Looking for solar charge controller recommendations.
System
Posts: 2,511 admin
My solar project is for a pop up camper
I am in the process of upgrading from a Coleman (ICP) 36 Watt system with the included ICP PWM charge controller to a 100 Watt system. (2-50 watt mono-crystalline panels)
I am searching for the right charge controller and would like some recommendations including the brand. At this moment I am considering a 10Amp MPPT style controller.
I am in the process of upgrading from a Coleman (ICP) 36 Watt system with the included ICP PWM charge controller to a 100 Watt system. (2-50 watt mono-crystalline panels)
I am searching for the right charge controller and would like some recommendations including the brand. At this moment I am considering a 10Amp MPPT style controller.
Comments
-
Re: Looking for solar charge controller recommendations.
Your money is probably mis-spent on a MPPT controller for only 100 watts of PV. Who makes a 10 amp MPPT controller? For the price of a good MPPT controller, with only that amount of PV you might be way further ahead to get another panel.
Tony -
Re: Looking for solar charge controller recommendations.
The size of the panels is a function of the size of the camper and usage. 100 is the biggest that I will be going. I store the panels during transport of my pop up camper.
Take a look at my thrown together 36 watt system.
retrac-blog.blogspot.com
36 watts is small but it worked flawlessly this summer for a 2 week outing. I have purchased 2-watt panels to replace the ones I have. The overall array size will remain the same. -
Re: Looking for solar charge controller recommendations.I have purchased 2-watt panels
I don't understand, please explain.
The smallest MPPT controller that I know of is this:
http://www.solar-electric.com/mosumpsochco.html
This is probably the controller I would buy,
http://www.solar-electric.com/ss-6.html
100 watts of panel are likely to only put out ~4.5 amps into 12 vdc.
An extra ~$200 for the Morningstar MPPT controller is a lot to pay for a few more net amp hours.
PS The only 10 amp MPPT controllers that I see on line are off brands that no one here has ever heard of. Personally, I would steer clear of them and stick to the name brands, Morningstar, Xantrex, Rogue maybe Bluesky. (Outback and Midnight Solar don't make anything that small. You will notice on a number of other threads the misery that the off brand "BZ" controller has caused people.
Tony
Categories
- All Categories
- 220 Forum & Website
- 128 Solar Forum News and Announcements
- 1.3K Solar News, Reviews, & Product Announcements
- 189 Solar Information links & sources, event announcements
- 886 Solar Product Reviews & Opinions
- 254 Solar Skeptics, Hype, & Scams Corner
- 22.3K Solar Electric Power, Wind Power & Balance of System
- 3.5K General Solar Power Topics
- 6.7K Solar Beginners Corner
- 1K PV Installers Forum - NEC, Wiring, Installation
- 2K Advanced Solar Electric Technical Forum
- 5.5K Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems
- 424 Caravan, Recreational Vehicle, and Marine Power Systems
- 1.1K Grid Tie and Grid Interactive Systems
- 651 Solar Water Pumping
- 815 Wind Power Generation
- 621 Energy Use & Conservation
- 606 Discussion Forums/Café
- 300 In the Weeds--Member's Choice
- 74 Construction
- 124 New Battery Technologies
- 108 Old Battery Tech Discussions
- 3.8K Solar News - Automatic Feed
- 3.8K Solar Energy News RSS Feed