Genasun MPPT solar charge controllers are radio friendly and great for off-grid communications on solar power. They are lightweight, RF quiet, consume very little energy, and can be used with Lithium iron phosphate LiFePO4 and other battery chemistries. 73 Julian #oh8stn #offgrid Video URL: ruclips.net/video/ND3YqAkBIJU/видео.html Related blog post:oh8stn.org/blog/2023/11/30/radio-friendly-mppt-charge-controller-for-off-grid-comms-genasun/
Great as always Julian! Genasun is definitely the way to go. I have a stack of them for my Powerfilm Solar solar panels. They're also very receptive to emails asking questions about specific applications and definitely steer you in the right direction. By the way, your videos are never too long! You could easily add a few more minutes of Snapper and no one would ever complain! Hope you had a great birthday last month brother, Semper fi! Todd KI5HNX
Thank you for simplifying the topic and being specific with your examples. Definitely taking notes and will read your posts and resources. I know close to zero about electronics so please continue targeting the beginner as much as your patience can handle 😁
I have been testing portable charge controllers for Ham radio for many years and followed your advice. I went through maybe 4-5 controllers and they were from bad to insanely bad. Then couple years back took your advice on Genasun. Wow! Game changer MPPT. All I get is insignificant RF on 10m. I never tested 6m or 160m. But from testing if 80m not an issue nor will 160m. I did have a Buddipole Mini solar controller that finally died. Nice but expensive unit. Limitations were it’s not MPPT and it’s max solar line voltage and current are very limited to 150w panel and below. But still great concept and works well especially for 100w and less. . But Genasun is less expensive and far more robust and efficient too. Always great content you do. Thank you !
Fantastic video, as always, Julian. We will link this on our website as we often deal with the topic of which RF Quiet controller is best. Thanks for helping comprehensively answer the question!
I use the Genasun 10A charge controller for LiFePO4 batteries. be aware of what you order. this controller is not suitable for lead acid batteries. I can say that this controller is indeed rf quiet. it does the job well.
This is quite useful information - I've had solar panels on small boats discussions with my friends over time, and I've never had time or energy to suggest anything else but Victron. These Genasun controllers look very much what is reasonable in many cases - small boats aren't that far from backpacking, except that often they are hesitating on getting a LiFePO4 battery due to price, even if they come with obvious benefits and operating environment basically never gets below freezing.
Lots of great information on choosing an MPPT charge controller! The Genasun looks like a great option that checks all the boxes. Looking forward to going a little further down the rabbit hole!
Mahalo Julian for this very informative blog and video. I have been waiting for this type of information for some time. Got bits and pieces overtime, but this one puts it all together. Aloha!
Thanks Julian! I wait the future blogs and videos. I see the advantage of smaller Charge controllers instead of one BIG honking controller... 73 de KO4L Lloyd
Hi Julian. Great video as always. I'm considering going totally away from AC power supplies and to an off-grid set up for my home station. Great information the the solar charge controllers. Trying to configure the best options to build out this power station. I really enjoy watching your videos and envy you living where you do. I'm in Minnesota so the weather is similar but your views of the lakes and ocean are outstanding!
Now if we could just get Genasun to make a 20-30A controller for small fixed/mobile sites. I know we can parallel multiple controllers. My engineering heart wants something a bit cleaner.
In addition to the Genasun brand solar controllers, Sunforge has its Blue Sky brand controllers, which go up to 20-25A for 12V systems. It would be useful to know whether they are RF quieter than Victron controllers which you have tested.
The Blue Sky documentation says, "To comply with electromagnetic compatibility requirements..." to install "ferrite suppressors”. Has anyone tried and tested it?
Their engineers said the Blue Sky controllers are nowhere near as quiet as Genasun. I haven't tested them myself, just gave them the requirements. Based on their feedback minded in both the ordering one.
The main problem I have with Genasun is that (especially in the UK) they are very pricey for what they are, and their aphiliated stores add on shipping AFTER you've already paid for the item, which causes an error in the payment process (they wanted to charge £40 shipping on top of their lowest-cost model at approx £100, which in total is nearly £140! 😨). If they were to come down to somewhere like £50 per unit, then it would make sense - but on a small-scale 'on-the-move' charging system, it costs more than the batteries and panels do. Is this because of a lack of competition that their prices are so sky-high??
www.genasun.eu is in Netherlands. Shipping to me is quite reasonable, and is calculated at checkout, not after. There are cheaper controllers, but then you have to deal with a noise. If someone made an rf quiet charge controller with good performance at a lower price, I would certainly buy it. Sadly we are paying for the engineering.
@OH8STN as a new ham and a guy who wants back up for my essential equipment for coms, and life, enjoying all videos you post. I will come back to this video and others once I get the equipment needed to start the projects
Would like to see how to run the genasuns in parallel with multiple solar panel arrays. I’m new to solar and concerned about setting it up wrong and damaging batteries or equipment.
Thank you so very much for sharing Julian, I am in the market for a portable battery and charge controller for my FT-991A. I know this is not too portable of a radio but, I would like to get myself setup for off grid communication. If you buy a MPPT charger, do you need to have MPPT solar panels? Thank you again Julian for sharing.
That's a great question! As long as your solar panels are below the maximum voltage & current of the charge controller, They will be fine. 💪👍 Thanks for watching, Commenting anne for the kindness. It's greatly appreciated.
With a solar panel of 20v max 100watts, into 10 amp solar charger, and the bms with lifepo4. I have realize that when the battery when full, the system bypass the battery power of 12.8v and as it is full bypass and get full power of the solar panel 20v. In case that always have the radio connected to the system the radio will get 20v getting overvoltage. Who in the system should cancel the bypass and avoid that overcharge in output on the battery system?
I've experienced this once myself. The problem is not having the correct charge controller voltage, set under the bms high voltage disconnect voltage. If the high voltage disconnect of your battery is eg 14.6 volts, uour charge controller should be set for 14.4 volts. For my power queen batteries the high voltage is fourteen point four volts, So my charge controllers are usually set between 14.2-14.4 volts. It all depends on the high voltage disconnect voltage. This will prevent that bms going into high voltage disconnect. It's also important to point out that not all charge controllers root raw solar on the battery output. Excellent point 👍 73 Julian oh8stn
Disappointment. The integrated anderson power poles are excellent. However, the low light performance was poor. Also, the USB ports don't push enough power. It could be much better.
All of my solar panels are fine. Both the portable and the fixed station solar panels. The portable amorphous panels become a little stiff once the temp reaches -25°F, otherwise no problem. Great question! Thanks for watching and commenting. It's very much appreciated.
Hi Julian, I enjoy all your videos and posts. I see in this video that you have a couple of the GVB-8 (Boost) Lithium charge controllers controllers. I would really be interest in seeing a full review of your testing and best use cases for these controllers. What is your assessment of the best use case of the Boost Controllers, and how to best test them. I haven't been able to fully test mine yet, but if I substitute a variable power supply for the panel input, it doesn't seem to like voltages above 13.5 vdc or so. Yet it seems to be working with my SunPower 100W flexible panel. I cant test properly because I'm not getting much sun light this time of year (Canada) through my window. The panel is new, so haven't had a chance to deploy it outdoors for testing yet. But, would appreciate your assessment of these controllers. Thanks, Jeff - ve7eff
Apologies for the lighting. It's a gen one with a 12v cigarette lighter output. That output is connected to the solar input on the Genasun GV8 Boost conttoller. Hope this helps.
@@OH8STN awesome! I have a gen1 that's AC unfortunately so I had to get a small "wall wart" AC lifepo4 charger. At least it only produces RFI when I'm cranking :/
Hi Julian, I have a curiosity to clarify. I went to Lapland in Sweden to see the Northern Lights. I asked myself as a radio amateur: how much does it affect you in radio transmissions on HF, VHF and UHF? Thank you very much if you can clarify this doubt for me. 73 of IW2HTZ Roberto
Very much! In fact there are times when you can reflect signals off of northern lights with high speed data, to dpsn thousands of miles or kilometers. Sometimes you can even hear your own signal reflected back at you.
@@OH8STN tnx a lot Julian! So in case of northern lights you haven't poor signals? Tnx a lot and bests 73 p.s. why don't you prepare a video with this thema?
It's quiet in the ham bands because of the added filtering. I found it not to be quiet outside of ham bands. The bigger problem is performance. It's great in California. Awful at higher latitudes. The powerpoles are nice but performance is more important (for me).
I can not find a Genasun controller that can handle my Powerfilm 160W Crystalline Foldable Solar Panel (Wattage: 160W, Operating Voltage: 28.3V, Current: 5.7A) Genasun advised they do not make one currently, that can be used safely with my solar panel... Any advice?
Julian - I'm a bit confused on using the Genasun vs something like the Buddipole PowerMini 2. It seems like the PM2 would be better for multiple power inputs (solar, 12V car plug, wall charger, etc.) where it can automatically switch from one power source or another or use both. It also lets you plug two loads in, which lets you avoid a power distribution block if you only have two things you're connecting, or you could have two different power distribution blocks that you could shut down independently. Also, I didn't understand how a PM2 would work with a Bioenno, since they have one connector for power in, and one for power out, whereas the PM2 has one connector to the battery that will either put energy if or pull it out. If that works with the single Bioenno "In" (either putting energy in or pulling it out), can you still use the Bioenno's "out" as a third load connector? It seems the Genasun is better for when your only power source is solar, you're charging one battery like a Bioenno, and that output is hooked up to one load or power distribution bar. But the PM2 would be better for automatically managing a more complicated setup. Maybe you could do a video on that? Thanks for everything you're doing!
Short answer: Don't let the hype fool you! There are two good things about that charge controller. 1. Dual outputs. 2. Displayed battery information. The PWM charging doesn't work well and will always be outperformed by an MPPT controller. The PM has terrible low light performance, as it starts charging much later than a Genasun controller connected to an identical solar panel. My personal experience with the PM is: Stick with a controller that is designed to collect solar energy. If you need more outputs, build a multi-output cable. I don't want to crap on buddipole, but. My attempts to share ideas on how to improve that charge controller got shut down. They are extremely narrow-minded and easily insulted when shown to be out of their debth. If they would put a Genasun controller inside that box, I would promote it everyday all day. Finally people buy it because it has dual outputs and an information display. Sadly , most of the same people don't understand how poorly it performs as a charge controller.
@@OH8STN Got it, thanks! It does sound like you can give multiple power inputs into the Genasun, they should just be higher voltage (14.5 - 15V at least, though not exceeding the maximum voltage or max amperage, unless you get a boost model (those just seem to have a wider voltage they can work with? The regular one says it can go down to 8V, so it does have some boost, just not as much as the boost model that can go down to 5V). You would just have to switch between the sources manually, and you couldn't use two sources at once. There are various adapters for cars or wall outlets that you can choose a higher voltage for, so those would work to plug into a switch to select between them, and then that into the Genasun to let it handle the battery charging part. I probably spend more time thinking about how to power my gear than I do the gear itself! It's all a bunch of paper weights if there's no power going to it, right?
Interesting. I have a special email for all of these different suppliers. Haven't noticed anything additional from the power queen address. Shall I bring this up with them?
@OH8STN I never sign up for those things, but they required an email address to be able to see the pricing on their batteries. It may not be them but the timing is very suspicious
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Genasun MPPT solar charge controllers are radio friendly and great for off-grid communications on solar power. They are lightweight, RF quiet, consume very little energy, and can be used with Lithium iron phosphate LiFePO4 and other battery chemistries.
73
Julian #oh8stn #offgrid
Video URL: ruclips.net/video/ND3YqAkBIJU/видео.html
Related blog post:oh8stn.org/blog/2023/11/30/radio-friendly-mppt-charge-controller-for-off-grid-comms-genasun/
Great as always Julian! Genasun is definitely the way to go. I have a stack of them for my Powerfilm Solar solar panels. They're also very receptive to emails asking questions about specific applications and definitely steer you in the right direction.
By the way, your videos are never too long! You could easily add a few more minutes of Snapper and no one would ever complain!
Hope you had a great birthday last month brother, Semper fi!
Todd KI5HNX
Thank you for simplifying the topic and being specific with your examples. Definitely taking notes and will read your posts and resources. I know close to zero about electronics so please continue targeting the beginner as much as your patience can handle 😁
I have learned so much from you! Thank you for making videos like this
I have been testing portable charge controllers for Ham radio for many years and followed your advice. I went through maybe 4-5 controllers and they were from bad to insanely bad. Then couple years back took your advice on Genasun. Wow! Game changer MPPT. All I get is insignificant RF on 10m. I never tested 6m or 160m. But from testing if 80m not an issue nor will 160m. I did have a Buddipole Mini solar controller that finally died. Nice but expensive unit. Limitations were it’s not MPPT and it’s max solar line voltage and current are very limited to 150w panel and below. But still great concept and works well especially for 100w and less. . But Genasun is less expensive and far more robust and efficient too. Always great content you do. Thank you !
Fantastic video, as always, Julian. We will link this on our website as we often deal with the topic of which RF Quiet controller is best. Thanks for helping comprehensively answer the question!
I use the Genasun 10A charge controller for LiFePO4 batteries. be aware of what you order. this controller is not suitable for lead acid batteries. I can say that this controller is indeed rf quiet. it does the job well.
This is quite useful information - I've had solar panels on small boats discussions with my friends over time, and I've never had time or energy to suggest anything else but Victron. These Genasun controllers look very much what is reasonable in many cases - small boats aren't that far from backpacking, except that often they are hesitating on getting a LiFePO4 battery due to price, even if they come with obvious benefits and operating environment basically never gets below freezing.
Lots of great information on choosing an MPPT charge controller! The Genasun looks like a great option that checks all the boxes. Looking forward to going a little further down the rabbit hole!
Thank you Julian. Very helpful and inspires me to get off my backside and get a "shack" set up.
Thanks!
Much appreciated Roger 🙏👍
Mahalo Julian for this very informative blog and video. I have been waiting for this type of information for some time. Got bits and pieces overtime, but this one puts it all together. Aloha!
🙏👍
Thanks Julian! I wait the future blogs and videos. I see the advantage of smaller Charge controllers instead of one BIG honking controller... 73 de KO4L Lloyd
You're never boring Julian. ;-)
Hope to see yah at some future Hamm Festivals.
Let's see who wins in 2024. Would love to take a trip home.
Thank you for this content Julian.
Hi Julian. Great video as always. I'm considering going totally away from AC power supplies and to an off-grid set up for my home station. Great information the the solar charge controllers. Trying to configure the best options to build out this power station. I really enjoy watching your videos and envy you living where you do. I'm in Minnesota so the weather is similar but your views of the lakes and ocean are outstanding!
Now if we could just get Genasun to make a 20-30A controller for small fixed/mobile sites. I know we can parallel multiple controllers. My engineering heart wants something a bit cleaner.
thank you
No problem. Thanks for the kindness 🙏
Great information, thank you. Be safe.
Thanks for the kindness. You are very welcome.
73
Julian oh8stn
In addition to the Genasun brand solar controllers, Sunforge has its Blue Sky brand controllers, which go up to 20-25A for 12V systems. It would be useful to know whether they are RF quieter than Victron controllers which you have tested.
Sadly, they are not RF quiet.
Great question 👍
Better, or worse than Victron controllers?@@OH8STN
The Blue Sky documentation says, "To comply with electromagnetic compatibility requirements..." to install "ferrite suppressors”. Has anyone tried and tested it?
Their engineers said the Blue Sky controllers are nowhere near as quiet as Genasun. I haven't tested them myself, just gave them the requirements. Based on their feedback minded in both the ordering one.
Solid information. Thank you again!
You are very welcome! Thanks for watching commenting and for the kindness 🙏
Seems to me that most important work begins with that fateful step "down the rabbit hole."
Tim KC1IJC
Thank you. Very informative.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It's very much appreciated.
73
Julian oh8stn
The main problem I have with Genasun is that (especially in the UK) they are very pricey for what they are, and their aphiliated stores add on shipping AFTER you've already paid for the item, which causes an error in the payment process (they wanted to charge £40 shipping on top of their lowest-cost model at approx £100, which in total is nearly £140! 😨). If they were to come down to somewhere like £50 per unit, then it would make sense - but on a small-scale 'on-the-move' charging system, it costs more than the batteries and panels do. Is this because of a lack of competition that their prices are so sky-high??
www.genasun.eu is in Netherlands. Shipping to me is quite reasonable, and is calculated at checkout, not after.
There are cheaper controllers, but then you have to deal with a noise. If someone made an rf quiet charge controller with good performance at a lower price, I would certainly buy it. Sadly we are paying for the engineering.
@OH8STN as a new ham and a guy who wants back up for my essential equipment for coms, and life, enjoying all videos you post. I will come back to this video and others once I get the equipment needed to start the projects
my question is what solution will you have in play if or when running multiple radios because you love the radio form factor..
In general, the 705, x6100, tx500 in that order.
Would like to see how to run the genasuns in parallel with multiple solar panel arrays. I’m new to solar and concerned about setting it up wrong and damaging batteries or equipment.
I think I'll do that video next 👍
for that configuration a different charge controller might be better suited and less expensive
Thank you so very much for sharing Julian, I am in the market for a portable battery and charge controller for my FT-991A. I know this is not too portable of a radio but, I would like to get myself setup for off grid communication. If you buy a MPPT charger, do you need to have MPPT solar panels? Thank you again Julian for sharing.
That's a great question!
As long as your solar panels are below the maximum voltage & current of the charge controller, They will be fine. 💪👍
Thanks for watching, Commenting anne for the kindness. It's greatly appreciated.
With a solar panel of 20v max 100watts, into 10 amp solar charger, and the bms with lifepo4.
I have realize that when the battery when full, the system bypass the battery power of 12.8v and as it is full bypass and get full power of the solar panel 20v.
In case that always have the radio connected to the system the radio will get 20v getting overvoltage.
Who in the system should cancel the bypass and avoid that overcharge in output on the battery system?
I've experienced this once myself. The problem is not having the correct charge controller voltage, set under the bms high voltage disconnect voltage. If the high voltage disconnect of your battery is eg 14.6 volts, uour charge controller should be set for 14.4 volts. For my power queen batteries the high voltage is fourteen point four volts, So my charge controllers are usually set between 14.2-14.4 volts. It all depends on the high voltage disconnect voltage. This will prevent that bms going into high voltage disconnect. It's also important to point out that not all charge controllers root raw solar on the battery output.
Excellent point 👍
73
Julian oh8stn
What has your experience been with the buddipole PowerMini 2?
Disappointment. The integrated anderson power poles are excellent. However, the low light performance was poor. Also, the USB ports don't push enough power. It could be much better.
Plus way overpriced!
How does your solar panels handle the cold and snow? Thanks
All of my solar panels are fine. Both the portable and the fixed station solar panels. The portable amorphous panels become a little stiff once the temp reaches -25°F, otherwise no problem.
Great question! Thanks for watching and commenting. It's very much appreciated.
Hi Julian, I enjoy all your videos and posts.
I see in this video that you have a couple of the GVB-8 (Boost) Lithium charge controllers controllers. I would really be interest in seeing a full review of your testing and best use cases for these controllers. What is your assessment of the best use case of the Boost Controllers, and how to best test them. I haven't been able to fully test mine yet, but if I substitute a variable power supply for the panel input, it doesn't seem to like voltages above 13.5 vdc or so. Yet it seems to be working with my SunPower 100W flexible panel. I cant test properly because I'm not getting much sun light this time of year (Canada) through my window. The panel is new, so haven't had a chance to deploy it outdoors for testing yet. But, would appreciate your assessment of these controllers.
Thanks,
Jeff - ve7eff
Hard to tell with the lighting in the video, is that a gen1 with a AC->DC adapter or a gen2 hand crank unit straight to the genasun?
Apologies for the lighting. It's a gen one with a 12v cigarette lighter output. That output is connected to the solar input on the Genasun GV8 Boost conttoller.
Hope this helps.
@@OH8STN awesome! I have a gen1 that's AC unfortunately so I had to get a small "wall wart" AC lifepo4 charger. At least it only produces RFI when I'm cranking :/
What is the hand crank you are using? That is an awesome unit!
Mine is the K-Tor P50 50-watt Hands crank generator.
Can I use the Genasun GV-10-Li-14.2V with a bioenno 12ah? Or does the GV-10 put out too many amps for that battery?
You should look at the maximum charge rate for that battery. However, I'm using the same charge controller for my 10ah battery for many years 👍
I emailed bioenno & they said it’s fully compatible
Hi Julian, I have a curiosity to clarify. I went to Lapland in Sweden to see the Northern Lights. I asked myself as a radio amateur: how much does it affect you in radio transmissions on HF, VHF and UHF? Thank you very much if you can clarify this doubt for me. 73 of IW2HTZ
Roberto
Very much! In fact there are times when you can reflect signals off of northern lights with high speed data, to dpsn thousands of miles or kilometers. Sometimes you can even hear your own signal reflected back at you.
@@OH8STN tnx a lot Julian! So in case of northern lights you haven't poor signals? Tnx a lot and bests 73 p.s. why don't you prepare a video with this thema?
Hi Julian, does that mean that the BuddyPole mini 2 is not RF quiet?
It's quiet in the ham bands because of the added filtering. I found it not to be quiet outside of ham bands. The bigger problem is performance. It's great in California. Awful at higher latitudes.
The powerpoles are nice but performance is more important (for me).
Thank you Julian
You are very welcome 🙏👍
I can not find a Genasun controller that can handle my Powerfilm 160W Crystalline Foldable Solar Panel (Wattage: 160W, Operating Voltage: 28.3V, Current: 5.7A) Genasun advised they do not make one currently, that can be used safely with my solar panel... Any advice?
Genasun GV-10L works fine. 32v max voltage, 10 amps max current. That's what I use.
Julian - I'm a bit confused on using the Genasun vs something like the Buddipole PowerMini 2. It seems like the PM2 would be better for multiple power inputs (solar, 12V car plug, wall charger, etc.) where it can automatically switch from one power source or another or use both. It also lets you plug two loads in, which lets you avoid a power distribution block if you only have two things you're connecting, or you could have two different power distribution blocks that you could shut down independently.
Also, I didn't understand how a PM2 would work with a Bioenno, since they have one connector for power in, and one for power out, whereas the PM2 has one connector to the battery that will either put energy if or pull it out. If that works with the single Bioenno "In" (either putting energy in or pulling it out), can you still use the Bioenno's "out" as a third load connector?
It seems the Genasun is better for when your only power source is solar, you're charging one battery like a Bioenno, and that output is hooked up to one load or power distribution bar. But the PM2 would be better for automatically managing a more complicated setup. Maybe you could do a video on that? Thanks for everything you're doing!
Short answer: Don't let the hype fool you!
There are two good things about that charge controller. 1. Dual outputs. 2. Displayed battery information.
The PWM charging doesn't work well and will always be outperformed by an MPPT controller. The PM has terrible low light performance, as it starts charging much later than a Genasun controller connected to an identical solar panel.
My personal experience with the PM is: Stick with a controller that is designed to collect solar energy. If you need more outputs, build a multi-output cable. I don't want to crap on buddipole, but. My attempts to share ideas on how to improve that charge controller got shut down. They are extremely narrow-minded and easily insulted when shown to be out of their debth. If they would put a Genasun controller inside that box, I would promote it everyday all day.
Finally people buy it because it has dual outputs and an information display. Sadly , most of the same people don't understand how poorly it performs as a charge controller.
@@OH8STN Got it, thanks! It does sound like you can give multiple power inputs into the Genasun, they should just be higher voltage (14.5 - 15V at least, though not exceeding the maximum voltage or max amperage, unless you get a boost model (those just seem to have a wider voltage they can work with? The regular one says it can go down to 8V, so it does have some boost, just not as much as the boost model that can go down to 5V).
You would just have to switch between the sources manually, and you couldn't use two sources at once. There are various adapters for cars or wall outlets that you can choose a higher voltage for, so those would work to plug into a switch to select between them, and then that into the Genasun to let it handle the battery charging part. I probably spend more time thinking about how to power my gear than I do the gear itself! It's all a bunch of paper weights if there's no power going to it, right?
Foolishly gave powerqueen my email been getting loads spam
Interesting. I have a special email for all of these different suppliers. Haven't noticed anything additional from the power queen address. Shall I bring this up with them?
@OH8STN I never sign up for those things, but they required an email address to be able to see the pricing on their batteries. It may not be them but the timing is very suspicious
I showed them the comment anyway. If they're spamming people, that'll be a no-go. Let's see.