{"id":2585,"date":"2020-06-29T13:25:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T13:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ninzio.com\/octavian\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2021-07-12T12:20:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T12:20:05","slug":"solar-charge-controller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/29\/solar-charge-controller\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Charge Controller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>solar charge controller<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, also known as a <\/span><b>solar regulator,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is essentially a solar battery charger connected between the solar panel\/s and battery. Its job is to regulate the battery charging process to ensure the battery is charged correctly, or more importantly, not over-charged. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DC coupled<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> solar charge controllers, used in almost all small scale <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">off-grid solar<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> power systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern solar charge controllers have advanced features to ensure the battery system is charged precisely and efficiently, plus functions like <\/span><b>DC load<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> terminals for lighting or other DC load requirements. Solar charge controllers are rated according to the maximum input voltage (V) and maximum charge current (A). These two ratings determine how <\/span><b>many solar panels can be attached<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as explained in detail below \u2018Sizing a solar charge controller\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Current Amp (A) rating = Maximum charging current.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Voltage (V) rating = Maximum voltage (Voc) of the solar panel\/s.<b>\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text]<div class=\"deeper-spacer clearfix\" data-config='{\"desktop\":60,\"mobile\":60,\"smobile\":60}'><\/div><h2 class=\"deeper-text align-left \" style=\"font-size:26px;font-weight:900;line-height:40px;\" ><span>MPPT and PWM solar charge controllers<\/span>\n<\/h2>[vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>There are two main types of solar charge controllers, PWM and MPPT, with the latter being the primary focus of this article due to the increased charging efficiency and several other advantages explained in detail below.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3200 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mt-1024x324.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mt-1024x324.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mt-300x95.jpg 300w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mt-768x243.jpg 768w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mt-1536x487.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mt.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simple PWM, or \u2018<\/span><b>pulse width modulation\u2019 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">solar charge<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">controllers have a direct connection from the solar array to the battery and use a basic \u2018rapid switch\u2019 to modulate or control the battery charging. The switch (transistor) is open until the battery reaches the absorption charge voltage. Then the switch starts to open and close rapidly (hundreds of time per second) to reduce the current and maintain a constant battery voltage. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This works ok, but <\/span><b>the problem is the solar panel voltage is pulled down to match the battery voltage.<\/b> <b>This in turn pulls the panel voltage away from its optimum operating voltage (Vmp) and reduces power and efficiency.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<div class=\"deeper-spacer clearfix\" data-config='{\"desktop\":60,\"mobile\":60,\"smobile\":60}'><\/div><h2 class=\"deeper-text align-left \" style=\"font-size:26px;font-weight:900;line-height:40px;\" ><span>MPPT Solar Charge Controllers<\/span>\n<\/h2>[vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MPPT or \u2018maximum power point tracking\u2019 controllers are far more advanced than PWM controllers and enable the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">solar panel<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to operate at its maximum power point, or to be more precise, the optimum voltage for maximum power output.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3201 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mtcss-1024x325.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mtcss-1024x325.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mtcss-300x95.jpg 300w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mtcss-768x244.jpg 768w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mtcss-1536x488.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mtcss.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Using this clever technology, MPPT solar charge controllers can be up to 30% more efficient, depending on the battery voltage and voltage of the solar panel connected. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a general guide, MPPT charge controllers should be used on all higher power systems using 2 or more solar panels, or whenever the panel voltage (Vmp) is 8V or higher than the battery voltage<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A solar charge controller, also known as a solar regulator, is essentially a solar battery charger connected between the solar panel\/s and battery. Its job is to regulate the battery charging process to ensure the battery is charged correctly, or more importantly, not over-charged. DC coupled solar charge controllers,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prismads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3204,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions\/3204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prismadzen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}