pianotuna wrote:
mppt may offer about 10% improvement of output in the real world. It is better to use 24 or higher voltage with mppt.
It is cheaper and better to add a 2nd panel than to spend funds on a top of the line mppt.
In my opinion, charge controllers need to include a battery temperature sensor. They ought to have adjustable voltage set points.
The time to switch to MPPT is when you are contemplating 600 watts or more of panels, or if there is no more room to add panels.
You definitely know more about this stuff than I, but I don't follow your logic.
If one already had a PWM controller, I might agree about not changing it to an MPPT without good cause. But if you are buying a charge controller, as the OP says he is, I think it is money poorly spent for a PWM instead of just going MPPT from the start. With a good MPPT, sporting good features, costing little more than $100, is spending $50 on an PWM really smart? That would have to be some squeaky tight budget for that to make sense IMHO.
10% more output isn't something to sneeze at.
