Flexible Solar Panel - Will This Wire Cause Problems

mitch5252 wrote:
OP HERE.

The charge controller was just at $50.

The adjustable things are (as stated in the "manual"):

1) Voltage charging station
2) Undervoltage protection voltage
3) Undervoltage recovery voltage
4) Load control

I have no idea what any of those things are, except perhaps a slight inkling of Load Control.

Here is an example of how the "manual" reads (verbatim):

TO CHARGING FAILURE HANDLING METHOD

a) Solar energy to battery charging, if there is no correct configuration solar panels of power or exceed rated charging current, voltage, will appear charge fault, the checking and debugging, press XX the button, recoverability work.k

The sun had already set before I remembered I had a small inverter in my truck to be able to put a load on the panel. So, I'll give it a try tomorrow and report back in! :)

Ignore 2-4 as they are to do with loads direct from the controller (but with controller on battery)

For 1, IMO start with 14.8v as your setting. (that 14.8 will change as temperature changes--goes higher when cold or lower when hot out--just let it do that)

What you want to observe after picking your setting, is what does the controller do once battery voltage reaches 14.8? It might just stay there till dark when voltage drops anyway. OR it might drop to 13.8 and stay at that till dark, then fall some more. OR it might stay at 14.8 for a fixed time like two hours and then drop to 13.8. If it doesn't say in the manual, you have to find out by watching it. Then you can adjust the voltage setting for "charging" as required.

Yes, plug that temp comp antenna thing in and leave it there forever. Don't lose it.

IMO you will get good service from that controller. The most interesting thing now is what does it do once the battery reaches your chosen "charging" voltage"