Morningstar 30amp solar charger display

My solar controller shows what is being sent to the battery bank.

Both
It is what is going into the batteries
You might have 50 amps solar capacity under ideal conditions
But if if the batteries don't need it then they are not going to take it
Also early in the morning the batteries will be hungry, but the panels won't have enough sun to produce full power
So all they can produce is a few amps

So yes the panels are producing 7 amps not more , only 7 because
That is either all they can produce at that moment or because that is all the batteries will accept
That IS the amount being produced and sent to the batteries

It is fairly easy to test this. In good solar conditions, turn on a large load. If the display shows a larger number--then you know it is set to measure what is leaving the charge controller, and not what is coming in.

It should be the controller output amps. Those amps supply both house loads and then battery charging. So you might have 3A for house loads and 4A for battery charging.

pianotuna wrote:
It is fairly easy to test this. In good solar conditions, turn on a large load. If the display shows a larger number--then you know it is set to measure what is leaving the charge controller, and not what is coming in.

sorry PT
yes the load might show an increase, but
the controller ALL ways shows what is being produced and sent to the system
NOT what might be available,
think about the electric meter on the side of the house
it shows what you are using
NOT the MEGA WATTS available on the utility power line

if the batteries and house circuits only take 7amps, them that is all that is being produced, not 30amps , that extra difference is
"Potential Power" not being produced or utilized
if it was being produced and not used the controller would be dissipating it as heat...OUCH
it is voltage VRS battery circuit resistance , which limits the flow to 7 amps, even if more is available

if you turn on a load and it goes up then more is available
if the flow does Not increase, like late afternoon or early morning, then that is all the solar energy available

but always the meter shows BOTH... what is going to the system, IS what is being produced

Hi Mr Wizard,

Yes it shows both what is being used and any extra that is being stored in the battery bank.

The OP wanted to know if it showed what the panels were producing. It does not do that, so far as I understand.

Dat's why I put another meter in the system, right on the panel. Or more correctly on the controller input terminal.

One morning bright and sunny I got up and found the panel voltage suspiciously low. A turkey vulture had landed and spread its wings to dry...

PWM controller, the panel and battery amps are the same.

MPPT controller, there is an option to see either/both.

OP - in case if waters got too muddy - your display shows "controller output". The total of current going to battery and to loads. Current going to battery can be lower than what it "can accept", if there isn't enough sunlight or the loads are stealing the current.

With PWM controllers this "output" is practically identical to "controller input", minus very low self-consumption current needed to feed the controller itself.

Peak output of the panels (and the controller output) could've been much higher or lower few hours earlier, but you wouldn't know this if you weren't looking at it at that time, because Tristar display is very basic. Despite the cost. To see daily output graph you need to buy the adapter for monitoring this on laptop. Not terribly important.

Was there a misunderstanding here ?
Like PTs post, I test my 18 amp (max full sun) system by loading the batteries w/ a 50 amp carbon pile load. If I see 14 to 16 amps, I know everything is operating at max amps available. Maybe me that didn't understand Wizards post

MrWizard wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
It is fairly easy to test this. In good solar conditions, turn on a large load. If the display shows a larger number--then you know it is set to measure what is leaving the charge controller, and not what is coming in.

sorry PT
yes the load might show an increase, but
the controller ALL ways shows what is being produced and sent to the system
NOT what might be available,
think about the electric meter on the side of the house
it shows what you are using
NOT the MEGA WATTS available on the utility power line

if the batteries and house circuits only take 7amps, them that is all that is being produced, not 30amps , that extra difference is
"Potential Power" not being produced or utilized
if it was being produced and not used the controller would be dissipating it as heat...OUCH
it is voltage VRS battery circuit resistance , which limits the flow to 7 amps, even if more is available

if you turn on a load and it goes up then more is available
if the flow does Not increase, like late afternoon or early morning, then that is all the solar energy available

but always the meter shows BOTH... what is going to the system, IS what is being produced