Solar charge controller upgrade?

I just had this installed in Quartzsite on my MH
http://www.blueskyenergyinc.com/products/details/solar_boost_3024il

+1 to go with what you have for now.
As long as your controller gets you to 14.2+ volts each day you will be fine.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

See if the system "as is" meets your needs.

x2.

Meanwhile, invest in battery monitoring if you haven't done so yet. $30 amper-hour meter from Ebay will tell you more than OEM panel with indicators Full-Half-Empty.

You need a scenario for what is "worth it".

The 11% is reasonable. You can get 100% more with MPPT first thing in the morning with low batteries. IE, you get 2 amps instead of 1. What can you do with that extra 1 amp?

If you got 2 more amps for 5 hours over mid-day, would the 10 AH matter? What is the scenario?

1. MPPT won't do any better than the PWM with four 100s lying flat on the roof,

or,

2. PWM won't do any better than the MPPT with four 100s lying flat on the roof.

Both cannot be true. I believe #2 to be true.

Given: the OP has 12AWG wiring(per a prior post).

Simply swapping out the PWM for MPPT on the 4 x 100W=400W 12V parallel array would hinder the MPPT.

To release the capabilities of MPPT, the panels need to be rewired into a 2 x 200W=400W 24V array where the MPPT will likely do more.

My Summer tests have shown up to 11% more during the middle of the day. That is not an edge case, but the time when I need more to run two 12V compressor fridges.

HTH;
John

Hi,

See if the system "as is" meets your needs.

What PWM controller is installed?

If the solar was installed within the last ten years you should be ok as is. MPPT won't do any better than the PWM with four 100s lying flat on the roof.

If you do add panels later, then you can change controllers, which you might have to anyway with more amps to the battery

If the solar is from the 90s then beware. Count the number of cells in each "100w" panel and make sure there are 36. Some panels from back then had only 33 and are limited in what voltage they can get a battery to.

If that old, also look for how they installed the controller and what model it is (post that here for more info) Back then they would wire the controller output to the back of the fridge instead of to the batteries more directly, and so have very long thin wire for the wire run to the batteries with the amps you did get being further restricted.

(Our MH came with a 1996 set up like that--33 cell panel etc)