Solar Charge Controller Advice Needed
I have a truck camper with a 7 year old solar system: 2x135 watt Kyocera panels in parallel, 2x150AH Lifeline AGM batteries and a cheapie replacement Nature Power controller. I have a compressor r...
Forum Discussion
Hi JimK,
Optimum depends on what the battery maker suggests. For Trojan that is 14.8 for bulk charging. For my AGM telecom it is no more than 13.8, if I want them to last. You can trust the battery maker--because they already have your money.
So any charge controller purchased should have adjustable voltage set points, and a battery temperature sensor.
The dip switches on the Blue Sky are quite limited. I know--because I have one.
If MPPT is too costly then go with the Grape 40 amp charge controller and add another panel. It is PWM but can be configured until the cows come home--and it is inexpensive and readily available at Home Depot USA.
The only mistake I made was maxing out the Blue Sky Controller. If I had it to do over, I would have bought a much larger controller that would have allowed me to expand my solar harvest with more panels.
Optimum depends on what the battery maker suggests. For Trojan that is 14.8 for bulk charging. For my AGM telecom it is no more than 13.8, if I want them to last. You can trust the battery maker--because they already have your money.
So any charge controller purchased should have adjustable voltage set points, and a battery temperature sensor.
The dip switches on the Blue Sky are quite limited. I know--because I have one.
If MPPT is too costly then go with the Grape 40 amp charge controller and add another panel. It is PWM but can be configured until the cows come home--and it is inexpensive and readily available at Home Depot USA.
The only mistake I made was maxing out the Blue Sky Controller. If I had it to do over, I would have bought a much larger controller that would have allowed me to expand my solar harvest with more panels.
JimK-NY wrote:
pianotuna, thanks. I am still not at all sure what to look for when it comes to "optimum adjustment".
