Epever 40 amp mppt delivered

lawrosa wrote:
OK ran test today and all worked out good.

It went into boost... But I ran a load first then plugged the solar in... Ummm I think I read somewhere , maybe BFL had the issue of it not getting off of float and a simple on/off of the controller is a quick fix. I will not know the idiosyncrasies until I get out there boondocking..

So two 280 watt panels serve this controller well. This was low low sun about 2pm here in NJ.

433 watts 57 volts not bad..



This is with a small load on just seeing what amps I could get a 2pm sun.

6 amps from panels. ( These are like 9 amp panels Highest I say was 7 amps this test run) But 31 amps to batts.. Wow.




Yup showing boost this time around. So I now know what to look for in regards to normal operation..



I would like to note when it when to boost mode with tapered amps as shown below, the volts were a bit flakey. I set the controller to 14.7 for my test. And when it reached that set point from bulk it started tapering.

But it was not a constant 14.7... It fluctuated. Went as high as 15 volts and down to say 14.2.. Back and forth several times.

I can see it going lower but cranking up to 15 volts IDK. I think there is a few sentences about this in the instructions. And that its time accumulative. Meaning even if I set it for 2 hours boost and the sun hides here and there, it will track that time and continue to try to boost for 3 hours. Weather it spent enough time there or not.

IDK... This Ill have to figure out in my camping adventures.

I still have some wire running of the remote meter to the kitchen area and run the temp probe maybe to the batteries.

Not sure if temp probe is needed or not. It defaults to 25c.

The only this is the temp probe may help keep the batts from over heating..

Says stops charging if batts get to 65c.. 150F? and if the controller gets to 85C... 200F?

Here is the start of amps taper...

The 31 amps was controller output, not what batteries were accepting. You need a battery monitor to know what the batts were taking in. Subtract battery in amps from controller output amps, and that is your other loads being run by solar. Other loads get first grab at the controller output. Anything left over (if any) goes to battery.

You can see all that exciting action if you have a Trimetric as well as your controller's display. :)

On Float--once the controller drops to Float, it is still a buck converter. It just isn't doing MPPT anymore. (so it does PWM--your flakey voltages) It only does MPPT in Bulk. But no matter, if the load demand goes up, it will provide higher amps up to what the solar can do just then. Beyond that, the battery provides.

Eventually, the battery voltage will fall to where the controller will kick into Bulk and start doing MPPT again. If you don't want to wait, especially if the adjustable voltage for Float is capped lower than it is for Bulk (as it is with the Eco-W), then you could fool it by disconnecting the PV side and reconnecting. If battery voltage is low enough it will go to Bulk.

Normally while camping you will not want to be so busy playing with the solar in such detail, and it won't make much difference in how things go that day anyway. :)