Solar controller output question
A quick question on my EP Solar charge controller and its output voltage. I just noticed that I'm seeing an output from the battery "out" connection on the controller with my batteries disconnected...
Forum Discussion
rjsurfer wrote:
Its funny I have a switch for the panels output just haven't installed it yet...
So, your suggesting read the raw voltage and current from the arrays output?
Ron W.
I find it useful to know the panel's Isc of the moment when noting amps to the battery. If the Isc is at or above rating that says the panel is getting full insolation so I should be getting full amps.
With PWM you should be getting the same amps to the battery as whatever the Isc of the moment is.
With MPPT if the Voc is below rating by a few volts (34 instead of 37 eg) but the Isc is above rating that says the panel is hot ( as is normal) and it will mean less than full amps, but that nothing is wrong. It is just the MPPT suffering from panel temperature lowering the voltage.
I always want to know if I am getting as many amps as I should be, so I measure things quite often--not that I am paranoid or anything.
