Solar Guppy

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

I think someone in Arlington WA told me about, I knew about it before your did , their are a few of us kicking around that know most of whats being worked on.

I've known about the MorningStar unit for sometime, had a unit in my hands last August for a minute , the link to my site is the first time I'm aware of MS approved of posting a spec sheet, which they provided.

SG

boB

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

>>:p, their are a few of us kicking around that know most of whats being worked on.

It's too bad that the morningstar MPPT will ~almost~ but not quite work with a 48V PV array.

boB

Solar Guppy

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Thats what I thought at first, but in reality, being a 200watt 12V/400watt 24V Mppt controller it really isn't an issue.

Windsun

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

It should be great though for RV's and such that just need a small system and want to use something like a single 190 watt 35 volt panel.

System2

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

200 watts @ 12 volts?
Hummmm
Can't wait for my 5 units to come in so I can wire them in parallel, to replace the MX-60

crewzer

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

I just received an e-mail from Morningstar announcing that their new SunSaver MPPT (tm) controller is "now available". Here's a link to product info: http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/SunSaverMPPT/info/SSM_DataSheet.pdf

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

nigtomdaw

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Well this appears to be a thread or ass kicking ass with the monoliths as authors.....;)

crewzer

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Well, hopefully the news about availability as well as the documentation updates will be useful to prospective buyers.

See here for additional info: http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/SunSaverMPPT/SunSaverMPPT.shtml

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

System2

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

There are other companies that have small MPPT controllers --- have you guys seen these?

http://www.genasun.com/genasunsolar.shtml

They make MPPT effective for panels as small as ~ 40W (up to 110)

mike95490

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

$ 140.00 for a brand of which nobody knows anything about is a high price.

The well recommended http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/SunSaverMPPT/SunSaverMPPT.shtml
200W, $230 at http://store.solar-electric.com/mosumpsochco.html
Also, the genasun appears to not have any adjustability for different batteries. (factory option for different cell chemistry.) They subscribe to a 1 voltage setting fits all philosophy.

crewzer

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

Other specs / features missing from the Genasun controllers: absorption voltage spec, and temperature compensation.

Regards,
Jim / crewzer

System2

Re: New Morningstar MPPT Controller

I'm new to this and I've never used anything other than the SS-MPPT, but with that being said I( think it works pretty well.

It makes a little bit of a whine when in operation, but unless you sleep next to it (and during the day) it's probably not even noticeable. Despite all of the statements in the manual about heat and airflow, I think you could probably get away with mounting it in a small unvented enclosure without a problem as long as the ambient temp is reasonable.

It has a programming mode where you can change every setpoint for charging and LVD on the load terminals. The software is nice in the fact that its very configurable (and free!), but it has a few bugs that take some getting used to. You can build your own custom views with exactly the data you want to see and where you want it.Unfortunately, when you remove a piece of data from your views it moves the labels up, but the values stay where they are. It's easy to re-build everything in a new display, but it'd be nice if that went away. There are only two values that I wish it had (Kwh load and array amperage), but if I really needed them I could calculate or measure.

I've been having a problem with it cycling back and forth between bulk and absorbtion mode, but that's because I'm using a bunch of old batteries in parallel that are starting to have a lot of internal resistance, not because of the controller.