Home brew Arduino MPPT controller
Pretty cool project. Highly programmable. He does not list the amps it is capable of but I'm thinking 4-8 only based on the diode sizing. There are some very sophisticated MPPT algorithms out there...
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Me too so it could still adjust the voltage up and down on the solar panels to maximize watts out. Really the cap could just be on a 3rd set of terminals as well doing an energy buffer function.
You could make a poor man's version with a medium sized battery as well. Either the cap or a secondary battery would let you continue trickle charging until sun up the next morning. If MPPT were one of the few with boost AND buck converter functionality built in, you could use a single (below 80% capacity, old mostly used up) 6v golf cart battery as the buffer.
Actually this could be the basis of a smart controller like that by adding a bit of circuitry to be able to switch around where the charge goes to, and where it comes from...
Jim
You could make a poor man's version with a medium sized battery as well. Either the cap or a secondary battery would let you continue trickle charging until sun up the next morning. If MPPT were one of the few with boost AND buck converter functionality built in, you could use a single (below 80% capacity, old mostly used up) 6v golf cart battery as the buffer.
Actually this could be the basis of a smart controller like that by adding a bit of circuitry to be able to switch around where the charge goes to, and where it comes from...
Jim
