Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

stereoman405
stereoman405 Solar Expert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
My main focus is rock solid reliability, no extra bells and whistles. If possible 10-15 year service life. I know Outbacks are good, but I don't want moving parts, so it seems like a toss up between Xantrex and Morningstar.

I will be hooking up 420w - 840w of panels to a 12v battery bank, so I'll be using 50% - 100% output of a 60A model of either. Does one handle a heavy load better than the other?

What would you recommend for overall reliability? I'm not as concerned with mapping statistics.

Thanks!
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Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #2
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    Based on your requirements--both are very good choices... The Tri-Star is the latest and greatest... As always, that may be a plus or a minus (new product, new MPPT algorithms, no long term history yet for that model line).

    Their networking options are different--if you want a remote meter/programming--you might look at those options and see if any of them is of interest to you.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • Solar Guppy
    Solar Guppy Solar Expert Posts: 1,989 ✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    Since your looking at a 12V battery, the performance of the TriStar would be a better choice. From a reliability point, since the TriStar is a 3 phase design vs single phase on the Xantrex, its lower stress on the capacitors and FETs and better thermal performance ( TriStar )
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  • halfcrazy
    halfcrazy Solar Expert Posts: 720 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.
    stereoman405 wrote: »
    My main focus is rock solid reliability, no extra bells and whistles. If possible 10-15 year service life.

    I would be willing to wager a very large bet the Xantrex XW will need work before 10-15 years the caps will need to be changed way before that with all the heat inside there
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  • Solar Guppy
    Solar Guppy Solar Expert Posts: 1,989 ✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    On the XW, the caps are towards the bottom of the unit, heat rises, the inductor is what gets most the heat. The Caps are also 100C rated. Having said that, the TriStar runs much cooler
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  • stereoman405
    stereoman405 Solar Expert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    OK, I've had a few people I respect trying to convince me that Outback 80 is actually the way to go now.... Claim they are very robust, excellent customer service, and in my home state. Assuming I don't mind having a few spare fans, how do they compare the the Tristars?
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  • halfcrazy
    halfcrazy Solar Expert Posts: 720 ✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    the Fm series had some software issues but they may have sorted them out by now. one thing that may or may not be an issue is the ability to upload software currently the controllers all require some special tool or something to upload software.

    If you can hold out for a few months boB's Classic will be a sure winner it has a ton of features and will allow you to easily upload software I can attest to how easy the software is to upload.
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  • stereoman405
    stereoman405 Solar Expert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.
    halfcrazy wrote: »
    the Fm series had some software issues but they may have sorted them out by now. one thing that may or may not be an issue is the ability to upload software currently the controllers all require some special tool or something to upload software.

    If you can hold out for a few months boB's Classic will be a sure winner it has a ton of features and will allow you to easily upload software I can attest to how easy the software is to upload.

    What's this "boB's Classic" you speak of?? :confused:
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  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    Midnnite Solar is in Beta testing on a new CC. details here:

    http://www.midnitesolar.com/pdfs/officialMidNiteSolarClassicwatch.pdf

    a lot of us have been waiting for the release of this major advance in CC for a couple of years now. Search the forum for Classic and you can read a lot of info not generally available to the GP...

    Eric
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
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  • RWB
    RWB Solar Expert Posts: 168 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    So the Classic will be available soon?????
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  • halfcrazy
    halfcrazy Solar Expert Posts: 720 ✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: Xantrex XW or Tristar MPPT's?? Looking for tough not fancy.

    Robin has a planned release of May/June 2010. The ones I have here work great on my test setup (3 identical 1000 watt arrays) we routinely beat the XW by 10-15% and the FM by a couple percent or more. and The 800 watt turbine I have routinely puts out 2-2500 watts using a Classic
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