Best Solar Controller for the Money $

[pesarsten]

I will soon be installing two 120 watt Kyocera solar panels on my boat.
what brand and model will give me the most bang for my buck?

Battery bank will be 4 225ah GC installed series/parallel 12 volt

Location is Florida to New England

Thanks

[socaldmax]

I'm kind of partial to the Eco-worthy 20 A MPPT controller for $102, delivered. I've installed 2 of them and I'm very impressed with it's performance, features, display and especially price.

It's been disassembled and reviewed on youtube, very favorable review. It's rated at 20 A with 300w of solar input. Realistically, it will probably produce 18.5-19 A at 300 watts. With 240 watts, you should see about 14-15 A. It comes with gold plated contacts, fully user adjustable charging setpoints (bulk and float voltages) and the entire circuit board is conformal coated, which is surprising for such an inexpensive controller. It displays solar panel output in watts and volts, charging current in amps and volts, and total cumulative KW. I've seen other brands for twice the price without those features. At that price, you could carry a spare in case of a lighting strike or failure. Eco-worthy.com.

A better known name brand is Blue Sky Solar Boost 2000e, I have one of those also. It only displays solar output in amps, charging amps and charging V. It's limited to solar panels 24v or lower. All adjustments are done with small variable resistors on the back, is not conformal coated or gold plated and costs $190 - $235, plus about $20 s&h.

[pesarsten]

Thanks, I'll check out the Eco-Worthy it sound like a good deal.

[Viking Sailor]

Are there any RFI issues with either of these controllers?

Thanks.

[colemj]

What is your daily amp draw? If large enough, you won't need any controller at all. Those panels will produce a maximum of 14A at high noon, and you can expect 60-80Ahr/day out of them. If your bank draw is more than that, the controller isn't really doing much for you.

If you go without a controller, you will need to disconnect the panels if you leave the boat unattended for a long time.

Mark

[pesarsten]

I am very roughly estimating that my fridge draws between 80 and 100 AH daily ( I will be adding insulation this fall ) and an additional 20 AH daily for lighting and stereo.

My goal is to limit charging by Westerbeke w/ 80 amp Balmar alternator to every for or five days.

I also hoped that the charge controller would give me info on charge status etc, but I suppose a hydrometer and digital volt meter could suffice.

Paul

[zboss]

I just installed a Balmar Smartgauge and I highly recommend it.

It comes with an alarm relay that a would allow you to fire a second relay to disconnect a solar panel when 100% charge status is reached. This way you get both a charge contoller and a monitor in one. Caviat: I've not done this so I am not sure I have not missed something obvious.

I guess you would have to be careful about the voltage of the panel you are using.

[barnakiel]

Any PWM at roughly 25 liberty units will do the job for you. MPPT units start at around 100 liberty units.

You can offset with 75 units more of solar panels. That's to say if you still have any sun deck area left.

b.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by zboss

Caviat: I've not done this so I am not sure I have not missed something obvious.

You need to control the voltage as well. The voltage could still go too high with a (nominal) 12v panel.

Rogue and the new Midnite Kid seem the best.

[hellosailor]

Long term bang for the buck, you also need to confirm that the charger is or can be set for the specific optimum charge voltage that your brand of batteries need. You'd get that from the battery maker. And, that it is thermally compensated to change the voltage according to battery temperature, which most cheaper charger controllers are not capable of.

[roverhi]

Do not go without a charge controller with that much wattage on your solar panels. Forget to hook up a load or have the frig. compressor die when you are not around and things can get very interesting real quick. The worst part about exploded batteries is the acid blown all about when the hydrogen lights off. Makes a hell of a mess, btdt.