Follow up Solar Question
I bought a 130 watt solar suitcase lase year for our trips to the mountains, where we have no hookups. It came with a cheap PWM charge controller and alligator clips to connect to the batteries. Used ...
Forum Discussion
mr_andyj wrote:
Your solar panel probably puts out 18.x volts and the controller will drop that to around 13.x volts for the battery. 18 volts travels down wire more efficiently than 13 volts, so you want the controller as close to the batter as possible , within a foot or two.
I would mount the controller near the battery and use the clips to clip to something that leads to the controller.
Better yet, buy some "Anderson Plugs" and use those instead of clips.
PWM is fine for this small of a system. I prefer an MPPT controller, but both will do the job.
But honestly, your wire is probably so short to begin with that mounting the controller at the panel will be almost the same thing.
good advice here, especially anderson plugs
