Solar Charge Controllers

Solar Charge Controllers

 All of these charge controllers have great reviews and will do a great job, but they have some key differences:

 

SolarEpic is a professional seller of solar products. Provide quality solar controllers and accessories.
Our solar charger controller is super easy to install munuall without any prifessional help.No tricks,hacks or complicated tools are needed to install it.It features two pre drilled holes for convenient setup.Just attach it to a surfackeusing drills and its ready for use!

Key features that you need to look out for:

  • It is a true MPPT Controller which will deliver 99% efficiency
  • Can be used for over-paneling (which means you can add more panels than what it is rated for). This feature is very hard to find, but present in all of the controllers that I recommend
  • Temperature Compensation- This increases the life of your batteries
  • Manual charge profiles (charge any type of battery): Only for advanced users. This will allow you to fine tune your charge profile to a specific battery
  • Large and strong input terminal that can accommodate large wire gauges (very hard to find) 

 

Product Recommendations

 

  Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT Epever Tracer-AN Series MPPT

Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT

Great quality and lasts for years,
but hard to program.

Epever Tracer-AN Series MPPT

Cheapest quality,
​cheapest price, great reviews

Epever Tracer-AN Series MPPT

Excellent quality,
​cheap price, rave reviews

  • Good quality, solid metal case
  • Remote screen is great. Can be mounted far from the solar charge controller
  • Great quality input terminals! Better than the victron and tracer. Can handle 4 gauge wire!
  • Medium difficulty programming custom charge profiles with included mt-50 screen (see my tesla battery page for information on how to do this). Extreme difficulty trying to get this thing to connect to a computer for programming. Don't even try it. Use mt-50 screen. 
If you are using standard SLA/FLA/Drop-in Lithium Battery, get this controller
  • Cheapest quality, plastic case
  • Remote screen is great. Can be mounted far from the solar charge controller
  • Great input terminals (better than victron!)
  • Hard to program custom charge profiles. Needs usb connected to a computer. Pain in the butt to setup the program. Use mt-50

 

 If you are on a budget, get this controller
  • Excellent quality, plastic case
  • Remote screen is great. Can be mounted far from the solar charge controller
  • Hard to program custom charge profiles. Needs usb connected to a computer. Pain in the butt to setup the program. Use mt-50
  • Wide operating voltage range of pv array maximum power poin
If you are on a budget, get this controller

 

You might choose 

Choose according to your needs

 If you are using the batteries recommended on this website,
​this solar charger works great. No programming required:

  If you use a AGM Sealed Lead Acid or Recommended Drop-in Lithium, you do not need to program anything. You plug this controller into your system, and you are done. 

This controller can do it all, but it is difficult to program custom charge profiles. If you read the manual and give it an hour or so, you can make this controller work with any chemistry out there. If you are using normal batteries, you do not need to worry about this at all.
20 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
150 volts open circuit (solar panel array voltage)
260W (12V battery)
520W (24V battery)
Click in for a cheap price 		30 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
150 volts open circuit (solar panel array voltage)
390W (12V battery)
780W (24V battery)
Click in for a cheap price 		40 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
150 volts open circuit (solar panel array voltage)
520W (12V battery)
1040W (24V battery)
Click in for a cheap price
     

  ​Click here for a second supplier  

 If you wish to use this controller to charge exotic/strange voltage lithium battery banks (such as a tesla/nissan leaf battery), you can change the charge controller parameters manually with the mt-50:
  1. Go to the main menu and select "4. Control Para.". In this menu, use the arrow keys to navigate around and see the current charge profile parameters.
  2. If you want to change a parameter, hold down the "ok" button. If it asks for a password input, leave it blank and hold down "ok". You will see the number flash, and you can use the arrows to change the parameter. 
  3. When you are done editing the parameter, press "ok" and it will ask you to save the settings. Press "ok" again. You need to repeat this process everytime you change parameters on a screen (so you can only edit two parameters at a time).
  4. When you are done editing, use the navigation arrows to ensure that all changes have been saved. 
  5. Connect your system to solar power and watch the charge voltage. If it charges up to the charge limit voltage that you programmed, you are good to go. 
It is much easier to use the mt-50 screen to program this controller than to connect it to a computer. If you try to connect it to a computer, you will have problems. It usually takes me about an hour to get it to connect. Its a big pain in the butt.

 

Accessories

 If you buy my recommended charge controller above, it will come with all required accessories. If you buy the 10/20 amp charge controller, you will need to buy them separate. These accessories are in my opinion, required. They take less than a minute to install (you just need to plug them into the solar charge controller) and will expand the functionality and ease of use instantly. I cannot recommend them more! 

 MT-50 Display Interface: This will allow you to change most settings on the solar charge controller such as battery type, size and load settings. The most useful feature of this screen is that it shows real time information of your solar charge controller such as total power being generated by your solar panels and how much power is charging the battery. There are many other features of this screen and I see it as a requirement to have if you use the solar charge controllers above.

Buy the MT-50 by clicking here

GO

Battery Temperature Sensing Unit: This will allow the solar charge controller to determine a safe charging rate considering the temperature of the batteries. If you want your batteries to last a long time or wish for your system to work at a high efficiency, you will need this!

USB Interface Cable: This will allow the charge controller to connect to your computer. This will allow you to see how much power your system has generated over the course of weeks to years. You can also manually change any setting, which is especially useful when using a custom battery. If you have a lithium battery, you will need to input the safe charging voltage here. The hardest aspect of using this usb cable is downloading the software and drivers. It can be difficult and you must open the file that comes with the sofware and follow all of the instructions (there is a special setting in your computer that you must change before your charge controller can communicate with your computer. Just read the instructions and you will be good to go).

Click here to buy both for a cheap price 

 

 

If you want a budget friendly controller with great reviews, buy this:
 

EPEVER MPPT Charge Controller 
10 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
130W (16V battery)
260W (24V battery)
​Click Here for a cheap price
20 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:​
260W (12V battery)
520W (24V battery)
​Click Here for a cheap price 		30 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
390W (12V battery)
780W (24V battery)
Click in for a cheap price 		40 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
520W (12V battery)
1040W (24V battery)
Click in for a cheap price

 

 If you want a large, budget friendly controller that can handle a 200 volt or less solar panel array,
​and 12/24/36/48 volt battery banks, buy this:

  EPEVER  MPPT Charge Controller
50 Amp MPPT Charge Controller:
Max. Solar Input Power:
625W (12V battery)
1250W (24V battery)
2500W (48v battery)
​Click Here for a cheap price
60 Amp MPPT Charge Controller:
Max. Solar Input Power:
750W (12V battery)
1500W (24V battery)
3000W (48v battery)
​Click Here for a cheap price 		80 Amp MPPT Charge Controller:
Max. Solar Input Power:
1000W (12V battery)
2000W (24V battery)
​4000W (48v battery)
​Click Here for a cheap price 		100 Amp MPPT Charge Controller kit:
Max. Solar Input Power:
1250W (12V battery)
2500W (24V battery)
5000W (48v battery)
​Click Here for a cheap  price


 

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