Guest Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Whats that sort of like the big businesses have brought the environment to its knees? Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Unless you have heaps of solar panels, I wouldn't worry too much about the equalize charge. I takes a sizable amount of power to do it properly. Plus you need to read the finer detail of just what that means for that controller. Some do not produce a true EQ charge as EQ is really known. It's a marketing thing of the more stages they can say the thing does, therefore the better it much be. Like I have seen some battery chargers sold with "7 stage" charging, but if you get into the detail;s, most of it is bollocks. EQ charging does need strict control from the operator or you will stuff the batteries eventualy, especially if it is a remote install. So I doubt it is a true EQ charge and wouldn't worry about it too much. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Cool thanks Wheels. Link to post Share on other sites
ex TL systems 63 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 With a 100 watt panel and only 2 batteries I prefer to manually cut down the output when away from the boat and no power is being used. The 30 amp controller can get quite hot dumping the power on sunny summer days, so I will put something on the panel to cover a piece of it, must be less chance of something going wrong and either boiling the battery or even starting a fire ,and the batteries are still always full when I return. Link to post Share on other sites
Elenya 33 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 With a 100 watt panel and only 2 batteries I prefer to manually cut down the output when away from the boat and no power is being used. The 30 amp controller can get quite hot dumping the power on sunny summer days, so I will put something on the panel to cover a piece of it, must be less chance of something going wrong and either boiling the battery or even starting a fire ,and the batteries are still always full when I return. Interesting the 'dumping' the power bit? My wind gen regulator dumps power to a dummy load but the solar regulator just reduces the power output to the batteries. I have never heard of solar panels requiring dummy loads when not connected to a battery. Is this particular to your panels/regulator? just interested to hear what may be changing in the solar world. I have about 400watts charging a 420 amp hour system. Been working this for some time with the oldest panel about 19 years old now and still going strong. Using a Morningstar regulator. cheers Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 The 30 amp controller can get quite hot dumping the power on sunny summer days, err... It shouldn't dump power anywhere. Older Wind genny controllers used to dump the excess current so as the gen had some load to stop it from taking off in the wind. The Solar controller should only get hot when under heavy charge conditions, but under little load, it should not get hot. Maybe you need to upgrade Link to post Share on other sites
ex TL systems 63 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 The 30 amp controller can get quite hot dumping the power on sunny summer days, err... It shouldn't dump power anywhere. Older Wind genny controllers used to dump the excess current so as the gen had some load to stop it from taking off in the wind. The Solar controller should only get hot when under heavy charge conditions, but under little load, it should not get hot. Maybe you need to upgrade You are probably right the controller was about $120 from burnsco about 3 years ago,with a digital readout of voltage and amps of the panel , battery and any load connected to the controller. I just assumed they turned excess power into heat because of the finned aluminium case. But it does seem to get hot when there is a lot of power going in and none going to the battery as it is fully charged. I will check it out next time I am there. I did earlier have a 6 amp solarex controller thar pretty much melted on the same 100 w panel. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 ahhh so the rated amperage of these devices is pretty accurate as your 100 watt panel was probably pumping out up to 8 amps. People are saying to me to have a fuse between the controller and the panel but for the life of me I can't imagine why. The cable can carry any current the panel can possibly put out so there's no danger there so the only thing is to turn the current off which is pretty easy to do with a towel. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 That is why it is more informative to use the term "Power" rather than Current(amps) or Voltage. Power tells you the sum of what is being produced, no matter what the Current or Voltage is doing. You might have high Current and low Voltage or Low current and High Voltage, but 100W may always be the Sum result. Fuse? hmmm, I personally wouldn't bother either. The Cable needs to be heavy to ensure the best power transfer to the Controller. The heavier the better, so the heaviest you can get away with, because you don't want to lose even an amp if all you have is 7 total. That's a substantial amount of power if you do the equation. I would hope that the cable is happy enough to transfer 15A, so it is hardly going to heat at a max of 7A. The only thing you might safeguard yourself of is stray currents resulting from a short, which could cause Electrolysis. A little story. A mate has his yacht out at Westpark at the mo. Goes back in tomorrow. He had an engine over heating problem and found his Keel cooler had failed. Hauled the boat to find the Anodes gone. Only just been fitted, so he had a problem. The Steel Hull had blow holes all over it from Electrolysis and the Keel cooler had eaten right through. While he ran the engine on the way to Westpark he saw Flames shooting a couple of inches from the back of the Alternator. The Bearings had collapsed and the Amarture had shorted to the Case and created a Stray Voltage to the normally isolated Earth and nearly wrecked his Hull. Link to post Share on other sites
Farrari 4 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 The 30 amp controller can get quite hot dumping the power on sunny summer days, err... It shouldn't dump power anywhere. Older Wind genny controllers used to dump the excess current so as the gen had some load to stop it from taking off in the wind. The Solar controller should only get hot when under heavy charge conditions, but under little load, it should not get hot. Maybe you need to upgrade You are probably right the controller was about $120 from burnsco about 3 years ago,with a digital readout of voltage and amps of the panel , battery and any load connected to the controller. I just assumed they turned excess power into heat because of the finned aluminium case. But it does seem to get hot when there is a lot of power going in and none going to the battery as it is fully charged. I will check it out next time I am there. I did earlier have a 6 amp solarex controller thar pretty much melted on the same 100 w panel. There may be a simple explanation for the controller getting hotter the less amps it uses. Assuming it is a Pulse Width Modulator type it would probably be using MOSFETs to switch the load on and off via a pulse. MOSFETs have very high resistance when in the off state and very low resistence in the on state but will have varying resistence in the inbetween state. Assuming the controller is using slower switching MOSFETs this is likely to generate more heat because the MOSFETs are getting pulsed more often when the battery is charged and therefore spending more time in the inbetween state. Unlike a MPPT controller that uses a DC/DC converter to reduce the battery side voltage, a PWM controller will be switching ~18V from the panel so their will be higher current flow during the intermediate state. It results in the same answer though - replace the controller with a modern MPPT variant. Link to post Share on other sites
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