Solar Charge Controller Option, MPPT Versus PWM
Of late I've written about my personal experience of installing a solar method on our boat. We each have different factors to consider installing a solar system, from simply wanting to maintain our starter battery topped up between visits, to our purpose, reside aboard boaters wanting to reduce shore power usage. From our point of view, the greatest benefit comes when we go off-grid. Totally free electrical support for our leisure batteries.
The point of this post is to assist the reader choose the right solar controller for their own use. For your own peace of mind work on the basis that every solar setup requires a controller. Batteries are expensive items and don't deserve to be broken via overcharging. A low-end charge controller is not expensive and will ensure that your battery is not overcharged, and just as essential, it will ensure that there is no back voltage to the solar panels when the panel is not creating energy.
The two most typical charge controllers are PWM (pulse width modulator) and MPPT (maximum power point tracking). They each have their personal traits. Let us have a appear at both.
Cheap PWM charge controllers really are quite clever though not especially efficient. They are simply a higher speed electronic switch. They operate by fluttering on and off extremely rapidly and the speed of switching, controls the level of voltage delivered to the battery. If you want to simply look after a starter battery while you are away from the boat or RV, then a little 15 or 20-watt panel wired through a ten-amp PWM charge controller will do precisely what you want. That same panel, without the controller could easily damage your battery.
MPPT solar controllers however, are very clever and very efficient. They are also more costly than PWM's. I'd like to place this into context although. Simply because of the size of our boat we are restricted to only four leisure batteries. These are Trojan T105 deep cycle batteries and presently they would cost about £500 to replace. Our Victron MPPT 75/15 solar charge controller cost less than a single battery. I have total faith in it and know I can trust it to squeeze every-last electron out of the panels without damaging the batteries.
The reader should always keep in mind that 12-volt solar panels will produce a lot much more than 12 volts in even moderately vibrant climate. We have three solar panels on the boat's roof, and because MPPT truly likes greater voltages we have wired them in series. The factor is that these 'so called' 12-volt panels produce up to 22 volts each! Wiring the panels in series indicates that we are feeding up to 66 (yes - sixty-six) volts into our charge controller. You might have noticed the '75/15' in the name of the Victron controller. It indicates that this controller is pleased to receive up to 75 volts from the panels, and will happily produce up to 15 amps from the controller to the batteries! Briefly, the controller converts panel voltage from DC to AC. It then re-converts back to DC at the voltage the battery demands. Visit our internet site if you have any type of inquiries relating to http://powersyncenergy.com/mppt-charge-controllers/ .
The point of this post is to assist the reader choose the right solar controller for their own use. For your own peace of mind work on the basis that every solar setup requires a controller. Batteries are expensive items and don't deserve to be broken via overcharging. A low-end charge controller is not expensive and will ensure that your battery is not overcharged, and just as essential, it will ensure that there is no back voltage to the solar panels when the panel is not creating energy.
The two most typical charge controllers are PWM (pulse width modulator) and MPPT (maximum power point tracking). They each have their personal traits. Let us have a appear at both.
Cheap PWM charge controllers really are quite clever though not especially efficient. They are simply a higher speed electronic switch. They operate by fluttering on and off extremely rapidly and the speed of switching, controls the level of voltage delivered to the battery. If you want to simply look after a starter battery while you are away from the boat or RV, then a little 15 or 20-watt panel wired through a ten-amp PWM charge controller will do precisely what you want. That same panel, without the controller could easily damage your battery.
MPPT solar controllers however, are very clever and very efficient. They are also more costly than PWM's. I'd like to place this into context although. Simply because of the size of our boat we are restricted to only four leisure batteries. These are Trojan T105 deep cycle batteries and presently they would cost about £500 to replace. Our Victron MPPT 75/15 solar charge controller cost less than a single battery. I have total faith in it and know I can trust it to squeeze every-last electron out of the panels without damaging the batteries.
The reader should always keep in mind that 12-volt solar panels will produce a lot much more than 12 volts in even moderately vibrant climate. We have three solar panels on the boat's roof, and because MPPT truly likes greater voltages we have wired them in series. The factor is that these 'so called' 12-volt panels produce up to 22 volts each! Wiring the panels in series indicates that we are feeding up to 66 (yes - sixty-six) volts into our charge controller. You might have noticed the '75/15' in the name of the Victron controller. It indicates that this controller is pleased to receive up to 75 volts from the panels, and will happily produce up to 15 amps from the controller to the batteries! Briefly, the controller converts panel voltage from DC to AC. It then re-converts back to DC at the voltage the battery demands. Visit our internet site if you have any type of inquiries relating to http://powersyncenergy.com/mppt-charge-controllers/ .
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