Hey folks, so I have my panels delivered. I have picked out my battery and now I am looking to buy a charge controller to link all this together.
I have purchased 3 solar panels from Amazon for a total of 960W (spec has also been attached):
Solar Panel 310W Monocrystalline Silver Frame, Off Grid, On-Grid, High Efficiency 20% : Amazon.co.uk: Business, Industry & Science
After some much appreciated help from you guys I have a battery picked out though I have not finalised the purchase yet so this might change depending on this thread.
The Roamer 24-230SMART4 is a high power 24V 230Ah LiFePO4 battery for campervans, motorhoomes and boats. Includes 300A continuous discharge, active balancing, Bluetooth and plug and play integration with Victron. Free delivery, Roamercare, 10 year warranty and 5 star support from the UKs leading...
So I now need to look out a charge controller for all of this.
From an earlier conversation @Rednecktek told me I need a 40A controller although this was slightly off-topic at the time so I didn't go into details on this.
The supplier of the battery recommends Victron product (as do a lot of the videos I see online) but there are just SOOOOooooo many. ??
Can you guys recommend one for me that will scale if I add any more batteries/components to my build? I dont think I'll have room for any more panels so that should be fairly fixed.
I do intend to use an inverter (probably around -W) and a dc/dc charger to the mix and would like to have a access to control and monitor through the Bluetooth app or similar.
Thanks in advance for any and all help with this.
Jason
I recommend a Victron 100/30 or Victron 100/50 based off my experiences. Honestly, at least a 30 amp MPPT.
My 30 amp Victron SCC on a 24 volt battery with 900 watts of portable panels will push 30 amps at the charging voltage, which for me commes out to 840 watts. On a separate controller, also a Victron 100/30, I have watts of flat panels on a flat roof and that can also max that SCC out at 840 watts, but for shorter amounts of time.
If your panels are flat, you are unlikely to reach the 960 watt potential very much.
It’s always better to go bigger. If you expect to be charging at max a lot perhaps a 100/50 would be better for a couple of reasons. Some people discourage these from running at max output. A second reason is if the SCC gets hot, it will throttle back the charge by 25% to 33%. Mine have only got hot when the SCC was in direct sunlight.
I recommend a Victron 100/30 or Victron 100/50 based off my experiences. Honestly, at least a 30 amp MPPT.
My 30 amp Victron SCC on a 24 volt battery with 900 watts of portable panels will push 30 amps at the charging voltage, which for me commes out to 840 watts. On a separate controller, also a Victron 100/30, I have watts of flat panels on a flat roof and that can also max that SCC out at 840 watts, but for shorter amounts of time.
If your panels are flat, you are unlikely to reach the 960 watt potential very much.
It’s always better to go bigger. If you expect to be charging at max a lot perhaps a 100/50 would be better for a couple of reasons. Some people discourage these from running at max output. A second reason is if the SCC gets hot, it will throttle back the charge by 25% to 33%. Mine have only got hot when the SCC was in direct sunlight.
I have already been recommended a 40A controller. Is this a calculation that brings you to 30?
Is it better that I go bigger?
I would prefer to go with just the one controller if that's possible as I only have the one array of panels. I don't really see any need for more?
I am unsure yet how to arrange these 3 panels whether in parallel or series but I'll come to that later when I get the components together.
I also am getting quite confused with the numbering. There's a 100/30 and there's 150/30. What's this 100V and 150V and what should this mean to me? Again, is it better to go bigger or is it just a waste of money?
Surely someone really should just put together a "campervan solar in a box" type setup for us part-time noobs .
The length and size of the wire helps calculate voltage drop. Definitely worry about that when you are getting ready to buy the wire but I wouldn't worry about that when deciding which SCC to buy.
Something to consider though. You seem to be buying one piece of equipment at a time and then asking about the next one. That's far from ideal. It could lead to components that don't play well together or don't meet your needs as well as they could. I suggest working out every detail of your electrical/solar system before buying anything else. Figure out every component, every wire, every fuse, etc. and triple check it all works correctly and will meet your needs. Work up a wiring schematic and post here for review. People can double-check your choice of wire sizes and fuse sizes and ensure everything plays well together. Then you can go and buy it all knowing that what you are getting is the right stuff the first time.
@rmaddy
In case you weren't following his previous thread.. he is mounting his panels on a van, so his cable run is probably be going to be pretty short. I imagine he would just be using normal 10gauge pv cable.
@JaseyB
When getting a Victron MPPT charge controller, make sure to get the "SmartSolar" ones, not "BlueSolar".. they are the ones with built in bluetooth and ve.smart that makes coupling up with other ve.smart victron gear real easy from a wireless standpoint. The 150/35 would work for you, or if you think it's going to be a lot sunnier in England than it normally is and want to make sure you can capture every watt your panels would ever produce .. say you went to Spain or something.. the 150/45 would have plenty of headroom to never be maxed out.
The length and size of the wire helps calculate voltage drop. Definitely worry about that when you are getting ready to buy the wire but I wouldn't worry about that when deciding which SCC to buy.
Something to consider though. You seem to be buying one piece of equipment at a time and then asking about the next one. That's far from ideal. It could lead to components that don't play well together or don't meet your needs as well as they could. I suggest working out every detail of your electrical/solar system before buying anything else. Figure out every component, every wire, every fuse, etc. and triple check it all works correctly and will meet your needs. Work up a wiring schematic and post here for review. People can double-check your choice of wire sizes and fuse sizes and ensure everything plays well together. Then you can go and buy it all knowing that what you are getting is the right stuff the first time.
The only way I can get my head around it is to follow the flow and fill in the blanks. as @cs says i'm converting a van to live in so panels on the roof was the first place to start. At that stage I just bought the most output and put on as many as I could fit. Hence the 3 x 320W panels were purchased before they disappeared. This is the only item I actually have already.
As I followed the flow I was told that I need to know what system I was building (12V or 24V or even 48V) so I headed to the battery and with help from you guys arrived at the Roamer 24V 230Ah. This is in the basket until I finalise every else.
Cabling is there in the mix at the back of my mind right now and I will defo be taking advice on this as I feel it's easy to undersize and create dangers. I thought that this would all need to be arranged after the components until I went through the calculator.
@cs I will be travelling in the UK until I know everything is working as expected but then I will be heading for the continent and following "Goldilocks" weather. North in the summer and south in the winter. Nothing too hot or too cold. That controller was one I was looking at earlier but I was getting a bit confused with all teh options and needed some sort of confirmation before I add to the basket.
I have already been recommended a 40A controller. Is this a calculation that brings you to 30?
Is it better that I go bigger?
I would prefer to go with just the one controller if that's possible as I only have the one array of panels. I don't really see any need for more?
I am unsure yet how to arrange these 3 panels whether in parallel or series but I'll come to that later when I get the components together.
I also am getting quite confused with the numbering. There's a 100/30 and there's 150/30. What's this 100V and 150V and what should this mean to me? Again, is it better to go bigger or is it just a waste of money?
Surely someone really should just put together a "campervan solar in a box" type setup for us part-time noobs .
30 amps will be enough to swing by, and you may lose a couple hundred watts. 40 amps is better, but the Victron controller line I’m familiar with goes from 30 amps to 50 amps. Quite a price jump also. It’s all whether of not it’s worth the extra $100 to you.
The first number is the max volts. With the Victron line, the 100 volt controllers tend to do 12 or 24 volt charging. The 150 volt doesv12 volt, 24 volt, 36 volt, or 48 volt charging, but again quite a jump in price.
Hey folks, so I have my panels delivered. I have picked out my battery and now I am looking to buy a charge controller to link all this together.
I have purchased 3 solar panels from Amazon for a total of 960W (spec has also been attached):
Solar Panel 310W Monocrystalline Silver Frame, Off Grid, On-Grid, High Efficiency 20% : Amazon.co.uk: Business, Industry & Science
After some much appreciated help from you guys I have a battery picked out though I have not finalised the purchase yet so this might change depending on this thread.
The Roamer 24-230SMART4 is a high power 24V 230Ah LiFePO4 battery for campervans, motorhoomes and boats. Includes 300A continuous discharge, active balancing, Bluetooth and plug and play integration with Victron. Free delivery, Roamercare, 10 year warranty and 5 star support from the UKs leading...
So I now need to look out a charge controller for all of this.
From an earlier conversation @Rednecktek told me I need a 40A controller although this was slightly off-topic at the time so I didn't go into details on this.
The supplier of the battery recommends Victron product (as do a lot of the videos I see online) but there are just SOOOOooooo many. ??
Can you guys recommend one for me that will scale if I add any more batteries/components to my build? I dont think I'll have room for any more panels so that should be fairly fixed.
I do intend to use an inverter (probably around -W) and a dc/dc charger to the mix and would like to have a access to control and monitor through the Bluetooth app or similar.
Thanks in advance for any and all help with this.
Jason
I like epever 40amp tracer an charge controller. I have 3 and run 14x 240w panels using them on a 24v system.
Theres a nice deal for like $150 you get a
Cc that's normal $130 ish with the $30 external display and a USB cable that's usually $12 and a battery temp sensor . It's on Amazon still I think. Guess not
EPEVER 40A MPPT Charge Controller, Solar Panel Charge Controller Mppt 100V PV Input Negative Grounded Solar Regulator 12V/24V Auto with LCD Display for Gel Sealed Flooded Lithium Battery https://a.co/d/7keGFV8
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