TS MPPT 60 first impressions
Got the new TS MPPT 60 installed over the weekend. It went quite well, I struggled a bit to get the ethernet part of it working on an old vista laptop, but it is working and got the custom settings part mastered
, (the struggle would be on my part because I'm not great with that stuff, ip addresses and such) and live view is working on an old router if I want it.
I think I like this unit, it seems very well built, it was decent to work on, the connection box roomy is enough. Also 2 messages to Morningstar tech support were replied to in a very timely fashion. I also got the remote display for it and put ends on an existing CAT5 cable that was already in place to run it. This display seems to have a lot of information available in it, I first was not going to get it, but am glad that I did.
As mentioned in this discussion, http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/351944/charge-controller-done#latest I think my batteries are going to be in absorb a lot more than they used to be, as it charges a bit differently than my last CC, the logs would already indicate this to be true. So I will need to watch water levels a bit closer for sure.
So far so good, special thanks to a fella that goes by "Commsprepper" on youtube, he has several videos that show how to set these up that were very helpful!!

I think I like this unit, it seems very well built, it was decent to work on, the connection box roomy is enough. Also 2 messages to Morningstar tech support were replied to in a very timely fashion. I also got the remote display for it and put ends on an existing CAT5 cable that was already in place to run it. This display seems to have a lot of information available in it, I first was not going to get it, but am glad that I did.
As mentioned in this discussion, http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/351944/charge-controller-done#latest I think my batteries are going to be in absorb a lot more than they used to be, as it charges a bit differently than my last CC, the logs would already indicate this to be true. So I will need to watch water levels a bit closer for sure.
So far so good, special thanks to a fella that goes by "Commsprepper" on youtube, he has several videos that show how to set these up that were very helpful!!
510 watt pv, TS-MPPT 60, Exeltech XP1100, XP600 & XP250 @ 24V, 4x Trojan 105RE, Trimetric 2030, Yamaha EF2400i gen.
Comments
Second system 1890W 3 × 300W No name brand poly, 3×330 Sunsolar Poly panels, Morningstar TS 60 PWM controller, no name 2000W inverter 400Ah FLA 24V nominal used for water pumping and day time air conditioning.
5Kw Yanmar clone single cylinder air cooled diesel generator for rare emergency charging and welding.
MSView seems to be pretty decent, I really like the data log on the live view, you can see very easily what has been going on and spot trends in your different readings. For whatever reason I could only access the CC using the ip address, but once I figured that out it's been fine, I have an old windows vista laptop that I use to set it up, that was a bit of a struggle, but it worked. Remote monitoring is not something I am planning on doing. As far as the led lights to indicate state of charge, it seems a little gimmicky to me, unless the batteries are at rest, as loads on the batteries will change the light colours.
FWIW, I'm giving the TS MPPT 60 a big 2 thumbs up!!
I'm thinking of shortening my absorb time to maybe 120min? My system is lightly used and I usually only put 1 or 2 real cycles (down to maybe 80% from full) on the batteries a month, so I was wondering if 150min per day was a little excessive ?? I have absorption at 29.6 volts.
If I think of anything else I'll put it on here.
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
Second system 1890W 3 × 300W No name brand poly, 3×330 Sunsolar Poly panels, Morningstar TS 60 PWM controller, no name 2000W inverter 400Ah FLA 24V nominal used for water pumping and day time air conditioning.
5Kw Yanmar clone single cylinder air cooled diesel generator for rare emergency charging and welding.
Second system 1890W 3 × 300W No name brand poly, 3×330 Sunsolar Poly panels, Morningstar TS 60 PWM controller, no name 2000W inverter 400Ah FLA 24V nominal used for water pumping and day time air conditioning.
5Kw Yanmar clone single cylinder air cooled diesel generator for rare emergency charging and welding.
You chose wisely.
Morningstar Corp is a great company but at the same time they are very conservative and it takes a lot of effort for the end user, like me to convince them that there is a bug in their product. I have two more bugs reported to them on this controller that they have acknowledged but not fixed yet, after almost two years...
The only thing I can mention is I looked on live view just recently (first time in months) and in the data log the battery temps are completely out to lunch. It has logged min/max battery temps in the 230-250 degree celsius range every day, except on a day that I reset the controller, when it registered the traditional 25 degrees C.
The remote display is showing the correct temps, so I suppose it is just a software glitch. I will probably just live with it as the chances are high that I would brick the CC if I attempted to update the software, haha, funny but true.
Anyone else seeing this issue? I am running SW v26.
2.1 Kw Suntech 175 mono, Classic 200, Trace SW 4024 ( 15 years old but brand new out of sealed factory box Jan. 2015), Bogart Tri-metric, 700 ah @24 volt AGM battery bank. Plenty of Baja Sea of Cortez sunshine.
Anyone else seeing this?
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
There is no internet out there, other than on my phone.
I wanted to use the old router so that I could just check it on my phone, but for some reason I can't make that work.
That NETBIOS name (tsmpptXXXXXXXX) (Xs being the unit's serial ##) did not work for me, but I was on a youtube video were a guy used the ip address, so I tried that and it worked.
I don't remember off hand where I got the ip address from, was it on a sticker on side of the CC? Not sure.
Search for a guy on youtube that goes by the name "Commsprepper", he had some very good videos on programming his TS- MPPT 60 that I found really helpful.
Mine is not connected to the internet as I don't have internet at that location.
Hope that helps good luck!!
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,