This unit is on our camper van and works great with 100w mono crystal panel & 110ah sealed battery - the only odd thing is that when the inside of the van is very hot the float charge volts drops to as low as 13.2v as it should to avoid gassing and the LED battery indicator reads 75% however the battery is actually fully charged - it seems the temperature sensor is linked to the float charge level but not the LED indicator - We went to a 4 day festival last week and lost count how many asked if we could charge their phones etc from the USB ports - both ports were in use from morning till night!
+Trev S I bet you were popular, and I hope a couple of drinks were bought to say thank you! That's really interesting to know. It's good that it reduced the voltage to prevent too much gassing but odd that they didn't write that into the state of charge code. I'm sure others will find that handy. Thanks.
Because of this actual review, I bought 1.. It's fabulous, I get up to 10amps@14 volts or more from 1x24-26 volt 160w panel... over a year now and it's just awesome... best $$ spent ever Thank you sooo much...
YAY I love the cheap charge controller videos. Maybe I want to start a little solar storage and try to run a small server off of it. We (my parenst) already have 1.4kW on the roof feeding directly into the grid. Still going after 20 years :)
Many thanks for that. I have just ordered one of these to replace the fake one installed in innocence previously. I was going to add another panel but hopefully this will achieve the same increase in performance at less cost.
Ive had one of these charge controllers nearly 2 years now and its never skipped a beat on my shed lighting system, the 2 63v caps are in series on mine not sure why they didn't use a slightly higher value 100v cap im guessing 2 lower voltage caps in series is fractions cheaper that the bigger cap. Great review.... btw there is a lithium battery version too...
Thanks Chris - good to hear you're getting good service out of yours. Capacitors in series - of cause! I'll check this. I think I need to do a quick update video as there's a few questions I need to address. Thanks again.
The 2 * 220uF /63V are not in series... They are connected in parallel!The reason for them not being +100V types is that they aren't "seing" the raw solar panel voltage, but are filter capacitors placed after the MPPT Buck Converter.Btw.: 2 low voltage caps in series would have a capacity of only ( c1^-1 + c2^-1 ) ^-1. => This solution would be inefficient from a cost perspective.
FYI, if you put capacitors in series, you get the voltage handling of both added together and the capacitance is divided. I can tell from the video, but, if those 63v input caps are in series, the voltage capacity is 126v.
Just looking at this video, when using a 12V solar panel, the current out is almost always less than the current in, so overall losses using this device seem to be more than just having a direct connection to battery (even worse note that the IV curve will cause solar panel to give even more current when pulled to the lower voltage by the battery). When 24V panel is connected, you can see some better current figures - showing that the PWM/MPPT is effective (i.e. the current out is greater than the current in)...Phil.
To be honest I didn't give this little charge controller a fair run for it's money. All too often when I'm free to test, the sun isn't playing. This will probably perform much better near it's maximum limits. The issue is that converting power is inefficient so converting a small amount of power may not even supply enough power to the charge controller it's self. Or in my experimentation, it was just enough, with a small amount left to put into the battery. At higher voltages, and under some proper sun, this charge controller will probably produce better results - it have definitely been designed to do the job.
Yes I see your point and agree...any module will consume power itself, which is why published efficiencies of 85-90% are usually only seen near their rated power outputs...this one has extra convenient things like 5v PWM and multiple outputs which might consume more fixed power...would be interesting to see how it goes with a higher input power...Phil
Very useful, thanks a lot! researching products for a small solar system on my van to be used in arctic/subarctic Scandinavia so efficiency and a tight budget is on my mind. very helpful this is!
Really liking your videos on MPPT controllers. What I would love you to test is at high loads and for a few hours. I have experienced some serious overheating on some controllers which makes me think they won't last.
Thanks very much. You make a good point but those kinds of tests are hard to do. Either I need a large battery bank which is well discharged or I need a decent load to shove on it for a while - but the load needs to be managed. Sadly I don't have the free time to test for such long periods. I've recently done a video on the charge controller I've been using for a number of months pointing out a couple of it's issues though.
Two nice inductors, several MOSFETs, screw terminals, caps, a buck converter you could extract and rebuild... the parts alone are almost worth that £21. However, since you made this video, the price has gone up - to £28. I'm in the process of designing an MPPT unit myself now, but even if it works - and I am not confident it will - it'll only be of comparable cost, and limited to 12V, 100W-max.
+Vyl Bird Sorry if I've increased the cost - didn't know I had such power! You're right, the parts are worth a fair bit - rebuilding would be an interesting idea. Thanks
I also tried to build my own. And I sadly realized that in most cases, DIY project can not rival commercial products neither in price nor performance. Most of these commerial products manufacturers really understand how to extract the last bit of performance and value of the chip and passive components they used, and they have a real advantage in supply chain management and procurement. I know some vendors even can ask MOSFET makers to tailor MOSFETs with specialized specs for their products....And there are many plants who are willing to do such tailored products such as Consonance-elec etc.
I'm thinking about hooking this up to the load output of my 24 volt system with a 12v battery to keep it charged for 12v things in the camper that have high amp draw startup like fridge or pump. Everything DC in the camper, is still 12v . I tried to substitute a 24V to 12v [20 amp] stepdown, for the regular 12v battery but, it went poof.
I would like to thank you for this video and generally your work to show us what is what re: real or fake mppt controllers. I am trying to determine this about a controller that came with a now out business wind turbine. Your vid gives me some clues and I will be testing it using some of the methods I have seen here. Thanks
It seems to have gone up in price too - not sure if that's my fault! I'm going to have to do a little update video, some helpful peoples comments have pointed out a couple of things I didn't test or think of. I love the feedback and ideas I get back. Thanks for your comments :-)
It could still be PWM as PWM will drop the voltage to the battery level but waste the watts in the difference of the solar panel voltage and the batteries voltage which might account for the high waste.
It would really still be worth it's money if those 4 separate 12v ports are regulated (Constant) through that second Inductor. Imagine it would be battery assisted and is drawing more than 12v to sustain regulating these 4 ports. It would be the ideal unit for a DIY portable Solar Power Generator. Where can i buy this version?
hi Adam... looking at 12:40 in your video, you have had 0.417ah go in to the controller, but it put 0.508ah into the battery. A pwm couldn't do that, so it's not too bad... cheers, and thanks for another interesting video...Larry
Neat video. Very informative. It might be fun if you compared this to the trashy CMP02 and uts black and blue digital buddy. Now those two I have used. The blue one throws a wobbly every time my ventilation fans start (2x2.5a 12v fans) despite being 30A. The other one (led edition) fails to fully charge a battery.
a mil is 1/1000 th of an inch. 14 pin DIP Integrated Circuits are spaced at 100 mils. what you are talking about on the front of the device is mm= milimeters.
wattage reading is not what we need to look at with mppt but the current solar side to battery side as you can see going from 24v to 12 volt we seem to get mppt as power is almost double the current into the battery then what the panel produce but when the 12v panel and 12v battery the mppt was not very great I think the higher the solar series power the better the mppt will do
Hi David - Watts is voltage times current so it's the easiest figure to compare quickly as the solar input bounces around and changes. Comparing watts allows us to look at the efficiency of the DC conversion. It's actually easier once the video is produced to pause the video every so often and compare the input and output stats and see the increased current and reduced voltage. If you take a look at the images here: admw.uk/jb You can see DC2DC conversion is happening - 40v and 0.8 amps which is 32 watts in and we're seeing 14.6 volts and nearly 1.5 amps which is 21 watts on the output. So the conversion isn't very efficient 32 watts in, 21 out, but it is converting the power and we are seeing an increase to the current and a drop in the voltage.
So could you use one of these with each panel? E.g. the large 60 solar cell 275W - 335W panels. Each gets one of these cheap controllers in parallel. Or maybe the other cheaper one? I bet even for something big like 10 panels this would be cheaper than a big mppt charge controller. Some solar panels have MPPT controllers build in but they are much more expensive. I think they are called "power optimizers". I've looked and e.g. the EPEver charge controllers can be used in parallel if the settings are exactly the same and they are wired the same (each controller gets their own solar array and is connected in parallel to the battery).
Good test/review. The only thing I don't like about it is...how do you set the voltage setpoints for the battery? Some batteries are very specific what voltage they charge at. 10 amps...on a 24v system...that is 240 watts. So, on could hook up three 100w panels and push 10 amps into them...if it doesn't burn up first. Does it current limit?
+Chris DIYer All parameters are fixed I'm afraid. Batteries are self current limiting to a degree, but this will limit as the voltage approaches a set point.
Great video. I NEVER watch the commercials on youtube until I found your channel. Thanks for your videos and I just mute them on your channel because I value your contributions to us, tinkerers.
wow. looked good in the beginning. Was thinking, now add a for them 1 euro/dollar/pound lcd with measurements like voltage and amps and we have a winner. Now as David also mentioned, where the hell is the efficiency, the meaning of using MPPT. Would be interesting to compare it with that other pwm controller. Shouldn't using a power supply instead of a panel be better to measure the loss or efficiency?
+Luc Peeters Yeah using a power supply might give more steady results to measure from but it's not a real world test. Perhaps next time I'll look at running it on both a psu and a panel for some of the tests. Thanks for your comments.
+Adam Welch Yeah that'd be nice and I don't know how you do your tests but it would be a good idea to have a load on your batteries just to make sure it doesn't go into float charge.
i just have a Question i have a ute canopy it has a 300 watt fixed solar panel on the roof and a Folding panel for when i pull up camping i will use that i have a 100ah AGM battery i run a waeco fridge and few led lights what am i better off using PWM or Mppt thank you
I have ,made. My own ebike 54 volt 18650 battery thought about using on van but charging tricky use inverter I guess but difference in voltage to van electrics tricky
Whats the difference between using a cheap MPPT charge controller and just a regular buck converter set to your battery voltage. Obviously it lacks any battery charge protection but they are cheaper.
Great review thanks!. I have been using this controller for a year and it works well. Could you check the efficiency over a long period of time? It looks like the watt meter flashes the total AH (amp hours) and total WH (watt hours) in the lower left. If you let this run for a few hours I think you should be able to divide the WH form the 2 meters to get a rough efficiency. This assumes controller stays in full charge mode and does not go into trickle or float charge mode. thanks again
They may have stacked the two 63 volt electrolytics in series to handle the 100 volts. Not as good as a single higher voltage capacitor, but as long as the leakage currents and voltages are roughly equal, it can work. BTW, where's your ESD wriststrap?
I believe you are correct regarding the caps. Hopefully they take an even load. ESD wrist strap - you're right, I forgot to clip on my wireless one. ;-)
Hi, I'm adding a Solar system to my allotment in southern England and am finding your videos very helpful. I decided to get a couple of the Watt Meters that you use and have just received them. They came with a small plug that goes in the side socket but the instructions don't mention this plug and socket. I wondered if I could be cheeky and ask if you know what they are for? Thanks. Jeanette
+Jetjai The blue watt meters? If so you can power the meter from another power supply - it stops the meter taking power away from the thing it is measuring. It's not really necessary. Thanks.
Adam Welch Yes, the Meters at 7:14. Thanks for that. The pins were out of line in the units and there was no info about the sockets. I took one unit apart and the build quality of the box is a bit 'iffy' The printed circuit board just floats about, it isn't fixed and I was worried about the soldered joints of the pcb touching the case and shorting. The only thing I had to hand was sticky notes so I put 2 sheets between the PCC and the case - 'belt and braces'! I shan't worry about the socket, onwards and upwards 😄Thanks, Jeanette
Most helpful..Could you tell me where I can get the test gears you used such as watt meter in verifying data on Charge controller -CPT-LA10?, Or complete name to enable a google hit?
Shouldn't you be using a battery in a low state of charge so that it can accept the full output of the charge controller without having to introduce an external load?
They would be perfect if they allowed you to preset the charge voltage limits; so you could charge other voltage batteries; such as a 6 volt battery or banks of LiIon cells. I researched the company, and you can purchase chargers for 3 or 4 LiIon cells in series connection; but you have to purchase a separate charger for each size. That could mean I would need 4 chargers if I wanted to charge a 6 volt battery, (my antique cars have their batteries constantly trickle charged by solar), 3 cell Li-Ion for my 12 volt drills, 4 cell for my 16 to 18 volt drills, and another one for each 12 volt battery. Their current drain is limited to 2C, so the 5 amp version will only allow a 10 amp load, which is not nearly enough for a decent inverter system. I guess that if you don't have to worry about those design limitations; they are perfect!
Liked the video so much that I went out and bought the charge controller. The only thing I'm unsure of is how to utilize the load connectors, the pair on the right. For example, how big a load can you power off them and when and for what should you use them. Any thought's?
The regulated 12v load outputs on the 5.5/2.1mm barrel connectors are only for light loads. They seem well suited to strings of 12 volt LEDs. The manual says you can output up to 6 amps on those connectors - not sure I would though. 3 amps mentioned on the USB ports too. Thanks for the kind comments.
Hi Adam just seen your mppt budget test as I have just a 100 watt panel on my campervan running into a pwm controller .gives about 1 to 2 Amps usually but my waeco fridge is on constantly as separate leisure battery gets charged from dc to dc charger off engine daily.ive fitted old can battery in parallel to fridge battery to give extra current .would a cheap mppt improve things ?steve.
What hapened if i connect to input 50.v 1.a from solar panel to the (dc dc 600W step up/down coverter) (gs-50 amorphine), and i set in output 14.v for charging car batery block? This stil works? How much A power i get? can you tested pls :) ?
There seems to be different versions of this unit. Noticed yours says v1.4 mine has a red circuit board and says v6.0 It has two separate 100v CAPS (different spots on board) and no visible temp sensor. Raises a number of questions.
How much current can both 5v sockets supply when both in use? Do they share the same current output to their respective loads? Or are they independent of one another?
While thanking you for the hard work of educating and explaining the features of MPPT system boards, it’s unbelievable to see the Engineer pointing the components with a metal object. This is not the first time, that I’m viewing that procedure. Those who learn from you may also practice what they see from the Master. With what one should point/ probe the passive components, is left to the Engineer to determine. Cheers.
i got this a few months ago, it does appears to be better than the previous pwm controller i used. The most amp I ever get was around 5A-ish, from a 2x100w solar panel (tried both parallel and series - parallel gives more power). Can I expect to be able to get close to full power / wattage out of these solar panels (so using a mppt controller I shud get close to 16A for 2x100w panels) ?
I'd hope you'd see close to full power under a perfect sky with the panels on axis and a battery that is well depleted. There will be some losses inside the charge controller but you should come close.
is it safe to short circuit a 200w panel (for a short while) to make sure I dont have problem with connections and or cabling, my cables can handle I think -or- theres a better / easier way to do that (all i can think of is having a volt-matching ultra+supercap s)
Most panels are supplied with the stats for their short circuit current and their open voltage. Solar panels don't hold energy (like a battery) they produce energy when they are in the correct environment and held in the right part of their power curve. So yes, it's generally safe to short circuit a solar panel - there may be a slight crack while the panel goes from providing lots of voltage and no current, to providing lots of current but no voltage. In both open and closed states no power is being produced (as P=IV) but as it transitions from one to the other there will be a short time (micro/nano seconds?) when it is producing power. If it worries you, pop something over your panel to reduce its power capability as you short it. I plan to do a video where this is covered very soon.
bos dad usually that's a in/out rating. It can handle 10 in and 10 out. Lots of people don't understand mppt fully and they think they can load them right up on the "in" side (150v in @ 10a) the problem is 150v @ 10a is 1500 watts and a 10 amp controller can only handle 120 watts
Well... I'm not too impressed by the fact, that the battery amperage is mostly lower than the solar panel amperage even though the voltage is also lower. Any PWM controller can bring the voltage down. The trick is to maintain the wattage through the conversion which would require the amperage to rise when the voltage falls and vice versa. So, assuming it is a genuine MPPT charge controller. I do consider it kinda useless since as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to be any more efficient than a cheap PWM charge controller is. It may however be interesting to see what happens when the solar panel voltage is lower than the battery voltage, can it boost the voltage? That would definitely not be possible with a PWM charge controller.
Curiously, Adam misses the fact that the amps don't go up. Instead, he points out that the voltage goes down, and takes that as a sign that DC-DC conversion is done. But that assumption is without merit. A PWM would drop the voltage in a similar way without doing any DC-DC conversion. I admit that the device's innards look convincing, and that some scanning appears to happen. But the efficiency seems to be no better than PWM.
@@it886514 true, but later in the video you see the amp out is higher than the amp in so it does mppt. Only not very efficient. The first part of the video you only see pwm action more or less.
Hi. I'm trying to get into this hobby. I plan on getting something like this, to power a PIR and led lighting in a shed.....maybe other uses too. The USB and 12v power outputs sure look handy. I'm looking at using 18650 batteries instead of lead acid batteries however.....if I'm thinking right, it should be safe to use this to charge safely 4x18650 (or 3 x 18650) in series without causing them to overcharge? Reason I'm asking is your output meter is showing the region of 13.51v?
+Midnight Hi. Personally I don't think 3 or 4s lithium packs work on a standard 12v solar charge controller. I explain my reasons for this in this video: ruclips.net/video/YoH7V56RtkM/видео.html I have been running 7s on a lead acid solar charge controller however for some time now. If you want to use 3 or 4 lithium cells in series I'd suggest getting a charge controller where you can adjust the charging parameters.
Thanks Adam, I'll check the video out now. A steep learning curve when haven't done much in electronics since schooldays lol....I'm fascinated in it now but so much to get head round
oh I also just realised too that I may occasionally be able to source some UPS batteries from work, so they should come in handy, assuming they run at 12v :) didn't think of those at first, but yeah I'll try the car battery first at least while messing
+Midnight I use UPS batteries in the shed. They're proper deep cycle batteries generally. Most UPSs use two 12v batteries in series. Businesses often have a routine replacement of the batteries in UPSs - they're pretty cheap and if they do fail it's fairly costly.
we occasionally replace APC ups's when they start to fail at work. I believe they are 2x12v. I wonder if, like when laptop batteries pack in, may get lucky in that when one fails the other may be good....I may hopefully be able to salvage a few that way :)
Hi I,m new to all this and am thinking of converting a mers sprinter into an rv and would like to run small fridge freezer, led lights, flat screen tv, and my laptop........could you tell me what kind of solar system would be best and what mppt would be good for me. i would be fitting flexi solar panels, but not sure how many i would need. but it would be used daily/nightly and fridge freezer would be constantly on....quite often......if you cannot advise thats ok....i,m still in the info tec gathering stage at the moment. giving it lots of thought so i get it right first time (if possible) lol......any info would be really welcome from folks out there........you can never get enough advice i say.....Thankyou.....great vid by the way...good review,,,but i,m sure i will be wanting much better quakity than this one being reviewd
Hello. I'll try to help as best I can but although I have a caravan and a solar shed, I haven't really mixed the two, so I don't go off the grid in my caravan if you follow. Most sprinter conversions I've seen will have at least 200 amp hours (Ah) of deep cycle batteries - you'll need sealed most likely if they are going to be in the living area. Have a pure electric fridge freezer may possibly require more - it depends on how efficient it is. I know that the 12v option on my caravan fridge barely keeps things cool but that is over ten years old. Gas and AC are far better. Of cause you're not forced to go with lead acid batteries, you could look at lithium, but this means you would need to use a lead acid charge controller and adapt it, or find a lihtium charge controller (of which there are very few). Sticking flexi panels straight to the roof isn't the optimal solution as in winter you need the panels at a more steep angle to catch the best sun, so to compensate you need to add more panels. If you are living in the van through the winter off grid I would probably start with 400 watts personally with a view to adding more. This may well be overkill in the summer when the sun is higher and closer but that's just the way with solar. You don't have to go with MPPT. It will charge your batteries more quickly in the morning or give you a few more amps to play with when you are drawing current in the day but if you're out all day (allowing your batteries to charge slowly before evening) there may not be a huge advantage. In winter if your panels can't get up to a decent voltage MPPT may not be much advantage (where as saving the money on the controller and adding another panel might be better). Personally I am liking my EPEver Tracer A charge controller (I've reviewed it here ruclips.net/video/zTBrktPQdCM/видео.html )- but we're just moving into the first winter with it in service. However it has got more watts attached to it than my previous MPPT controller last winter. You'll obviously need to match your controller with the amount of solar you have (or get a bigger one for later expansion. Bare in mind that your van will probably use the chassis as ground (the negative return to your starter battery) and the EPEver (as well as many others) is a common positive design. That means you need to be careful that the wiring is well isolated from the van - don't wire your solar setup to the chassis. The other option is getting a split charge, charge controller. They're specifically designed for charging leisure and starter batteries. However I have no experience of these, although there are a few on the market. Hopefully that's given a few things for you to think about. If I'd be dealt a different set of cards I might quite like to live the van life myself.
Thankx for all that feedback Adam, much appreciated. Although i am not wealthy by any standards, The solar power with split charger built in are one thing i am willing to spend on, I would much rather go for overkill bigtime rather than have to skimp on power to often. I am planning on using a split charger,,,,,,i also like the idea of gas fridge providing i can find an adequate one, and i was thinking of useing six to eight solar panels....i think i could do with finding a plan similar to my needs otherwise i might get it wrong.....i am quite handy with the tools and small elctrical jobs but i think a good plan might be what i need, along with a list of components......i would feel safer that way i think.....thankyou for taking time to reply mate. Really do appreciate it, Regards Bri
brianfindsall my advice would be don't go with 12v panels. Idk how it is where you live but in Canada 12v solar panels are 2 to 3 times more money than regular grid tie panels. If you use a mppt charge controller you can use any volt panel and hook it to a 12v battery bank. Panel prices around here are nuts! 12v 100 watt panel from canadian tire is 349 sale price (regular 549) Or you can get a 290 watt 35v panels for 203 bucks
If the battery is above about 85% charged you wont be able to know. As above about 85% MPPT revert to being PWM. You need to discharge the battery to about 60% then connect a panel at least 2 times the nominal battery voltage ie .... 36v and above panel and 12v battery.
Adam Welch my problem is 10.5 is waaaaaaaaaay lower than I would ever take a battery. Most of these controllers the highest cut off you can set is 10.5. Your battery is destroyed by that point. I managed to find one you can set the cut off at 12.05 (50%) it's still lower than I like to go but not too much damage occurs from the occasional 50% cycle
+potc420 I agree, but it should only be the last line in defence really. If you're prepared to put a little bit more money into a charge controller you can get one that allows you to program all the parameters and you can set the LVD exactly as you want it.
Adam Welch yeah what I meant to say was most of these cheap controllers lol. Any decent controller will have a lot more flexibility. My "mpp solar" brand controller is in the decent area. It's not spectacular but it's definitely decent!
Hi Adam. Could i ask how you cope during the winter when the temperatures drop? Do your batteries struggle when the temperature drops below 0 degrees celsius?
I've been thinking about this recently - more around my lithium ion pack rather than my lead acid one though. The short answer is yes, they will suffer a little - it's a chemical reaction which temperature can effect. However my lead acid batteries are good down to about -20c I think. My tracer charge controller actually increases the voltage it will charge to when the batteries are at a lower temperature. This helps keep them fully charged in more difficult situations.
Adam Welch thanks I'm using recycled 18650 batteries in a 3s5p config and recently the cold weather caused 3 cells to die. Be interesting to see if some sort of insulated container and your heating element idea could be a simple solution?
Hello Julian I am new to this. forgive me if my question seems like a no-brainer. if I use this solar charger, would I still need to put a protective circuit board for my lithium batteries?
+DoItAll-Tronics I'd suggest the answer is - probably. Unless you are creating large packs of lithium cells which tend to balance themselves quite well the you need something to actively balance, or you need to keep a very close eye on them.
Which of the MPPT units you have reviewed would you recommend to heat water with a (150 or 300 watt) DC heating element with three or four 315 watt solar panels?
Thank you for the video. I opened a cheap what advertised as MPPT Charge Controller and it doesn't have inductors. Does this mean it is not MPPT? Is there anything else to look for in the component to tell if it is MPPT or PWM? Thank you
There has to be a dc to dc converter inside an mppt solar charge controller (so it can convert the panels maximum power point voltage to the battery voltage) and that needs an inductor. You can test by testing the voltage of the panel and the voltage of the battery. There should be a reasonable difference. Do this test on a discharged battery though (or one with a reasonable load).
Hi Adam do you have any recommendation for a cheap but reliable 12v 20A mppt controller (cheaper than the EPEVER )? I viewed your videos about the UEIUA range but it looks like your tests and the many comments show that quality control is questionable on those.
Very nice find, I think I've seen these once before and immediately wrote them off as fakes but that isn't too bad and it even appears to actually be tracking, I may consider getting one.
***** Then again... I had to have a look on ebay and the price of those Tracer charge controllers appears to have gone down and I quite liked that one. I've managed to find these around $40 (£30) while the the tracer is now as low as $55 (£41) yeah just a little bit more, so the only advantage this one has is a bunch of outputs which is nice but I'm thinking the tracer is an even more worthwhile buy right now. What did your originally cost?
+vgamesx1 If the price has tumbled that much grab the tracer. It's a much better controller. Better build quality, much bigger heatsink, the screen and the RS485 port - it's a no brainer. The tracer originally cost me just short of £70.
***** Well it's for a 10A version which may not have existed back when you did your video on the 20A version, the 20A is about $80 (£60) so it's dropped a bit, but wow the 10A version being nearly half the cost which makes it really cheap for good MPPT, man electronics these days sure is wonderful huh? :)
+Maico It's a cheap resistor based load. Roughly one or two amps. You can get them very cheaply on eBay. I prefer the constant current transistor based loads really but I only wanted a quick test.
+Adam Welch doesn't this one look exiting to you, I think I'm ordering that one: www.ebay.nl/itm/USB-DC-Electronic-Load-Module-15W-3A-Precise-Adjustable-USB-Discharger-/131936506062?hash=item1eb80750ce:g:TgoAAOSwFqJWnYjN
Once the battery is almost charged it would be difficult to rate the efficiency of the device. Once the battery is only drawing a small amount of current as it is almost charged then the efficiency of the system is not so important. The charge controller might be wasting power at this almost completed level of charge but that is no longer important as the batteries are charged so nothing else can use the available power anyway. It would be more interesting to see how efficient the system is when the battery is close to dead and is drawing it's maximum amount of current.
i remember putting in 24 volts and the voltage into my low ,11v +/- battery climed up to 20 volts before i shut it off. i did it a few times. maybe i will dig it out of the pile and revisit the situation. it did have a coil in it.
so basicly this unit is a waste of money and better off with pwm ? as I just got a pwm solar controller as I now have a lead acid battery as li-ion pack is down for now or would it be better with this unit an change from 12volt panel to 24 volt config at moment I have a 20watt panel and 10 watt well 4 x 5v 2amp panel in series and a 10 watt 12v panel so open voltage for the lot is 21 volts
+David Simpson As I said if you need a bit more power and you can't install more solar then it should get you a bit more power. I'm quite impressed for the price to be honest. But if space and money isn't an issue, there are better options.
+David Simpson Mixed panels are better off left in parallel so the advantage of MPPT is reduced in this configuration. Like batteries, if you place panels in series the maximum current is determined by the weakest panel.
after checking out the specifications for that controller, it appears that it has a single charge profile set to 14.7 volts that is non adjustable. not a good controller in my opinion, even flooded batteries are a major cost of any system and will wear out soonest, so money is well spent on charging them properly for the longest life. 3-4 stage charging will greatly extend battery life
this is for lead acid batteries only! stage 1 is bulk, condition is batteries discharged. batteries are charged with max current,amps until voltage reaches a set point. this set point is adjustable on some controllers, preset on others. stage 2 is absorb, current is regulated to maintain the afore mentioned set point so that the battery is not over charged. this is done for a set amount of time usually 1-2 hours. again adjustable on some preset on others. some controllers a current flow design so when the flow is less than say .5 or 1 amp the battery is full, regardless of time and is not adjustable. stage 3 is float, again current limiting to maintain a constant voltage, pre set or adjustable. stage 4 is equalize, this is NOT for sealed jell batteries equalize is a controlled over charge which balances the individual cells and helps remix the electrolyte. also a timed operation. battery manufacturer will supply the voltage set points and current limits and most will be a little different, rule of thumb a little under is safer than over.
The Left Hand Yep, that's pretty much what I programmed, except I didn't use current limiting - the panels can't possibly supply more than 10A even under ideal conditions. But it's all defined in software, so easily changable.
Thank you, Adam, for this deep insight -- might this one share the same issues found with differnt versions for ruclips.net/video/Zxy5JBUuFaQ/видео.html - UEIUA "CPY-2410"->"CPS-2410" Teardown & stupid MPPT performance ?
This unit is on our camper van and works great with 100w mono crystal panel & 110ah sealed battery - the only odd thing is that when the inside of the van is very hot the float charge volts drops to as low as 13.2v as it should to avoid gassing and the LED battery indicator reads 75% however the battery is actually fully charged - it seems the temperature sensor is linked to the float charge level but not the LED indicator - We went to a 4 day festival last week and lost count how many asked if we could charge their phones etc from the USB ports - both ports were in use from morning till night!
+Trev S I bet you were popular, and I hope a couple of drinks were bought to say thank you! That's really interesting to know. It's good that it reduced the voltage to prevent too much gassing but odd that they didn't write that into the state of charge code. I'm sure others will find that handy. Thanks.
Because of this actual review, I bought 1.. It's fabulous, I get up to 10amps@14 volts or more from 1x24-26 volt 160w panel... over a year now and it's just awesome... best $$ spent ever
Thank you sooo much...
You’re welcome. Glad you found one, this model seems to be hard to find now.
YAY I love the cheap charge controller videos. Maybe I want to start a little solar storage and try to run a small server off of it. We (my parenst) already have 1.4kW on the roof feeding directly into the grid. Still going after 20 years :)
+Tobimai Thanks Tobimai.
Many thanks for that. I have just ordered one of these to replace the fake one installed in innocence previously. I was going to add another panel but hopefully this will achieve the same increase in performance at less cost.
Ive had one of these charge controllers nearly 2 years now and its never skipped a beat on my shed lighting system, the 2 63v caps are in series on mine not sure why they didn't use a slightly higher value 100v cap im guessing 2 lower voltage caps in series is fractions cheaper that the bigger cap. Great review.... btw there is a lithium battery version too...
Thanks Chris - good to hear you're getting good service out of yours. Capacitors in series - of cause! I'll check this. I think I need to do a quick update video as there's a few questions I need to address. Thanks again.
The 2 * 220uF /63V are not in series... They are connected in parallel!The reason for them not being +100V types is that they aren't "seing" the raw solar panel voltage, but are filter capacitors placed after the MPPT Buck Converter.Btw.: 2 low voltage caps in series would have a capacity of only ( c1^-1 + c2^-1 ) ^-1. => This solution would be inefficient from a cost perspective.
FYI, if you put capacitors in series, you get the voltage handling of both added together and the capacitance is divided. I can tell from the video, but, if those 63v input caps are in series, the voltage capacity is 126v.
Can you explain that to me how would it work? I have 3 phocos cis and i want to use them to charge faster my battery bank but they are pwm
Adam Welch - Modern Deep Cycle Batteries need 14.8V to charge to 100% so the voltage you were seeing on the output was bang on to get a full charge.
taking into account the voltage drop to the battery wiring and lack of a sense wire.
Just looking at this video, when using a 12V solar panel, the current out is almost always less than the current in, so overall losses using this device seem to be more than just having a direct connection to battery (even worse note that the IV curve will cause solar panel to give even more current when pulled to the lower voltage by the battery). When 24V panel is connected, you can see some better current figures - showing that the PWM/MPPT is effective (i.e. the current out is greater than the current in)...Phil.
To be honest I didn't give this little charge controller a fair run for it's money. All too often when I'm free to test, the sun isn't playing. This will probably perform much better near it's maximum limits. The issue is that converting power is inefficient so converting a small amount of power may not even supply enough power to the charge controller it's self. Or in my experimentation, it was just enough, with a small amount left to put into the battery.
At higher voltages, and under some proper sun, this charge controller will probably produce better results - it have definitely been designed to do the job.
Yes I see your point and agree...any module will consume power itself, which is why published efficiencies of 85-90% are usually only seen near their rated power outputs...this one has extra convenient things like 5v PWM and multiple outputs which might consume more fixed power...would be interesting to see how it goes with a higher input power...Phil
Very useful, thanks a lot! researching products for a small solar system on my van to be used in arctic/subarctic Scandinavia so efficiency and a tight budget is on my mind. very helpful this is!
Really liking your videos on MPPT controllers. What I would love you to test is at high loads and for a few hours. I have experienced some serious overheating on some controllers which makes me think they won't last.
Thanks very much. You make a good point but those kinds of tests are hard to do. Either I need a large battery bank which is well discharged or I need a decent load to shove on it for a while - but the load needs to be managed. Sadly I don't have the free time to test for such long periods. I've recently done a video on the charge controller I've been using for a number of months pointing out a couple of it's issues though.
Two nice inductors, several MOSFETs, screw terminals, caps, a buck converter you could extract and rebuild... the parts alone are almost worth that £21. However, since you made this video, the price has gone up - to £28.
I'm in the process of designing an MPPT unit myself now, but even if it works - and I am not confident it will - it'll only be of comparable cost, and limited to 12V, 100W-max.
+Vyl Bird Sorry if I've increased the cost - didn't know I had such power! You're right, the parts are worth a fair bit - rebuilding would be an interesting idea. Thanks
I also tried to build my own. And I sadly realized that in most cases, DIY project can not rival commercial products neither in price nor performance. Most of these commerial products manufacturers really understand how to extract the last bit of performance and value of the chip and passive components they used, and they have a real advantage in supply chain management and procurement. I know some vendors even can ask MOSFET makers to tailor MOSFETs with specialized specs for their products....And there are many plants who are willing to do such tailored products such as Consonance-elec etc.
Agreed - not bad for the price; might be a nice solution for a relatively inexpensive smaller system.
I'm thinking about hooking this up to the load output of my 24 volt system with a 12v battery to keep it charged for 12v things in the camper that have high amp draw startup like fridge or pump. Everything DC in the camper, is still 12v . I tried to substitute a 24V to 12v [20 amp] stepdown, for the regular 12v battery but, it went poof.
I would like to thank you for this video and generally your work to show us what is what re: real or fake mppt controllers. I am trying to determine this about a controller that came with a now out business wind turbine. Your vid gives me some clues and I will be testing it using some of the methods I have seen here. Thanks
You’re welcome. Thanks.
I love it - gotta get me one of them - when it's back in stock :)
It seems to have gone up in price too - not sure if that's my fault!
I'm going to have to do a little update video, some helpful peoples comments have pointed out a couple of things I didn't test or think of. I love the feedback and ideas I get back.
Thanks for your comments :-)
Hi Julian. Did you end up getting one? I've just ordered one.
@@JN.0_o where did you get it from ?
@@Anhidema I ended up getting mine from eBay, though that was 2 years ago so I'm not sure if they're still available now
@@JN.0_o Is it still working ? and does it do the job as it's expected after 2 years ?
Check how those Caps are wired. If back to back series they would make the 100V rating and some head room, eaa?
finally a budget mppt, happy days, thank you very much for all your vids, if it wasnt for the youtube stars, id still be a slave of society :)
Tricky's World n6
It could still be PWM as PWM will drop the voltage to the battery level but waste the watts in the difference of the solar panel voltage and the batteries voltage which might account for the high waste.
It would really still be worth it's money if those 4 separate 12v ports are regulated (Constant) through that second Inductor. Imagine it would be battery assisted and is drawing more than 12v to sustain regulating these 4 ports. It would be the ideal unit for a DIY portable Solar Power Generator. Where can i buy this version?
hi Adam... looking at 12:40 in your video, you have had 0.417ah go in to the controller, but it put 0.508ah into the battery. A pwm couldn't do that, so it's not too bad... cheers, and thanks for another interesting video...Larry
Yeah it's definitely MPPT. On a different day and on a bigger set of panels I think it would do quite well.
I think you should drain battery to test. Minute 11:00 amps panel .63 and amps battery 1.4 which is good.
Neat video. Very informative. It might be fun if you compared this to the trashy CMP02 and uts black and blue digital buddy. Now those two I have used. The blue one throws a wobbly every time my ventilation fans start (2x2.5a 12v fans) despite being 30A. The other one (led edition) fails to fully charge a battery.
a mil is 1/1000 th of an inch. 14 pin DIP Integrated Circuits are spaced at 100 mils. what you are talking about on the front of the device is mm= milimeters.
wattage reading is not what we need to look at with mppt but the current solar side to battery side as you can see going from 24v to 12 volt we seem to get mppt as power is almost double the current into the battery then what the panel produce but when the 12v panel and 12v battery the mppt was not very great I think the higher the solar series power the better the mppt will do
Hi David - Watts is voltage times current so it's the easiest figure to compare quickly as the solar input bounces around and changes. Comparing watts allows us to look at the efficiency of the DC conversion. It's actually easier once the video is produced to pause the video every so often and compare the input and output stats and see the increased current and reduced voltage.
If you take a look at the images here: admw.uk/jb You can see DC2DC conversion is happening - 40v and 0.8 amps which is 32 watts in and we're seeing 14.6 volts and nearly 1.5 amps which is 21 watts on the output. So the conversion isn't very efficient 32 watts in, 21 out, but it is converting the power and we are seeing an increase to the current and a drop in the voltage.
So could you use one of these with each panel? E.g. the large 60 solar cell 275W - 335W panels. Each gets one of these cheap controllers in parallel. Or maybe the other cheaper one? I bet even for something big like 10 panels this would be cheaper than a big mppt charge controller.
Some solar panels have MPPT controllers build in but they are much more expensive. I think they are called "power optimizers".
I've looked and e.g. the EPEver charge controllers can be used in parallel if the settings are exactly the same and they are wired the same (each controller gets their own solar array and is connected in parallel to the battery).
Good test/review. The only thing I don't like about it is...how do you set the voltage setpoints for the battery? Some batteries are very specific what voltage they charge at. 10 amps...on a 24v system...that is 240 watts. So, on could hook up three 100w panels and push 10 amps into them...if it doesn't burn up first. Does it current limit?
+Chris DIYer All parameters are fixed I'm afraid. Batteries are self current limiting to a degree, but this will limit as the voltage approaches a set point.
Great video. I NEVER watch the commercials on youtube until I found your channel. Thanks for your videos and I just mute them on your channel because I value your contributions to us, tinkerers.
Many thanks for the kind comments. Nice to have you watching. :-)
Interesting. I guess it would really make more sense to spend a little more and get a controller that isn't wasting so much power.
wow. looked good in the beginning. Was thinking, now add a for them 1 euro/dollar/pound lcd with measurements like voltage and amps and we have a winner. Now as David also mentioned, where the hell is the efficiency, the meaning of using MPPT. Would be interesting to compare it with that other pwm controller. Shouldn't using a power supply instead of a panel be better to measure the loss or efficiency?
+Luc Peeters Yeah using a power supply might give more steady results to measure from but it's not a real world test. Perhaps next time I'll look at running it on both a psu and a panel for some of the tests. Thanks for your comments.
+Adam Welch Yeah that'd be nice and I don't know how you do your tests but it would be a good idea to have a load on your batteries just to make sure it doesn't go into float charge.
+vgamesx1 Yes I usually put a load on - but I also want to see the different charging stages.
Use caution when buying, and or connecting!
i just have a Question i have a ute canopy it has a 300 watt fixed solar panel on the roof and a Folding panel for when i pull up camping i will use that i have a 100ah AGM battery i run a waeco fridge and few led lights what am i better off using PWM or Mppt thank you
thank god. bought one b4 i saw this review. can't wait to hook it up to my 50 watt bosch flexi panel now. thanx.
I have ,made. My own ebike 54 volt 18650 battery thought about using on van but charging tricky use inverter I guess but difference in voltage to van electrics tricky
Whats the difference between using a cheap MPPT charge controller and just a regular buck converter set to your battery voltage. Obviously it lacks any battery charge protection but they are cheaper.
Great review thanks!. I have been using this controller for a year and it works well. Could you check the efficiency over a long period of time? It looks like the watt meter flashes the total AH (amp hours) and total WH (watt hours) in the lower left. If you let this run for a few hours I think you should be able to divide the WH form the 2 meters to get a rough efficiency. This assumes controller stays in full charge mode and does not go into trickle or float charge mode. thanks again
Have seen the Richsolar 20 Amp 12V/24V DC Input MPPT Solar Charge Controller on Amazon?
Great Video nice tutorial,
I like it when U take apart the mppt charge controller and explain the system. Thanks William Orange county, ca.
Thanks William.
They may have stacked the two 63 volt electrolytics in series to handle the 100 volts.
Not as good as a single higher voltage capacitor, but as long as the leakage currents and voltages are roughly equal, it can work.
BTW, where's your ESD wriststrap?
I believe you are correct regarding the caps. Hopefully they take an even load. ESD wrist strap - you're right, I forgot to clip on my wireless one. ;-)
Any stray radio interference results
It is not possible to test MPPT if the batteries are fully charged when starting. The MPPT will disconnect your panels as there is no power needed.
Who is the manufacture ? Does the literature mention anything about load lighting times on/off ? This is what I would need it for.
Always good reviews thanks
Hi, I'm adding a Solar system to my allotment in southern England and am finding your videos very helpful. I decided to get a couple of the Watt Meters that you use and have just received them. They came with a small plug that goes in the side socket but the instructions don't mention this plug and socket. I wondered if I could be cheeky and ask if you know what they are for? Thanks. Jeanette
+Jetjai The blue watt meters? If so you can power the meter from another power supply - it stops the meter taking power away from the thing it is measuring. It's not really necessary. Thanks.
Adam Welch Yes, the Meters at 7:14. Thanks for that. The pins were out of line in the units and there was no info about the sockets. I took one unit apart and the build quality of the box is a bit 'iffy' The printed circuit board just floats about, it isn't fixed and I was worried about the soldered joints of the pcb touching the case and shorting. The only thing I had to hand was sticky notes so I put 2 sheets between the PCC and the case - 'belt and braces'! I shan't worry about the socket, onwards and upwards 😄Thanks, Jeanette
Most helpful..Could you tell me where I can get the test gears you used such as watt meter in verifying data on Charge controller -CPT-LA10?, Or complete name to enable a google hit?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
The 63 volt electrolytic caps look like they are in series? ... if so, 100 volt in should be no problem...
Shouldn't you be using a battery in a low state of charge so that it can accept the full output of the charge controller without having to introduce an external load?
How well would this do on a cloudy day with little to no sunshine?
They would be perfect if they allowed you to preset the charge voltage limits; so you could charge other voltage batteries; such as a 6 volt battery or banks of LiIon cells.
I researched the company, and you can purchase chargers for 3 or 4 LiIon cells in series connection; but you have to purchase a separate charger for each size.
That could mean I would need 4 chargers if I wanted to charge a 6 volt battery, (my antique cars have their batteries constantly trickle charged by solar), 3 cell Li-Ion for my 12 volt drills, 4 cell for my 16 to 18 volt drills, and another one for each 12 volt battery.
Their current drain is limited to 2C, so the 5 amp version will only allow a 10 amp load, which is not nearly enough for a decent inverter system.
I guess that if you don't have to worry about those design limitations; they are perfect!
Liked the video so much that I went out and bought the charge controller. The only thing I'm unsure of is how to utilize the load connectors, the pair on the right. For example, how big a load can you power off them and when and for what should you use them. Any thought's?
The regulated 12v load outputs on the 5.5/2.1mm barrel connectors are only for light loads. They seem well suited to strings of 12 volt LEDs. The manual says you can output up to 6 amps on those connectors - not sure I would though. 3 amps mentioned on the USB ports too.
Thanks for the kind comments.
The efficiency seemed to drop when it switched to float charge.
Would be interesting to see it on a flatter battery.
That is not critical, as you don't have anywhere to put the solar power and it has to go somewhere.
Hi Adam just seen your mppt budget test as I have just a 100 watt panel on my campervan running into a pwm controller .gives about 1 to 2 Amps usually but my waeco fridge is on constantly as separate leisure battery gets charged from dc to dc charger off engine daily.ive fitted old can battery in parallel to fridge battery to give extra current .would a cheap mppt improve things ?steve.
What hapened if i connect to input 50.v 1.a from solar panel to the (dc dc 600W step up/down coverter) (gs-50 amorphine), and i set in output 14.v for charging car batery block? This stil works? How much A power i get? can you tested pls :)
?
There seems to be different versions of this unit. Noticed yours says v1.4 mine has a red circuit board and says v6.0
It has two separate 100v CAPS (different spots on board) and no visible temp sensor.
Raises a number of questions.
That's interesting. I hope the redesign was for positive reasons rather than cost optimization or reduced functionality.
FYI. Just looked this item up on ebay. Going for over 61.00 dollars us. As of January 2021. Very expensive for what you get.
cant seem to find this mppt controller in the USA ebay
+Tanik Sambo I've heard this. There seems to be a shortage or something. Sorry.
50 % eff not bad ? what would be a good eff % ?
Don't be surprised that things are getting smaller. I think you need to have a half charged battery to test with.
How much current can both 5v sockets supply when both in use? Do they share the same current output to their respective loads? Or are they independent of one another?
4 holes above the uc, is that serial port connection?
Excellent video.
It's really helpful...
While thanking you for the hard work of educating and explaining the features of MPPT system boards, it’s unbelievable to see the Engineer pointing the components with a metal object. This is not the first time, that I’m viewing that procedure. Those who learn from you may also practice what they see from the Master. With what one should point/ probe the passive components, is left to the Engineer to determine. Cheers.
oh I bet you are not an engineer :-)
i got this a few months ago, it does appears to be better than the previous pwm controller i used. The most amp I ever get was around 5A-ish, from a 2x100w solar panel (tried both parallel and series - parallel gives more power). Can I expect to be able to get close to full power / wattage out of these solar panels (so using a mppt controller I shud get close to 16A for 2x100w panels) ?
I'd hope you'd see close to full power under a perfect sky with the panels on axis and a battery that is well depleted. There will be some losses inside the charge controller but you should come close.
is it safe to short circuit a 200w panel (for a short while) to make sure I dont have problem with connections and or cabling, my cables can handle I think -or- theres a better / easier way to do that (all i can think of is having a volt-matching ultra+supercap s)
Most panels are supplied with the stats for their short circuit current and their open voltage. Solar panels don't hold energy (like a battery) they produce energy when they are in the correct environment and held in the right part of their power curve.
So yes, it's generally safe to short circuit a solar panel - there may be a slight crack while the panel goes from providing lots of voltage and no current, to providing lots of current but no voltage. In both open and closed states no power is being produced (as P=IV) but as it transitions from one to the other there will be a short time (micro/nano seconds?) when it is producing power.
If it worries you, pop something over your panel to reduce its power capability as you short it. I plan to do a video where this is covered very soon.
Great, thanks for the uploads, definetely looking forward for that
Lektro Kits I was hitting 5.5 amps using 1 - 100 watt panel and a cheap 10 dollar pwm controller
I know why the efficiency is low. You need Vbatt + 5V for max efficiency. Yes?
Hello,
Would this safely work with a 7S 18650 pack?
any chance you can test the - Ming He MPT-7210A?
what is the 10amp rating for ? is that for input or output ?
bos dad usually that's a in/out rating. It can handle 10 in and 10 out. Lots of people don't understand mppt fully and they think they can load them right up on the "in" side (150v in @ 10a) the problem is 150v @ 10a is 1500 watts and a 10 amp controller can only handle 120 watts
can't find it anywhere
Well... I'm not too impressed by the fact, that the battery amperage is mostly lower than the solar panel amperage even though the voltage is also lower. Any PWM controller can bring the voltage down. The trick is to maintain the wattage through the conversion which would require the amperage to rise when the voltage falls and vice versa. So, assuming it is a genuine MPPT charge controller. I do consider it kinda useless since as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to be any more efficient than a cheap PWM charge controller is.
It may however be interesting to see what happens when the solar panel voltage is lower than the battery voltage, can it boost the voltage? That would definitely not be possible with a PWM charge controller.
Curiously, Adam misses the fact that the amps don't go up.
Instead, he points out that the voltage goes down, and takes that as a sign that DC-DC conversion is done.
But that assumption is without merit. A PWM would drop the voltage in a similar way without doing any DC-DC conversion. I admit that the device's innards look convincing, and that some scanning appears to happen. But the efficiency seems to be no better than PWM.
@@it886514 true, but later in the video you see the amp out is higher than the amp in so it does mppt. Only not very efficient. The first part of the video you only see pwm action more or less.
any radio static , i dont see any fairite chokes.
Hi. I'm trying to get into this hobby. I plan on getting something like this, to power a PIR and led lighting in a shed.....maybe other uses too. The USB and 12v power outputs sure look handy. I'm looking at using 18650 batteries instead of lead acid batteries however.....if I'm thinking right, it should be safe to use this to charge safely 4x18650 (or 3 x 18650) in series without causing them to overcharge? Reason I'm asking is your output meter is showing the region of 13.51v?
+Midnight Hi. Personally I don't think 3 or 4s lithium packs work on a standard 12v solar charge controller. I explain my reasons for this in this video: ruclips.net/video/YoH7V56RtkM/видео.html I have been running 7s on a lead acid solar charge controller however for some time now.
If you want to use 3 or 4 lithium cells in series I'd suggest getting a charge controller where you can adjust the charging parameters.
Thanks Adam, I'll check the video out now. A steep learning curve when haven't done much in electronics since schooldays lol....I'm fascinated in it now but so much to get head round
oh I also just realised too that I may occasionally be able to source some UPS batteries from work, so they should come in handy, assuming they run at 12v :) didn't think of those at first, but yeah I'll try the car battery first at least while messing
+Midnight I use UPS batteries in the shed. They're proper deep cycle batteries generally. Most UPSs use two 12v batteries in series. Businesses often have a routine replacement of the batteries in UPSs - they're pretty cheap and if they do fail it's fairly costly.
we occasionally replace APC ups's when they start to fail at work. I believe they are 2x12v. I wonder if, like when laptop batteries pack in, may get lucky in that when one fails the other may be good....I may hopefully be able to salvage a few that way :)
Can we connect it with 3w 6v solar panel
Excellent video.
Hi I,m new to all this and am thinking of converting a mers sprinter into an rv and would like to run small fridge freezer, led lights, flat screen tv, and my laptop........could you tell me what kind of solar system would be best and what mppt would be good for me. i would be fitting flexi solar panels, but not sure how many i would need. but it would be used daily/nightly and fridge freezer would be constantly on....quite often......if you cannot advise thats ok....i,m still in the info tec gathering stage at the moment. giving it lots of thought so i get it right first time (if possible) lol......any info would be really welcome from folks out there........you can never get enough advice i say.....Thankyou.....great vid by the way...good review,,,but i,m sure i will be wanting much better quakity than this one being reviewd
Hello. I'll try to help as best I can but although I have a caravan and a solar shed, I haven't really mixed the two, so I don't go off the grid in my caravan if you follow.
Most sprinter conversions I've seen will have at least 200 amp hours (Ah) of deep cycle batteries - you'll need sealed most likely if they are going to be in the living area. Have a pure electric fridge freezer may possibly require more - it depends on how efficient it is. I know that the 12v option on my caravan fridge barely keeps things cool but that is over ten years old. Gas and AC are far better. Of cause you're not forced to go with lead acid batteries, you could look at lithium, but this means you would need to use a lead acid charge controller and adapt it, or find a lihtium charge controller (of which there are very few).
Sticking flexi panels straight to the roof isn't the optimal solution as in winter you need the panels at a more steep angle to catch the best sun, so to compensate you need to add more panels. If you are living in the van through the winter off grid I would probably start with 400 watts personally with a view to adding more. This may well be overkill in the summer when the sun is higher and closer but that's just the way with solar.
You don't have to go with MPPT. It will charge your batteries more quickly in the morning or give you a few more amps to play with when you are drawing current in the day but if you're out all day (allowing your batteries to charge slowly before evening) there may not be a huge advantage. In winter if your panels can't get up to a decent voltage MPPT may not be much advantage (where as saving the money on the controller and adding another panel might be better).
Personally I am liking my EPEver Tracer A charge controller (I've reviewed it here ruclips.net/video/zTBrktPQdCM/видео.html )- but we're just moving into the first winter with it in service. However it has got more watts attached to it than my previous MPPT controller last winter. You'll obviously need to match your controller with the amount of solar you have (or get a bigger one for later expansion. Bare in mind that your van will probably use the chassis as ground (the negative return to your starter battery) and the EPEver (as well as many others) is a common positive design. That means you need to be careful that the wiring is well isolated from the van - don't wire your solar setup to the chassis.
The other option is getting a split charge, charge controller. They're specifically designed for charging leisure and starter batteries. However I have no experience of these, although there are a few on the market.
Hopefully that's given a few things for you to think about. If I'd be dealt a different set of cards I might quite like to live the van life myself.
Thankx for all that feedback Adam, much appreciated. Although i am not wealthy by any standards, The solar power with split charger built in are one thing i am willing to spend on, I would much rather go for overkill bigtime rather than have to skimp on power to often. I am planning on using a split charger,,,,,,i also like the idea of gas fridge providing i can find an adequate one, and i was thinking of useing six to eight solar panels....i think i could do with finding a plan similar to my needs otherwise i might get it wrong.....i am quite handy with the tools and small elctrical jobs but i think a good plan might be what i need, along with a list of components......i would feel safer that way i think.....thankyou for taking time to reply mate. Really do appreciate it, Regards Bri
brianfindsall my advice would be don't go with 12v panels. Idk how it is where you live but in Canada 12v solar panels are 2 to 3 times more money than regular grid tie panels. If you use a mppt charge controller you can use any volt panel and hook it to a 12v battery bank. Panel prices around here are nuts! 12v 100 watt panel from canadian tire is 349 sale price (regular 549) Or you can get a 290 watt 35v panels for 203 bucks
If the battery is above about 85% charged you wont be able to know.
As above about 85% MPPT revert to being PWM.
You need to discharge the battery to about 60% then connect a panel at least 2 times the nominal battery voltage
ie .... 36v and above panel and 12v battery.
Do these cheap mppt chargers have low battery voltage protection (over discharge) on thier load ?
+Shutter Eff3ct Yes this one does I believe. 10.5 volts on a 12v system.
Adam Welch my problem is 10.5 is waaaaaaaaaay lower than I would ever take a battery. Most of these controllers the highest cut off you can set is 10.5. Your battery is destroyed by that point. I managed to find one you can set the cut off at 12.05 (50%) it's still lower than I like to go but not too much damage occurs from the occasional 50% cycle
+potc420 I agree, but it should only be the last line in defence really. If you're prepared to put a little bit more money into a charge controller you can get one that allows you to program all the parameters and you can set the LVD exactly as you want it.
Adam Welch yeah what I meant to say was most of these cheap controllers lol.
Any decent controller will have a lot more flexibility. My "mpp solar" brand controller is in the decent area. It's not spectacular but it's definitely decent!
Hi Adam. Could i ask how you cope during the winter when the temperatures drop? Do your batteries struggle when the temperature drops below 0 degrees celsius?
I've been thinking about this recently - more around my lithium ion pack rather than my lead acid one though.
The short answer is yes, they will suffer a little - it's a chemical reaction which temperature can effect. However my lead acid batteries are good down to about -20c I think. My tracer charge controller actually increases the voltage it will charge to when the batteries are at a lower temperature. This helps keep them fully charged in more difficult situations.
Adam Welch thanks I'm using recycled 18650 batteries in a 3s5p config and recently the cold weather caused 3 cells to die. Be interesting to see if some sort of insulated container and your heating element idea could be a simple solution?
where did you get the usb lamp? That's cool
Where can it be purchased?
Hello Julian I am new to this. forgive me if my question seems like a no-brainer. if I use this solar charger, would I still need to put a protective circuit board for my lithium batteries?
+DoItAll-Tronics I'd suggest the answer is - probably. Unless you are creating large packs of lithium cells which tend to balance themselves quite well the you need something to actively balance, or you need to keep a very close eye on them.
Which of the MPPT units you have reviewed would you recommend to heat water with a (150 or 300 watt) DC heating element with three or four 315 watt solar panels?
none. Sounds like a terrible idea. Also, batteries?
Great mppt video
Thank you for the video.
I opened a cheap what advertised as MPPT Charge Controller and it doesn't have inductors. Does this mean it is not MPPT? Is there anything else to look for in the component to tell if it is MPPT or PWM? Thank you
There has to be a dc to dc converter inside an mppt solar charge controller (so it can convert the panels maximum power point voltage to the battery voltage) and that needs an inductor. You can test by testing the voltage of the panel and the voltage of the battery. There should be a reasonable difference. Do this test on a discharged battery though (or one with a reasonable load).
Hi Adam do you have any recommendation for a cheap but reliable 12v 20A mppt controller (cheaper than the EPEVER )? I viewed your videos about the UEIUA range but it looks like your tests and the many comments show that quality control is questionable on those.
pt.aliexpress.com/item/MakeSkyBlue-30A-40A-60A-MPPT-Controlador-de-Carga-Solar-para-12-V-24-V-36-V/32950731408.html?spm=a2g03.11010108.06001.10.25905d71q77Vhf&pvid=518434a8-62d3-4eac-a5ff-61124b7d3f80&gps-id=pcJustForYou&scm=1007.13562.109986.0&scm-url=1007.13562.109986.0&scm_id=1007.13562.109986.0
thanks mate keep up the good work.
Are the capacitors in series?
Very nice find, I think I've seen these once before and immediately wrote them off as fakes but that isn't too bad and it even appears to actually be tracking, I may consider getting one.
+vgamesx1 I was surprised too. I'm glad I ordered one now.
***** Then again...
I had to have a look on ebay and the price of those Tracer charge controllers appears to have gone down and I quite liked that one.
I've managed to find these around $40 (£30) while the the tracer is now as low as $55 (£41) yeah just a little bit more, so the only advantage this one has is a bunch of outputs which is nice but I'm thinking the tracer is an even more worthwhile buy right now.
What did your originally cost?
+vgamesx1 If the price has tumbled that much grab the tracer. It's a much better controller. Better build quality, much bigger heatsink, the screen and the RS485 port - it's a no brainer. The tracer originally cost me just short of £70.
***** Well it's for a 10A version which may not have existed back when you did your video on the 20A version, the 20A is about $80 (£60) so it's dropped a bit, but wow the 10A version being nearly half the cost which makes it really cheap for good MPPT, man electronics these days sure is wonderful huh? :)
+vgamesx1 Absolutely. Cheap and reliable solar charge controllers has to be good for developing countries too.
Where do I buy this plugs to connect the watt meters to the charger?
Thank You!
They are all over ebay etc ... just use this as a key sentence 'FEMALE AND MALE CCTV SECURITY CAMERA ADAPTER 12V POWER JACK CONNECTOR '
Thank You!
sorry for the caps btw ... copy paste victim
Hello, can You make macro photos of pcb with IC numbers or list them here? :) Nice converter :)
Adam what is this USB-load-device with 2 high power resistors and can even be adjusted to create more load ?
+Maico It's a cheap resistor based load. Roughly one or two amps. You can get them very cheaply on eBay. I prefer the constant current transistor based loads really but I only wanted a quick test.
+Adam Welch thanks I didn't know these existed in this form. I found them on Ebay now
+Adam Welch doesn't this one look exiting to you, I think I'm ordering that one: www.ebay.nl/itm/USB-DC-Electronic-Load-Module-15W-3A-Precise-Adjustable-USB-Discharger-/131936506062?hash=item1eb80750ce:g:TgoAAOSwFqJWnYjN
+Maico Actually I do have one of those and that's a good price. It's a handy 3 amp load.
***** ok thanks I will order one
Once the battery is almost charged it would be difficult to rate the efficiency of the device.
Once the battery is only drawing a small amount of current as it is almost charged then the efficiency of the system is not so important. The charge controller might be wasting power at this almost completed level of charge but that is no longer important as the batteries are charged so nothing else can use the available power anyway. It would be more interesting to see how efficient the system is when the battery is close to dead and is drawing it's maximum amount of current.
Yes I always try to depleat a battery before testing - and often add a load directly to the battery to prevent it from charging too much.
love that screwdriver you have, are they available on the mighty Ebay?
+John Cornell Probably, but I got them from Poundland here in the UK.
on mine, i got the same voltage out as i put in.
If your battery is well charged then generally mppt isn’t used.
i remember putting in 24 volts and the voltage into my low ,11v +/- battery climed up to 20 volts before i shut it off. i did it a few times. maybe i will dig it out of the pile and revisit the situation. it did have a coil in it.
I wouldn't mind one of these for lithium ion batteries
MPPT Charge Controller - CPT-LA10 Where can I purchase one ?
so basicly this unit is a waste of money and better off with pwm ? as I just got a pwm solar controller as I now have a lead acid battery as li-ion pack is down for now or would it be better with this unit an change from 12volt panel to 24 volt config at moment I have a 20watt panel and 10 watt well 4 x 5v 2amp panel in series and a 10 watt 12v panel so open voltage for the lot is 21 volts
+David Simpson As I said if you need a bit more power and you can't install more solar then it should get you a bit more power. I'm quite impressed for the price to be honest. But if space and money isn't an issue, there are better options.
added abt more info but you answered befor I finished the edit lol
at moment I ordered the cheapest controller I could fined on ebay do to the buck converter I was using went pop
from what I see things improve when you went from 12 to 24 on the panels so if I got the spare money this could be an option
+David Simpson Mixed panels are better off left in parallel so the advantage of MPPT is reduced in this configuration. Like batteries, if you place panels in series the maximum current is determined by the weakest panel.
after checking out the specifications for that controller, it appears that it has a single charge profile set to 14.7 volts that is non adjustable. not a good controller in my opinion, even flooded batteries are a major cost of any system and will wear out soonest, so money is well spent on charging them properly for the longest life. 3-4 stage charging will greatly extend battery life
Can you tell me more about this 3-4 stage charging? I have designed my own PWM charger, and want to make sure the charge profile is optimal.
this is for lead acid batteries only!
stage 1 is bulk, condition is batteries discharged. batteries are charged with max current,amps until voltage reaches a set point.
this set point is adjustable on some controllers, preset on others.
stage 2 is absorb, current is regulated to maintain the afore mentioned set point so that the battery is not over charged. this is done for a set amount of time usually 1-2 hours. again adjustable on some preset on others. some controllers a current flow design so when the flow is less than say .5 or 1 amp the battery is full, regardless of time and is not adjustable.
stage 3 is float, again current limiting to maintain a constant voltage, pre set or adjustable.
stage 4 is equalize, this is NOT for sealed jell batteries equalize is a controlled over charge which balances the individual cells and helps remix the electrolyte. also a timed operation.
battery manufacturer will supply the voltage set points and current limits and most will be a little different, rule of thumb a little under is safer than over.
The Left Hand
Yep, that's pretty much what I programmed, except I didn't use current limiting - the panels can't possibly supply more than 10A even under ideal conditions. But it's all defined in software, so easily changable.
Hi, friend! Thank You for the video!
Where do I buy these watt meter?
Thank You!
+Emmanuel Tavora EBay!
Please send me the link of the watt meters and the plugs, thank you!
Thank You, friend!
Thank you, Adam, for this deep insight -- might this one share the same issues found with differnt versions for ruclips.net/video/Zxy5JBUuFaQ/видео.html - UEIUA "CPY-2410"->"CPS-2410" Teardown & stupid MPPT performance ?