Any Solar EXPERTS? charge controller
I have had it with the cheap china $30 or $15 solar controllers. They do move voltage, but never seem to work the way they are advertised. And that tiny screw that only works with phone wire is not w...
Forum Discussion
I use a Morningstar 15 amp MPPT controller. IIRC, it was around $200, bought from an Ebay vendor, NIB. It has MSview and fully adjustable setpoints for charge functions. I also bought the temp compensation dongle.
To control power to different devices, you'll need some switching. I guess that could be done with a programmable controller but more inexpensively, by manually distributing 12V power.
I have two battery banks and chose to control distribution to the three most important devices, the solar controller, the converter, and the inverter by building a distribution panel and using bus boxes, the switching done by three battery master switches. The switches allow power to be connected from either bank to the three devices.
A decent battery monitor (some have alarms) will let you know the state of charge of your batteries.
To control power to different devices, you'll need some switching. I guess that could be done with a programmable controller but more inexpensively, by manually distributing 12V power.
I have two battery banks and chose to control distribution to the three most important devices, the solar controller, the converter, and the inverter by building a distribution panel and using bus boxes, the switching done by three battery master switches. The switches allow power to be connected from either bank to the three devices.
A decent battery monitor (some have alarms) will let you know the state of charge of your batteries.
