Solar controller ?

[GUMPY]

At present I have an EPEVER Tracer A/AN 40amp controller with MT50 external meter and a data logger which works reasonably well but is getting old.

I am thinking of changing it to a newer model, I looked at Victron, however apart from the cost that would also mean I would end up with a vacant hole where the MT50 was 😠 so I have discounted it.

 

My choice is really down to a EPEVER Tracer BN or a EPEVER Tracer Triron which is a revised model of the AN. The cost is fairly similar and both will work with my temp sensor, data logger and MT50.

I never use the meter on the Tracer A/AN so that is not a consideration.

 

Which one is better the BN ( marketed as Outback) is an earlier model and seems to be more robust than the Triron the only downside is that there are reports if the MPPT tracking being slower.

Or the Triron

 

What does the forum think?

 

Once fitted my old Tracer will be up for sale 

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Loddon

[PeterF]

I had a Tracer BN with the MT50 on my last boat on my self installed solar system, it worked reasonably well but often got stuck in full sun at a low power output, say cloud passed over and it moved to one point on the power curve, when sun returned it would not move to the increased maximum power point or take ages to respond. If I switched off the solar panel to controller breaker and turned back on it would immediately lock onto the proper maximum power point. Other than this glitch it worked well.

 

On the new boat I have a Victron smart solar with Bluetooth and concur with the positive experience reported in an earlier post. Easy to configure from the phone, easy to monitor and I have not seen it get stuck on the wrong power point once since getting it in late April and I am pleased that I went for this compared to another Tracer BN.

 

see Replacement MPPT controller

[GUMPY]

24 minutes ago, PeterF said:

I had a Tracer BN with the MT50 on my last boat on my self installed solar system, it worked reasonably well but often got stuck in full sun at a low power output, say cloud passed over and it moved to one point on the power curve, when sun returned it would not move to the increased maximum power point or take ages to respond. If I switched off the solar panel to controller breaker and turned back on it would immediately lock onto the proper maximum power point. Other than this glitch it worked well.

 

On the new boat I have a Victron smart solar with Bluetooth and concur with the positive experience reported in an earlier post. Easy to configure from the phone, easy to monitor and I have not seen it get stuck on the wrong power point once since getting it in late April and I am pleased that I went for this compared to another Tracer BN.

 

see Replacement MPPT controller

 That's what is making me think about this in the first place, what are the symptoms of it getting stuck? My present one will sit at what I consider to be a low (13.8v) battery voltage with a decent amount of amps >10 whist charging, can't see any outward reason. That's with 480w of solar 330Ah of batteries.

 

I would love a Victron but A: it's best part of twice the price and B: what do I do with the hole left by the MT50 that is in the accomodation area, along with all the other control gubbins, as I wanted to be able to access them without going to the back of the boat.

[PeterF]

The symptom of being stuck was the batteries not full and able to accept say 15A from the 300W array at a voltage somewhere in the region of 14V, full sunshine, no shadows, early afternoon but the controller output was 13.2V and 1A. The breaker between the panels and the batteries was cycled and when the controller came back on it was delivering 15A at 14.0V. If it was an intermittently cloudy day it would drop power output and sometimes come back to full power, sometimes it would stick at low power seemingly at random. I have no idea if it got back to the maximum power point on its own with time, I watched it for 15 mins once and it did not. No idea how much charge was lost like this. Others on the forum have reported the same. I have no idea if this was addressed with more recent firmware, my Tracer BN was 2018 version or if all Epever models experience it.

 

Understand completely about wanting to remain compatible.