Looking for new charge controller

smalltruck

So I am in need of a new charge controller and thought that you guys could help me make a good choice. I am a little picky about the displays but we will get to that. First things first. I need 60 amps. I need it to be feed by #6 wire. I would like it to have adjustable high voltage cut out and low voltage disconnect. I would like to be able to adjust the low volatage reconnect to if possible. I would like a backlit display screen. I want it to display what is coming in and what is going out aswell as what is in the battery bank. My panels are 800 watts and my battery bank is 915 amps AGM. I run everything at 12volts. If you need any more specs. please ask. and thanks for the help.

dwh

Re: Looking for new charge controller

To measure what is in the battery bank requires a shunt. Most charge controllers don't have a connection for a shunt - a few do. Without the shunt, it will know how much went into the battery, but not how much went out, and thus cannot calculate how much is in the battery.

The function of tracking how much is in the battery is usually handled by a separate battery monitor like the Bogart TriMetric or Xantrex LinkLITE.

mike95490

Re: Looking for new charge controller

smalltruck wrote: »

I would like it to have adjustable high voltage cut out and
low voltage disconnect. I would like to be able to adjust the low volatage reconnect to if possible. .

No such thing. "toy" controllers sometimes have load terminals, but the load is very limited, usually < 10 A

High voltage cutout ? What high voltage? PV voltage ? Battery voltage. Blow dryer voltage ?

60A solar, you only have a few models. Take a look at the morningstar MPPT 60. You may even be able to series wire some of your PV to reduce copper losses on the input. Controller also has +- sense lines if you are concerned about long runs between controller and batteries. And optional display is backlit on demand.

icarus

Re: Looking for new charge controller

60 amps into 12 vcd limits your choices. One option would be to use a pair of Rogue 3024s, each capable of managing 30 amps into 12 vdc. Nice back lit (turn off able) display, field configurable, and with battery temp sensors. They will certainly handle # 6 wire.

Tony

dwh

Re: Looking for new charge controller

What you describe really seems more like a modular system.

Charge Controller.
Battery Monitor.
Adjustable LVD (Low-Voltage Disconnect).

http://www.tessco.com/products/imagedisplay.jsp?itemID=63022