What have you got Greg? The name brand ones I've looked at are generally
pretty expensive or have zero options for monitoring/configuration. It also
appears some of them have pretty serious quality concerns. I see a lot of
reviews on the mid-priced ones like "worked great up until it failed with no
warning. Vendor refuses my calls and ignores my emails."
-Curt
On Thursday, February 20, 2020, 2:46:31 PM EST, Greg Fiorentino via
Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
The MPPT controller on my motor home was WAAAAY less than $500. More like $50
IIRC. It handles 200W of panels, could handle up to 250W. It's not the best
quality, but I can't think it should cost you more than $100 for something that
would work for you.
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of Curt Raymond
via Mercedes
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2020 11:39 AM
To: Mercedes Discussion List
Cc: Curt Raymond
Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT: Article on Solar Panels for cash-strapped farms.
The problem, for me anyway, is that is 10x the cost. For $50 I can get another
30a PWM controller rather than $500 for an MPPT controller. In the end this is
still a camp in the woods that gets used for a week or two at a time.
If I could go back and start over I'd have gotten 2x 110ah batteries, 2x 300w
24v panels and an MPPT controller and never thought about it again until it
came time to replace the batteries. I'd be making more power than I need but
it'd be making plenty even on cloudy days.
Dad subscribed to the "start small and build up" theory which in the end will
have cost him about the same to have a system that produces about 50% less
power. I suppose we're less vulnerable to panel failure but whatever we're
getting to a happy place.
-Curt
On Thursday, February 20, 2020, 2:28:17 PM EST, Craig via Mercedes
<mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
On Thu, 20 Feb 2020 19:15:43 +0000 (UTC) Curt Raymond via Mercedes
<mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
> A charge controller, I'm told, can only utilize as much as the least
> performing panel so by having all 4 panels on one controller we're
> giving up power during the beginning and end of the day.
A Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT, as you mentioned) controller should
maximumize the power from your array by adjusting the voltage output of
the array for maximum power.
Each solar cell, and thus each panel, and thus your array functions as a
current source. Presuming your array has the panels in parallel, running
the least performing panel at a higher terminal voltage in order to get
more power out of the better performing panel(s) is what an MPPT
controller should do for your array, thus performing its best throughout
the day.
Craig
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