reconsidering recomendataions on solar

towpro wrote:
I don't think my Bogart solar controller that uses my 2030rv to control it is crappy.

Of course I did not say that your Bogart solar controller was crappy, I was referring to MY past customers typical dialog(s).

That said - Bogart's "claim to fame" was always the TriMetric battery monitor. Specifically because its measurements are taken properly by using a shunt. It still works good even though the design is old in terms of electronics. It measures accurately and correctly but it will measure the battery state with whatever you are using to charge the battery.

My cheap MPPT charge controller does a darn good job of measuring battery state as well. Especially for a super simple 1 or 2 battery 12V system. That's a no brainer, plus I only have the cost of 2 Trojan T-105's at stake. My solar systems installed (off-grid) in Baja typically had battery banks 48V in multiple strings totaling 3500-5200 Amps at 48V (170,000W to 252,000W) with two systems almost twice that size. In those cases, the owners were invested in tens of thousands of dollars in batteries and really needed precise battery monitoring. We expected to get at least 10 years out of a bank of batteries.

Bogart Engineering has NEVER been top of the list for charge controllers - never! In early days Xantrex was the goto but its little charge controller was inflexible and impossible to tailor custom charge profiles. Some of those engineers worked after hours in a small rented building behind the Xantrex main parking lot developing a new, highly customizable MPPT controller. When they talked to each other before going to work in their small building (at work) they would refer to going to go Out Back to work on the new project. Soon they started their company Outback Solar and the centerpiece of their work was their MPPT controller. New technology (for the time) that could squeeze more power out of the same panels. After years a few of those engineers left to form Midnight Solar because while Outback had a great controller they had a marginal inverter. And the story goes on.

The one thing that does not change is that for superior performance in charge control and to squeeze the most out of ANY panel, an MPPT controller is the absolute best way to go. Solar companies are still refining the MPPT controller (although they are at the 97%-98% efficiency level) whereas I know of nobody in the industry trying to optimize a PWM controller. It is what it is.

So all in all -- the OP wants to retain all of his existing gear and get more charging ---- add panels. Also - if you can't quite get those batteries to charge fully but the Volts/Watts/Amp/Hours in theory are saying you should --- EQUALIZE the batteries, they're probably sulfated due to a lack of full charging. Your Bogart will equalize won't it???