Best system to do most of wind/solar/alternator/shore to house/starting/dump + more

[bene505]

After buying the Xantrex C60, I see that it doesn't do MPPT. Darn.

Anyone know if there is something similar on the market that does MPPT?


From Adrift at Sea » Solar Power on Boats:

An example*: Normally a 25 Watt panel will be outputting 1.39 amps at 18 volts. 18 volts is too high for the batteries to charge with, since bulk charging requires only 14.4 volts. With a normal three-stage controller, the excess voltage is shed as heat—that’s why the charge controllers heat up so much. 18-14.4=3.6 volts—3.6 volts * 1.39 amp = 5 watts. So you’re losing about 5 watts out of 25 watts to heat.
With a MPPT-type controller, it uses a high-frequency DC-to-DC converter to drop the voltage down to 14.4 volts, but increases the amperage to 1.74 amps at the same time. So, instead of getting 6.95 amp-hours from the panel for the day, assuming about five hours of full output, you get 8.70 amp-hours, or a 25% effective increase in amp-hours to the batteries. This makes a lot of sense, since you’re basically recovering the 5 watts that was being lost to heating the three-stage, non-MPPT, charge controller.

[bobfnbw]

Wind Power » Archive » Hotwire Info

scroll down to the trace c60 charge controller. It diverts loads from solar and wind to a dummy load such as hot water heater. Also, if you haven't paid for the four winds yet, check out the kiss. Cheaper and almost as effecient at lower wind speeds.

[bene505]

I don't see the link for the Trace C60. Could the Trace C60 be the same thing as the Xantrex C60 that I got? It does diversion loading but not MPPT.

I'm finding it challenging to find a hybrid charge controller, one that maximizes Solar AND handles wind/hydro. That would require it to do MPPT *and* handle a diversion load.

[bobfnbw]

Xantrex XW Solar Charge Controller MPPT 865-1030

http://store.altenergystore.com/mmso...ners-Guide.pdf

You can use this to operate a relay for load control.

[chicodesouza]

Hi Bene505, I'm thinking in buy a Xantrex C60.

A question: is ok to combine solar and wind in input as one source? It's not clear for me in manual. In figure 2-24 page 47 says **OR**.

And what's the difference between Charge Control and Load Control?

Regards

Francisco