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...
Forum Discussion
It looks like Morningstar avoids most of the pitfalls of simplistic MPPT tracking in their Trackstar approach (details in sidebar on right).
Using voltage as a trigger to rescan seems like a pretty good strategy. I actually considered if using a tiny "sense" solar panel would not be a good approach to see if a rescan was needed to avoid taking the main array out of optimum settings.
The only thing really missing is them disclosing how quickly it will rescan if needed. Other than that, a nice to have would be being able to limit the scan voltage to a smaller range than 0-150v if you know your array does not need the full range.
Really the technique used DOES matter and all MPPT approaches are not created equal.
Jim
Using voltage as a trigger to rescan seems like a pretty good strategy. I actually considered if using a tiny "sense" solar panel would not be a good approach to see if a rescan was needed to avoid taking the main array out of optimum settings.
The only thing really missing is them disclosing how quickly it will rescan if needed. Other than that, a nice to have would be being able to limit the scan voltage to a smaller range than 0-150v if you know your array does not need the full range.
Really the technique used DOES matter and all MPPT approaches are not created equal.
Jim
