Grape Solar 40 Amp PWM Solar Charge Controller

[Tom_M1]

I just finished helping a fellow camper install his new solar controller. It was only $45 from Home Depot. It even has Bluetooth so you can connect to your smartphone to set up and monitor. You need to send an email to support@grapesolar.com and request the app. Check it out here:
Home Depot - Grape Solar charge controller

[MrWizard]

BFL13 wrote:

"Solar controllers only show what the solar panels are doing, not what is going to the battery and how they are doing. Solar output goes to rig systems first, and anything left over goes to the batteries. Same with converters.

A Trimetric monitor on the batteries only shows what is happening with the batteries, including whatever the solar can provide from upstream of the Tri's shunt. You have to subtract the Trimetric amps from the solar amps to see how many amps are going to other loads.

There is a solar controller that has two shunts ISTR that does both jobs, forget its name."

True

thats why i have the remote amphr kw power meter
thats tracks power into and out of the battery
is programmable for battery bank size
and shows me the status in both amphrs and percent of charge

[Searching_Ut]

BFL13 wrote:
Solar controllers only show what the solar panels are doing, not what is going to the battery and how they are doing. Solar output goes to rig systems first, and anything left over goes to the batteries. Same with converters.

A Trimetric monitor on the batteries only shows what is happening with the batteries, including whatever the solar can provide from upstream of the Tri's shunt. You have to subtract the Trimetric amps from the solar amps to see how many amps are going to other loads.

There is a solar controller that has two shunts ISTR that does both jobs, forget its name.

If you use the Bogart SC 2030 as your controller in conjunction with the Trimetric 2030 you can look at both solar output and how much is going into the batteries. Of course a trimetric will also measure battery current while you can look at the solar controller to see what the panels are putting out and get the same info, just have to look at two displays.

[dewey02]

I sent a message to Grape Solar's customer service email asking the following:
Does the controller's remote monitoring only work with Android devices with bluetooth, or does it work with iPad or iPod with bluetooth?

I'm awaiting an answer and will report here if/when I get one.
Does anyone here already have an answer?

[BFL13]

Solar controllers only show what the solar panels are doing, not what is going to the battery and how they are doing. Solar output goes to rig systems first, and anything left over goes to the batteries. Same with converters.

A Trimetric monitor on the batteries only shows what is happening with the batteries, including whatever the solar can provide from upstream of the Tri's shunt. You have to subtract the Trimetric amps from the solar amps to see how many amps are going to other loads.

There is a solar controller that has two shunts ISTR that does both jobs, forget its name.

[Harvey51]

I am excited to see a battery controller with built in monitor! Knowing the state of charge it should be able to charge batteries more effectively. Does it show the % of full charge in the app display? App available for iPhone, too?

I don't see it on homedepot.ca; must be available only in USA.

[MrWizard]

For me the record aka logging function for performance history is just an add-on that makes for easy reviewing

What sold me on this controller was the ability to change the voltage settings, charge mode, battery type etc.. Using my Android tablet

The ability to monitor the controller wirelessly with the tablet
Allows an easy heads up of what is going on

When you think about the price of add-on wired monitors for some controllers
This is really low cost an efficient
I could buy a $39 7" tablet and attach it to the wall and have a permanent monitor, powered by a $2 usb 5v charger adapter

I have learned that for our full time Heavy power use, knowing what is going on with the batteries and solar is important to me,
and adjusting my power use, just means limiting my pc use etc..the fridge has to stay on, the solar is an adjunct to the batteries and generator

[Tom_M1]

I don't have the controller but installed it for another camper. He doesn't have a smartphone. I installed the app on my phone just to check it out. Once the controller is set up, you don't have to do anything with it. The controller has a nice LCD display which allows you to check several different parameters and change settings if needed. For only $45 it is a lot of bang for the buck.

The only monitoring I have is a combo volt/amp panel meter that displays battery voltage and charge or discharge current.

[BFL13]

What do you actually get from such measurements anyway? Just curious, not criticising.

I am not a full-timer, so it is not easy to understand the value of these readings. I have been off-grid for several months in a row each year for a few years with solar helping with that, but all I ever need is the Trimetric AH meter to keep me informed how things are going. Not even "need" but "nice to have" on that, since the "morning voltage" tells you everything pretty much...

Based on the little info I bother with, I can adjust the daily AH use as required, but really, if the solar can't keep up, we just crank up the generator as needed to keep the batteries charged, and don't adjust the "lifestyle" at all.

So what do you full-timers get out of Kwhs etc that you do something different if the numbers don't come out as what? Maybe there is something to learn here even if not full-timing?

[MrWizard]

Mine is version 1.0
Maybe yours won't have the bug
It's real easy to tell
Just goto record and look at the total kwhr reading at the top of the list
That number should be close to what the amp hrs times 14.x volts

[Tom_M1]

The app they sent me is version 0.9.8

[MrWizard]

Yep, I have the same one
Installed it this fall 99 days ago according to the counter in the record keeping
Been very happy with it so far

The software has a glitch in the record keeping, unless they have fixed it
The recorded kWh total is way over, some how it's using the wrong voltage times the correct amps, seems it using 106v instead of 14.x

I contacted them, sent them the readings, I was told they would fix it and send me an update link
That was three months ago

it's not a big deal as ALL the control functions work correctly
I spotted it real fast, because I have another meter that counts my amp hrs and watt hours
Right now for today in cloudy weather the record shows 34 amp hrs which is correct, but it also shows 3.62 Kwatt hours aka 3620 watt hours
An impossible number 14.4 *34=489.4 watt hours aka 0.489 kwhr

Outside of that math glitch in record keeping I really like this controller