High-voltage MPPT controller, that doesn't have a lot of HF RFI?? Anyone know?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by conachair

I have a 75/10 and can't hear any difference with it in or out on a ham radio for wfax or winlink. Wish I could say the same for the fridge...

Indeed, switching from 2 PWM solar controllers to Victron MPPTs meant the the interference on our VHF disappeared and the coasties now report loud and clear.

Pete

[GRIT]

That's great news guys. Thanks for that. I'll get the victron controllers.

Cheers.
Paul.

[john61ct]

Get SmartSolar, dongle functions built in

[ka4wja]

Sorry I haven't been back to this thread...sort of forgot about it, when I decided to keep my original Kyocera panels and Blue Sky controllers, as is....at least 'til next year...

My plan is to go with Moringstar controllers and if I have RFI, then exchange 'em for Victron..
BUT...

But, I am still VERY interested in any more info / reports regarding HF RFI, from those of you actually using these hi-voltage panels and these MPPT controllers!!
So, please let us all know what your actual experiences are.

Thank you!!

John

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by conachair

I have a 75/10 and can't hear any difference with it in or out on a ham radio for wfax or winlink. Wish I could say the same for the fridge...

I use A pair of Victron 150/100 and they are great. Recommend them .

Regards

Mark.

[ka4wja]

Oppss,
I never got an email notice about more posts to this thread...sorry!

So, it's been almost a year....but, if you're having that extreme amount of RFI from the Blue Sky 2512ix (" it puts out a lot of RFI from .5 Mhz up to and including a unmodulated carrier exactly on VHF channel 16." and "The 20 meter band gets about 6 to 7 S units of noise from the above mentioned equipment."), then it's most probably nothing you're doing wrong, but rather bad 2512ix controller(s)!!

Originally Posted by senormechanico

John,

I've got a BlueSky 2512 IX with an IPN Pro controller and it puts out a lot of RFI from .5 Mhz up to and including a unmodulated carrier exactly on VHF channel 16.

The 20 meter band gets about 6 to 7 S units of noise from the above mentioned equipment.

What am I doing wrong, or are you just lucky to have gotten one which is quiet?

Grrr...

I've used these 2512ix controllers on my boat, other's boats, and helped a fellow ham friend install these on his ham shack at home...(and I replaced two of my original 2512ix's after a lightning strike)...and I've never found any serious RFI from them...
(a few birdies around the HF bands, but all are low-level and never budge the S-meter)

I'm sorry to be responding so late, but hope you got in touch with Blue Sky and got them to replace your controllers, if not call 'em now!
(and reference this discussion here...and/or have them call me personally, and I will try to help...)


Fair winds.

John

[ka4wja]

Mark,

Good to know that you don't have any HF RFI from your solar array and/or Victron controllers??

Originally Posted by Catapault

I use A pair of Victron 150/100 and they are great. Recommend them .

Regards

Mark.

Thanks!

John

[sailjumanji]

I had that Blue Sky controller and the IPN remote. Never any RFI.

Now OTOH, I installed some Dr Led light bulbs and those were horrible. Made the vhf unusable.

[waeshael]

Hi sv Annie Laurie:

Some ideas on RFI and Radio. Im am N6MPN a radio engineer, and designer many years ago of power systems. And I have Solar and HF on my boat and done many studies on antenna and ground designs, sailed both Oceans and many hours on the radio (before Satellite communications.)

Can't give specifics on your Solar set up, bather is some radio advice.

Most of the RF comes in via the backstay non-resonant wire antenna. Install a multi band resonant antenna (stick) and forget the backstay. That will shut out noise outside of the band.

Disconnect the radio system from the boat ground systems, power, safety, battery, engine. Most noise comes in on the ground wires.

Make sure that you have co-ax right to the base of the antenna (no tuner with open wire from the box to the base of the antenna.)

Install an RF safety ground to the sea water directly below the rig which should itself be situated as far away from the Solar charge controller and inverter and noisy pumps and so on as possible.
Install only noise free LEDS, many are really bad.

Charge a dedicated battery for the rig, mount it close to the rig and have a dedicated solar panel for that battery that is isolated from the house ground system.
Don't install RF switches in the antenna feed.
Connect the radio RF ground to the sea directly below the stick antenna no further the 2M from the base of the antenna, so that you get good high band communications. For a good RD polar plot keep the antenna away from the mast and the backstay by around 6 feet.

Have a look at my antenna plots at this website which is private non-commercial, and shows my boat.

Vertical Antenna 14.3 Mhz over sea water (for engineers)

[ka4wja]

washeal,
Thanks for your response...
But, fyi, not only am I very familiar with HF comms and RFI (been doing this for 45 years, as well as actually teaching this)....and all the various RFI mitigation approaches...
As well as working with solar for > 30 years (on-land and at-sea)...
As well as designing, installing, and using various HF comm systems, and solar arrays over the past 4 decades...


What, I was looking for was actual users of some of these other MPPT controllers that have real world experience with these controllers on higher-voltage panels (like the Sun Power's)...

But, I do thank you for your efforts and I assume that many others here will find your info helpful!


Oh, and FYI...most serious offshore cruisers/voyagers will need a wide-band HF antenna system (backstay, whip, etc., with remote tuner) to cover 2 thru about 16mhz effectively...(you know these days there is little HF maritime use of 18, 22, and 25mhz)...
And, while I've designed and installed many different HF antenna systems over the years...on-board, I use my ~ 60' long backstay for an effective/efficient antenna for the primary-use bands (4mhz thru 8mhz maritime and 75m 'n 40m ham bands)...
And, most importantly, I have NO significant RFI issues at all, just a few minor, VERY low-level birdies....and, my backstay antenna is just inches (about 1.5" to 2") away from my panels...
Besides, it's not "out-of-band" RFI that I'm concerned about....it is "in-band" / "on-channel" RFI, whether narrow-band carriers/birdies, or wide-band hash....
Any antenna that receives the desired signal on any freq, will also receive "noise" (RFI) on that same freq....of course if I had room for a directional antenna (even if just for receiving), you could null out noise/rfi, but on an offshore sailboat??? just isn't the room...
{BTW, I have also taught HF receive antenna system design and while RFI mitigation is part of that, it's best to eliminate the noise / RFI at the source and/or choke it off at the source... }
Oh, and I have an excellent sea water antenna ground connection, directly under the backstay..
And, in addition to HF and Solar on my current boat for 14+ years now (working great), I've also had it on other boats for many many years...



fair winds.

John

[travellerw]

I guess I will chime in.. We have 3 solar arrays, all connected in series so all are WAY over 18V (highest is about 74V). Those three arrays are each fed into their own Victron MPPT controller (2 100/30 and one 75/15). We have noticed no radio interference EXCEPT when we had the bluetooth module connected. Once the bluetooth module was connected, then our Vesper was reporting terrible interference (through the Vesper app). It turned out that I had inadvertanly ran the cable for the bluetooth module within 6 inches of the antenna wire (LMR400). Once I moved the bluetooth module and wire far away from the antenna wire that interference went away..

Now... Lets talk about wind generator controllers. Man oh man is ours bad. Even with no wind coming in we are getting interference (and reduced recieve performance). T