New controller? Looks like it was added today.

Lots of good discussion
There are many good contollers on the market today
Most are getting better and lower cost

I'm sitting here with a nice cold brew watching my TS-MPPT 60 controllers data via a WiFi connection - Been logging the last few hours of data

Life is good

The biggest benefit I see with the Kid+Wizbang or a Classic+Wizbang is ending amps. SOC is a bonus.

The problem with the AH counter on the solar controller is if you depend on that to tell you when you have restored the AHs taken from the full battery.

If it happens during the recharge of the battery that the solar has some spare amps to run other things and it does, then that will add to the AH count and give a false idea how full you are getting. So you would think the battery is at higher SOC than it is.

The Trimetric AH counter does not have that issue, since it does not show any solar work other than to the battery. I suppose the Kid would not either if its program does that.

Any attempt to have a "% of full" or "battery SOC" gauge on just what the solar is doing will be in error. The Trimetric and Kid would be in error too but in a different way

-from a wrong idea of what the full capacity is
-from a wrong value for heat loss on recharge

The Trimetric AH counter needs a reset quite often for these reasons. In the afternoon on solar it can go past the old "zero" and go positive so you end up looking like you put more in than you took out. So when it peaks that day, you set a new zero. I suppose the Kid would do the same. It depends on what value for heat loss the Kid uses if any. Trimetric uses 4 percent ISTR.

Wizbang functionality is not a remote display.

Unyalli wrote:

What's missing in both the Rogue for $375 and the TS-30 for $477 that the Kid for $349 gives you is the Wizbang functionality.

Yes and no. All 3 controllers allow a wired remote display. The question is - how necessary this is, i.e. how bad is a built-in display (optional in Trimetric). Also - how good is a remote display.

I wrote in other posts that don't feel any need in a remote display or monitor like Trimetric, - this is difficult to understand for somebody who haven't seen Rogue 3048. It has a 4-line built-in display that provides all the data that one might ever need. There is current and volts and watts in/out, temperature, charging stage (MPPT/Abs/Float), and whether MPPT is on or it's running in Bulk because there is not enough current. All at the same time, no need to switch between the screens like in Kid. Here it is, page 5

When the day is over, Rogue 3048 displays peak watts achieved for the day, total Kwh and Ah in, whether Absorption was reached and how much time it spend in there, whether Float was reached and how much time it spend in there. The log has 30 days maximum, i.e. when 31st day comes, the 1st (the oldest) entry is erased. Log accessed from the front panel with push of a button. Here is the photo of day #5 (not mine), you can see that Abs was not reached on that day:


And here the report on testing a beta-version of Kid, with photos.

Good news for Kid is that it can do a current-based Absorption, if you buy an optional shunt. Which brings it closer to Rogue.

I disagree with what they say about heat sink of Rogue being at the back. True, heat dissipation is usually better when heat sink is up front, but the tester didn't see Rogue in flesh. its heat sink is not "back against the wall" but has about half-inch space behind the heat sink, so it works similarly to ventilation in fridges with passive condenser, the draft caused by thermal up-flow. Old and efficient technique in heat engineering.

There can be situations when remote display is a must due to controller placement, and then comparison would be different.

What Marc said about remote monitoring (wireless? via laptop?) - I have no opinion in this matter. Rogue has more functions in firmware than I may ever need, haven't even learned all of them yet. I recall it allows monitoring via laptop, and this would provide yet more data than a built-in or remote display.

Almot wrote:

... and it would put out 7.7*17*8/13=80A post controller. You're forgetting MPPT conversion.

Ah thank you! I totally forgot about the MPPT conversion.

Unyalli wrote:

Rogue and Morningstar don't offer battery monitor so they're out. Blue sky is very limited on input voltage especially for an MPPT controller.

Just saying it's not as revolutionary as Midnite would like to make you think. It's been done before.

lorelec wrote:

Unyalli wrote:

lorelec wrote:
Blue Sky has been doing this for a long time with various add-ons to their controllers

Which add-ons?

Their IPN Pro Remote, which also gives you remote monitoring...which the Kid doesn't even offer. Rogue MPT-3024/2024/3048 and Morningstar TS-MPPT all allow for remote monitoring.

Rogue and Morningstar don't offer battery monitor so they're out. Blue sky is very limited on input voltage especially for an MPPT controller.

Bluesky SB3024iL 30 amp MPPT $358 and IPNPRO remote for $179 and Batt temp sensor for $31 total $568

-Jeff

Unyalli wrote:

lorelec wrote:
Blue Sky has been doing this for a long time with various add-ons to their controllers

Which add-ons?

Their IPN Pro Remote, which also gives you remote monitoring...which the Kid doesn't even offer. Rogue MPT-3024/2024/3048 and Morningstar TS-MPPT all allow for remote monitoring.

BFL13 wrote:
So now instead of seeing 8 upstream of the Tri on the solar and 3 on the Tri, so you know the solar is doing another 5 for something, you get 3 on the whizbang going back to the controller that already has the 8, and it does the calculation showing that 3 of the 8 is for battery.

By George you have it man!

BFL13 wrote:
I won't try to figure out just now what happens if the battery will accept 3, the solar can do 8 and you turn on a load that needs 10.
(the Tri would show minus 2 I think )

So would the Kid.

-Jeff