Meanwell PS as input to MPPT controller ??

That unit looks good, but I think our electrical investments are done for a while.

Or until the lottery comes in, and I completely rewire the trailer for some nice AGMs (or even LiFePO4s!) located inside where they can be kept warm at their full rated Ah.

Heh, but as I get older the attractions of cold weather boondocking are becoming less and less, so maybe not.

If you are getting something new, this might be of interest. The LKs are apparently still being tried out in the marketplace. Don't have any latest info on where that all stands.

https://www.amazon.ca/Powermax-PM3-25-24LK-Power-Supply-Converter/dp/B01N5M3K5I/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1517578837&sr=8-22&keywords=PowerMax+converter

I have a proto-type 12v LK from 2016. It has an internal fan instead of the external fan like the PM3s and 4s, and has the two holes in the side for the neat feature that lets you adjust the voltage (with a small screwdriver) using the pot inside. There is a switch behind the other hole to swap between 3-stage auto and single stage but adjustable voltage.

I don't know if BoatandRV has other amp sizes in 24v. BoatandRV has a chat line on their website. I would be sure to get it absolutely clear direct from them what the story is with the 24v LKs to make sure amazon sends you the right one, since there have been some mix-ups in the past, what with so many different versions of these things right now.

BFL13 wrote:
Good use of "extra" equipment you already have to get some value from money spent.

Heh, yes, it certainly wasn't "planned" this way.:)

But it does look like the Meanwell+EpSolar Tracer makes a good 120VAC battery charger (temperature compensation, configurable).

But if I were to do it over again I'd opt for a higher Voltage Meanwell (the EpSolar Tracer can take up to 100V) as I suspect that at very low battery temps the max V of mine will not be high enough to reach absorb setpoint. Don't think the EpSolar Tracer will buck UP the voltage.

Also the Meanwell has a really loud fan. Maybe there's another power supply out there that's better, or I could follow in the footsteps of landyacht and fab something up using ultra-quiet computer fans.

Good use of "extra" equipment you already have to get some value from money spent.

BFL13 wrote:
So you got the temp comp for the Meanwell as desired in the OP, but what about the matching part? You can still run the Meanwell and the solar in parallel on the battery bank so they add their amps if you go Meanwell-battery direct instead of via Tracer. Is that a job for one of those 1-2 switches?

Can't remember how you power the Meanwell off-grid. With your inverter off the truck battery supplied by the alternator? Generator?

If gen, you can have alternator while idling, solar, and Meanwell all adding their amps

I have two mppt controllers. No generator, other than the truck's alternator+inverter.

One mppt controller permanently controls the permanent panels on the roof. The other (the epsolar tracer we're talking about here) is only used with input from portable panels, or from the Meanwell.

So yes, when travelling, we have the permanent panels on the roof feeding the batteries through a Rogue mppt charger, as well as the alternator->inverter->Meanwell->EpSolar Tracer charger.

And when boondocking, we also have the permanent panels/controller feeding the battery, but now, instead of the Meanwell, the portable panels feed the EpSolar Tracer and batteries.

On shorepower, or in storage, I normally just use the permanent panels/controller to maintain the batteries in "float". But occasionally, if the batteries are still down after a long boondock, and there's not much sun, I plan to use the Meanwell->EpSolar Tracer charger as well.

Turns out I don't need any switches, just wire the portable panel's wire stubs and the Meanwell in parallel to the EpSolar Tracer inputs, as they are never active simultaneously.

So you got the temp comp for the Meanwell as desired in the OP, but what about the matching part? You can still run the Meanwell and the solar in parallel on the battery bank so they add their amps if you go Meanwell-battery direct instead of via Tracer. Is that a job for one of those 1-2 switches?

Can't remember how you power the Meanwell off-grid. With your inverter off the truck battery supplied by the alternator? Generator?

If gen, you can have alternator while idling, solar, and Meanwell all adding their amps

So far this seems to work ok.

In this first test, the batteries were not heavily depleted. Maybe 80-90% SOC? And initially the Meanwell was only putting 10A at 32.5V (the max V for this model).

That current rapidly dropped and when I finally figured out how the EPever Tracer display worked, it said it was in absorb mode (although it calls it "boost" for some reason) with ~29V at the batteries which was about right for the temperature and temperature correction and absorb voltage I had set (it's a 24V battery bank). The battery temperature agreed with that of my other mppt contoller's temperature probe.

The Tracer was set to 2 hours "boost", and when we came back from shopping it had moved down to float. So that seems to be working too.

So all is good so far.

To summarize: I now have two inputs to my EpSolar Tracer 20A MPPT solar controller: 340W of portable Solar panels and a 500-700W Meanwell Power supply. These two inputs are just wired in parallel as they will never be run simultaneously.

See down at the end of page 9 and start of page 10 here: it does say it is current limited to rated current. The Warning note explains the 3 x business.

http://www.epsolarpv.com/en/uploads/news/201710/1508812885787574.pdf

It can handle up to3 times over-paneling - BFL says, and most of the time BFL knows what he says ;)...
We've been there before - 480-500W limit in one EP20 manual, and 3x allowance in another. Must have something to do with righ-to-left and bottom-to-top writing in that part of the world.

The truth... remains to be discovered through experience, as usual.

Most important - to me - is that you won't exceed 20A limit by more than 5A, this is something that an average quality MPPT should be able to tolerate... for some time. Won't be an instant death, anyway.

The idea was that a PWM controller is not at all current- limiting (except that Bogart one?) and it will overheat when run to over its current rating (as it will when over-panelled too) But the MPPTs do some sort of amps clipping and they do allow over-panelling, so they might be ok for this idea. Or not.