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MPPT Controler


mrsmelly

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Hi Peeps. I removed my solar a couple of years ago as it wasnt needed. Its come on a long way since my stuff was originaly fitted about ten years ago anyway. Having asked questions already and googled it seems MPPT controlers are marginaly better than the other sort. Now I have much experience of living aboard and understand why say a mastervolt inverter is more money that junk like Stirling or the even cheaper ones but for the life of me looking at MPPT jobbies on offer say for a 40 amp one at less than twenty quid all the way up to 200 quid I dont see what the huge price difference is caused by as its not about such as standby power with an inverter or is it? Are cheap any good? my old set up was a cheap controler that did the job so I am asking do I pay twenty of is it worth paying 200 on my next set up?

Taa

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Depends how much faffing you want/need to do.

 

I suspect you just want to put some sunshine into 12v Lead Acid leisure batteries without doing anything fancy so cheap is OK but nasty isn't.

 

A lot of us use the EP Solar Tracer range and they are pretty much fit and forget, and quite cheap.  They were the "middle of the road" option when I bought mine from Bimble 5 years ago, and the only time it has needed any attention was when I had to take the solar panel off the roof to go through Froghall tunnel!

 

If it needs to take your pet lithium batteries for a walk and then make them a nice cup of tea before reading them a bedtime story, then something like Peter's Midnite might be better for you, but at a cost.

 

 

Edited by TheBiscuits
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3 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

We have a Victorian 702 something or other. Low amp age? but wish we had invested in a higher capable one. Hindsight and all that! Good advice above.

Blimey, I didn't know the Victorians had solar panels?

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3 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

We have a Victorian 702 something or other. Low amp age? but wish we had invested in a higher capable one. Hindsight and all that! Good advice above.

Isnt that just a battery monitor old sport?

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My mistake. It’s a Victron Mppt controller. 75/15. 
 

It’s not Victorian, it’s newer than that!?

9 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Blimey, I didn't know the Victorians had solar panels?

Didn’t even have sun in them days. 

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43 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Blimey, I didn't know the Victorians had solar panels?

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-19/victorians-to-get-half-price-solar-panels-in-government-scheme/10137484

 

Oh, not the Australians ...

 

1883 for the first practical solar PV cell  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fritts

 

Mind you he was an American, so he might have not have been Victorian but rather Arthurian.  I wonder if he used Merlin electronics ...

Edited by TheBiscuits
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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Hi Peeps. I removed my solar a couple of years ago as it wasnt needed. Its come on a long way since my stuff was originaly fitted about ten years ago anyway. Having asked questions already and googled it seems MPPT controlers are marginaly better than the other sort. Now I have much experience of living aboard and understand why say a mastervolt inverter is more money that junk like Stirling or the even cheaper ones but for the life of me looking at MPPT jobbies on offer say for a 40 amp one at less than twenty quid all the way up to 200 quid I dont see what the huge price difference is caused by as its not about such as standby power with an inverter or is it? Are cheap any good? my old set up was a cheap controler that did the job so I am asking do I pay twenty of is it worth paying 200 on my next set up?

Taa

There are a few differences between cheapo and expensive MPPTs beyond just the current rating. The voltage rating is also relevant - if you have panels in series, the voltage can get very high (higher when it’s cold) and if you exceed the maximum panel voltage rating the magic smoke will be liberated and you MPPT will go on holiday.

 

Secondly, the efficacy of the MPPT algorithm varies. Cheapo ones aren’t very good at actually arriving at, and maintaining, the optimum loading to extract the maximum power from the panels, especially in the “real world” with clouds passing over the panels etc. In the early days there were some cheapo MPPTs that weren’t really MPPT at all. I think these days, with a “known” make, there is less difference between the algorithms and so an expensive MPPT probably isn’t significantly better than a cheap one in this respect.

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Many cheap ones are really PWM controllers with MPPT printed on the front and a coresponding price hike. EP Solar Tracer are OK but poor at tracking (maximising power) in low light as they don't start maximising power until the current reaches 1.5 Amps Panels in parallel help with this but on a dull day they can still stick. MakeSkyBlue are reasonable priced and good, but there are a lot of cheaper immitation look alikes around. Victron are good as are Outback and no doubt others, but fall at the expensive end of the market. 

Panels in parallel will also cope with partial shading much better than serial connection. If I am going to get a DC shock I would much prefer it under 50V,  more and I may not get up off the floor. Technically over 50 volts also falls under much more stringent electrical  regulations and if the RCD is a requirement will be a bit harder to achieve.

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3 hours ago, Detling said:

If I am going to get a DC shock I would much prefer it under 50V,  more and I may not get up off the floor. Technically over 50 volts also falls under much more stringent electrical  regulations

SELV regs cover anything below 120V DC (or 50V AC), but if there is a chance that the consumer could make contact with the conductors then the voltage should be limited to 60V DC (or 25V AC).  The reasoning for the 120V DC upper limit to be chosen is that it's too low to cause sufficient current to flow to be lethal, so there's little problem with most boat installations with panels in series.

 

Panels in series can also give a usable output in low light conditions where parallel panels wouldn't give anything useful. 

 

It's never a simple decision.

 

MakeSkyBlue (real ones, not the knock-offs) are probably the best of the lower priced controllers and don't tend to 'stick' as much as Tracer units.

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12 minutes ago, WotEver said:

SELV regs cover anything below 120V DC (or 50V AC), but if there is a chance that the consumer could make contact with the conductors then the voltage should be limited to 60V DC (or 25V AC).  The reasoning for the 120V DC upper limit to be chosen is that it's too low to cause sufficient current to flow to be lethal, so there's little problem with most boat installations with panels in series.

 

Panels in series can also give a usable output in low light conditions where parallel panels wouldn't give anything useful. 

 

It's never a simple decision.

 

MakeSkyBlue (real ones, not the knock-offs) are probably the best of the lower priced controllers and don't tend to 'stick' as much as Tracer units.

Cheers. Others have mentioned these. I cant seem to find a genuine supplier on line just some cowboys. Any ideas where to go?

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I have been messing about designing a new solar system all lock down and have done a ton of research and spoken to a a lot of “experts “ some more so than others . Here is my take . 

1. If you don’t want to spend a lot and don’t need to harvest every last ounce of power ala grid tied and solar farms and don’t want a lot of features such as proper Pwm ssr dump load and remote monitoring the the ep solar mppt is pretty decent . It is a earl mppt unlike a lot of eBay crap and does a good job for the money . I have one now and it’s decent and does the job although has some flaws but you pays your money .

 

if like my new system you want dump loads that work , high current output etc etc the you are looking at much bigger bucks . After much research and changing of minds I am going for Midnites classic 150 As it does everything I need and actually fits in my boat , which ruled outback out unfortunately.    But it is eye wateringly expensive so having to save for it . 

 

but in short for value you are hard pressed to beat ep solar . 

 

Beware cheap ebay efforts that are I fact scam badged pwm controllers and will fail quickly .

 

 

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Bimble are decent supplier but not convinced they are experts advice wise . Have had different and turns out duff advice from a lot of people claiming to be experts but just want to sell you what they supply . so do a lot of research and draw your own conclusions 

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Never heard of those , maybe decent but I would stick to something with decent known tech support personally as things do go awry with set up etc . Just my personal opinion . Maybe these have awesome tech support don’t know . Too low powered for my application unfortunately or I would investigate further 

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35 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I found that but its all foreign and the UK supplier is crossed out? or is it me?

All but the 40A seem to be available UK? or is it me? :) 

 

https://makeskyblue.com/products/50a-mppt-solar-charge-controller?variant=31431756382342

Edited by Richard10002
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7 minutes ago, WotEver said:

I think our smelly friend wants the 40A.

Well..... he knows better than anyone that you dont always get what you want :)

 

My guess was that, if he got the 50A "jobby", it would do everything the 40A would do, with a bit of room for expansion in the future.

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29 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

My guess was that, if he got the 50A "jobby", it would do everything the 40A would do, with a bit of room for expansion in the future

Wot, spend more than he needs to?

 

:D

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37 minutes ago, WotEver said:

I think our smelly friend wants the 40A.

Ahh, I see, I only looked at the 40 amp and didnt check the others. 30 amp will do what I want anyway ?

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2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Ahh, I see, I only looked at the 40 amp and didnt check the others. 30 amp will do what I want anyway ?

$35 more expensive from the UK warehouse than direct from China. $105 vs $70. 

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