anyone want to promote cheap MPPT units?

I live on a sailboat and most of my power is solar (have a wind generator too) I noticed that MPPT units are ridiculously expensive for small systems, and the cheap on (BZ mppt 250) is crappy. It is much cheaper to buy more solar panels, but unfortunately the space for this is not always available. I think all solar panels should have MPPT support, and I want to work toward this goal, but I need a little help!

I have designed with success a prototype MPPT:
http://digitalsurveyinstruments.com/beagleperiphials/openppt/doc/index.htm

It has some limitations which will be revised in a future version, but it does work, and it is cheap. The main problem for me is distributing the units when I am between continents, but dealing with parts distributors and assemblers is a real time drain.

Here are some features I have in mind for the most basic model:

1. 60 volts 50 amps limits. It is not hard to increase this, but the parts to handle this are cheapest, and should prove useful for a wide range of small solar systems. It should be completely safe for 12v and 24v systems.
2. Programmable over usb/serial interface for any battery type (AGM gel/cell, flooded, LiPO4 etc etc...) Using a simple program which runs on any operating system. You can for example, set the battery type.. or fine tune with float voltage, enable/disable MPPT, view the efficiency and MPPT gains, use various algorithms, and tweak the operation in more ways than most people would normally want to (like change operating frequency).
3. Coulomb counter, this can basically can tell you the actual capacity of the battery, and determine the battery health.
4. All software and hardware design Open Source so the end user has complete control and understanding of the workings.
5. temperature sensor for correct temperature compensation.
6. Waterproof design

The above should be possible with the fewest number of components... A parts cost of $30 or less is easily possible. Factor in it costs another $30 to get the boards assembled at a fabrication house, and sell the board for retail of $120 This is for the initial 100 units, after that I would expect the costs to be half this for quantities of 1000 or more. I am being realistic not over optimistic.

Advanced features (not hard to add but we skip these early on to save time)

1, LCD display (so information can be displayed rather than requiring a computer connected over usb)
2. Capable of handling a load, and disconnecting in over/under voltage to protect electronics. Also can measure watt usage on load, can tell you power consumption, in instantanious, hourly, daily, weekly usage etc... Could plot power usage and trends, and even allow you to compare how well your batteries age compared to other users via internet database.
3. Advanced features, like fusing multiple battery banks of different types... the converter can shuck power from one bank to the other to increase overall efficiency, and reduce cost for large capacity systems...
4. Electric/servo motor control for rotating panels and providing solar tracking.
5. Your ideas? What else would be good to add? If you could care less about any of the rest of this, at least tell me what would be cool in a controller!


I would like to find some other people who are interested in this. The idea is to make MPPT more available to more people, and produce a controller which will be used under a wide range of setups. I made digital magnetometers with success, so I am confident I can make this become reality:

www.digitalsurveyinstruments.com

I have decided I don't want to deal with every aspect because it takes too much time. I want to promote more efficient solar systems to the world, and I need some help, and I cannot ship orders in a timely manner because I live in the middle of the ocean (sometimes).