Installing a MPPT Controller - Portable RV Solar Charging Video 6
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2020
- In this video, we update the PWM charge controller in my Grand Design Reflection 29RS fifth wheel RV. to a MPPT controller.
In this 6th video of my RV Portable Suitcase Solar Charging series, we increase the flexibility and efficiency of the charging system with the use of a MPPT controlleer
Project Video List:
Video 1: Review of the Renogy 100Watt Solar Suitcase: • Renogy 100Watt Suitcas...
Video 2: Connecting a Suitcase panel to your RV: • Connecting a Suitcase ...
Video 3: Voltage Drop Issues and extension cables: • Voltage Drop Issues an...
Video 4: Installing a PWM Charge Controller in a RV: • Installing a PWM Contr...
Video 5: PWM vs. MPPT Charge Controllers: • PWM vs MPPT Controller...
Video 6: Upgrading to a MPPT Charge Controller: • Installing a MPPT Cont...
Video 7: Series and Parallel Solar Panel connections: • Series and Parallel Pa...
Video 8: Charging a Jackery 500 with the Renogy Suitcase: • Charging a Jackery 500...
Video 9: Upgrade the Furrion solar port for more Amps: • Modifying the Furrion ...
Video 10: Eight common connection configurations: • Eight ways to connect ...
Video 11: Yet another Furrion Solar Port Video: • Yet another Furrion So...
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Victron 75/15 Smart Solar Bluetooth Charge Controller: amzn.to/3573vOq
Victron Smart Sense (Black): amzn.to/2F7MsRJ
Victron Smart Sense (Blue): amzn.to/2Z9TsEf
Renogy Wanderer 10A Charge Controller: amzn.to/3jVjN18
Project/Review Webpage:
www.rv-project.com/projects/su...
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Can't go wrong with victron. Extremely high quality products. When you couple that with The ease of interoperability and the Fact that their prices are very reasonable how can you not purchase victron. Great Video!
Couldn't agree more!
👍👌❤️🇨🇦, thanks
You could get rid of that on/off switch as you can switch off the controller in the app.
Can I ask what’s the difference from the smart sense dongle and also the victron battery monitor you also have please
I’m thinking of upgrading to the mptt but my controll panel in my motorhome is the nord which shows how full your leisure battery and starter battery is
Would I need to also buy the battery monitor
I’m new to this sorry
I have 120w solar but upgrading to 175w just swapping panels then swapping pw panel to mptt panel hoping my nord controller panel is enough just to show both level of batteries with the lcd dots in green or red when low
The Victron Smart Sense is designed for the Victron MPPT solar charger. The voltage is reading from the Smart Sense dongle can be a bit more accurate than at the MPPT charger as it reads directly at the battery where the MPPT charger could read a bit low due to voltage drop across the wiring if the MPPT is located a few feet away.
Also the Smart Sense provides battery temperature to the MPPT cintroller. This results in a more accurate charge cycle.
The Smart Sense dongle is optional though.
I am not familiar with the Nord display, but I also have a Victron BM700 battery monitor that measures current used and can provide expected time remaining on the battery.
The Smart Sense also provides temperature and voltage info to the BMV700 as well, privided enable the Victron network, whi h allows the devices to communicate via bluetooth.
However if you buy the BMV702 monitor, it includes temperature monitoring and can send that to the MPPT controller, so you would only need the Smart Sense donglenif you did not have the BMV702.
@@RVProject wow thanks for that buddy appreciate the reply. As I say my first van so still learning lol my van is set up with 120w solar with pwm controller which I’m told I can do a straight swap solar off and new 175w in it’s place then the pwm switched to the mppt victron 75/15 then the victron energy controller set up and the smart battery sense does this sound ok? I’m also wanting dc to dc instead of relies on the alternator been told Orion tr smart dc to dc would you recommend what I’ve said or are some items not needed
Thanks by the way
Couple questions if you don't mind..
1) What size wire are you using for the inputs? 10awg?
2) Since this particular Victron model has a built in fuse, it is necessary to add any additional fuses for a small setup? (I'm just making a portable battery box setup).
Thanks for making the video.
The purpose for the large AWG wiring is to reduce series voltage drop, not for current carrying capability. The shorter the wires, the smaller they can be. I used 12AWG here as the wiring was short. But if you can fit it in, 10AWG won't hurt.
The fuse is in the Victron controller is for the battery circuit. The external fuse I added was also for the battery circuit, however if you follow my video progression, in the previous video, I start out with a Renogy PWM controller, then upgrade to the Victron MPPT controller in this video.
The fuse was primarily for the Renogy controller, and when I replaced it with the Victron controller, I did not take the time to 3D print a new box lacking the fuse. Sorry for the confusion.
So the answer is if your controller has a fuse protecting it from the battery, you do not need another in series.
I do discuss fuses on the solar project webpage: www.rv-project.com/projects/suitcase2.php
@@RVProject Thanks so much for the quick reply.
One more question if you don't mind.
Does it matter if I use varied size wires?
For example.. using a 12awg to connect the charge controller to the solar panels, and a 10awg wire to connect the battery to the charge controller.
I'll just be using it with a single 200watt panel.
Thanks again.
As long as they are large enough to handle the load, its ok. Typically you would fuse the wires to the smallest AWG wire, but in a solar panel, you should never have an overload that has a higher current than what the maximum the solar panel can output , so if the wiring is sized for that, it should not be a problem.
Solar 76.692 watts...to the battery - 74.308 watts. Only losing 2.5 watts in the controller. Not much loss.
hello I bought this 75 mppt 15 I have two 100 w panels at the moment how many more could you add? how many batteries can charge in 12v system or 24v system ... thanks
A typical 100W panel would output about 5.5A peak @ 20VDC.
So you have to stay within those boundarys.
A 75/15 means 75VDC maximum input voltage, and 15A max charge current (output current)
You could use three 100Watt panels in series. That means 60VDC input, which meets the 75V restriction of the controller, and the MPPT conversion would provide 15A of charge current when the panels are at maximum sun. The voltage to the battery would be between 13~14 VDC depending on charge mode, even though the input voltage would be 60V.
That is the beauty of an MPPT controller, it can convert a higher input voltage to additional charge current. And since the current from the solar panels is still 5.5A max, then you would not need as heavy duty wire as if the three panels were in parallel.
Before connecting the panels in series, make sure they have the necessary bypass diodes. You may have to contact the panel mfg to determine if they recommend series connection.
@@RVProject
thank you for the eloquent and objective answer ... it helps me a lot to understand the limitations of an mppt .... regarding a battery bank I want to use lead acid 12v 100ah ... how many batteries I could power with this system ? one or two ... series or parallel? ..... thanks
@@RVProject
are the bypass diodes in the connection box of the panel? ..... the idea is that I opened them and saw two diodes there .... are they? or do I need more on the route of the connecting cables? .... thank you
@@georgerusu8423 You could power one or more batteries. The limitation is the more batteries you have, the less charge each battery will have. In other words, the longer the batteries will take to recharge.
If you have more than one battery, the voltage must equal the RV system voltage. For example if you have a single 12V battery now, adding another battery it should be wired in parallel to maintain 12V.
But if you replace the single 12V battery with two 6V batteries, you would wire the 6V batteries in series so you get 12V.
@@georgerusu8423 The bypass diodes in the solar panel connection box should be the correct series bypass diodes. But I would confirm that with the panel manufacturer, just to be safe.
So whats the biggest solar panel you could put on this? 250w?
Depends on how you connect the solar panels. For example, this model MPPT controller can handle up to 75V and 15A. This means 75V input voltage and 15A max output current.
For an MPPT controller, the voltage can be converted into current, so a little explanation must be provided.
As I said, the maximum current to the battery from this controller is 15A. And for a lead acid battery, the maximum output voltage from the controller will be just slightly less than 15V.
Therefore, the maximum output power will be 15V x 15A = 225 Watts.
There will be a few losses in the circuit though - including voltage loss along the wire, loss in the controller itself, and so on. So 250Watts would be the ideal maximum for a solar panel.
But how you get that 250Watts is the beauty of an MPPT controller. For example, two 100Watt solar panels, which has around a 20V output voltage could be wired in parallel, providing 20V at about 10 Amps, or wired in series, providing 40V at 5 Amps.
Another example could be an 85 Watt solar panel that outputs 20V @ 4.25A. You could wire three of those panels in series, which would give you 60V @ 4.25A - which works out to 255Watts.
In either case, the MPPT controller will convert the higher solar panel voltage into additional current at the battery. This is the chief advantage of a MPPT controller. Any combination of solar panels in series (which must be identical panels), can be used as long as the total voltage is less than 75V.
Also, Victron makes higher voltage charge controllers as well if you need to add more panels in series.
Note that the series configuration of the solar panels cannot be done with a PWM controller. Any excess voltage is wasted.
You made no mention of using and operation of the load terminals. Some people
use them so this video was no help.
The scope of my videos are for use in RVs. Typically in a RV 12V system, the load terminals are not typically used due to the high current drain some devices that are attached to the battery have (room slide-out motors, leveling systems, and so on).
Regardless, I can't believe you didn't get at least a tip or two from the video.
@@RVProject I picked up a couple of tips, thanks for taking the time to make the video!