Pwm + mppt

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Shadowcatcher
Shadowcatcher Solar Expert Posts: 228 ✭✭✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
I finally picked up our teardrop trailer Thursday, a year and a half over due and not yet complete (the company went out of business and ours is the last one). Among other things that are not quite right is wiring which I will have to change and add to i.e. he used the frame for the negative.

I will be using two solar controllers. A a PWM and an MPPT feeding into one battery. The PMW is attached to a remote set it in the sun panel, the MPPT attached to the 180W stuck to the top, solar panel. Will they interfere with each other?
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #2
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    Re: Pwm + mppt

    Have a nice low resistance common bus point at your battery. And run a different dedicated cables from the battery to each controller (short, heavy, per their installation manual). Don't share one cable run (daisy chain style--From battery to controller 1 to controller 2). They can confuse each other with current and PWM current.

    Home running each controller back to the battery bank will do a better job isolating the controllers from each other.

    One other comment--For a "remote" set of solar panels--You can improve that setup by using a MPPT controller...

    For example, take two x 17.5 Vmp panels in series, you can reduce the wire gauge by 3 sizes (1/2 diameter) and can have 2x the voltage drop for the same percentage of losses.

    For example, you may be able to use 10 AWG cord set 15' with the two panels in parallel, or with the two panels in series, 50' or more with the same loses.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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