I just bought a MPPT charging controller for $38.00 for experimental purposes to learn how they work

[sam_sam_sam]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/376047912327

Feedback wanted on this subject for how to do testing on this device

[petehall347]

let us know how it is .. victron is the go to make over here for solar power and inverters ..
some of the cheap ones arent mppt even though they say they are .

[sam_sam_sam]

let us know how it is ..

I will let you know about what I find out about this device and what I think of it as a charging controller

victron is the go to make over here for solar power and inverters ..

OH really are there inverters any good and there a way to know when reading the description about the MPPT controller if they are not really MPPT controllers

some of the cheap ones arent mppt even though they say they are .

If they are not MPPT controllers what are they really

[petehall347]

I will let you know about what I find out about this device and what I think of it as a charging controller



OH really are there inverters any good and there a way to know when reading the description about the MPPT controller if they are not really MPPT controllers



If they are not MPPT controllers what are they really

pwm is the other sort as i am sure you will already know . i have heard a few stories about the cheap chinese charge controllers . i expect they might be getting better now like other things are . if i was serious about setting up a solar system i would go victron straight away rather than chance having to buy twice .

[sam_sam_sam]

if i was serious about setting up a solar system i would go victron straight away rather than chance having to buy twice .

I looked at a couple of tear down YouTube videos about several different models that they have and they are not easy to take apart because of the way they put the inductor coils and capacitors in potting glue and they are glue happy ( this a negative thing about them so if you have to do a repair on one this is going to be a challenge and you have to use a heat gun to soften the glue which helps but still hard to get apart )

[sam_sam_sam]

Well a primarily testing results on this MPPT charging controller

I am using on half of a 24 volt lipo4 battery pack the battery pack is about 20% charged when put on the MPPT charging controller voltage 13.3 volts @ 2.1 amps

Solar panel 21 volts with no load short circuit load amps output 1.5

Because of the way this MPPT charging controller ( according to the setup sheet it shows the battery voltage and maximum voltage going to the battery pack but does not mention anything about maximum voltage for solar panels versus battery pack voltage ) If this has a buck converter then no issue with what battery voltage to solar voltage input

I will have to get a couple of them because if I want to charge different voltage battery packs I am not sure if I have the setup for 12 volt battery packs as far as the solar panels are concerned

I have two of these solar panels they are the same size and model number
I have two more solar panels that are basically identical in size and shape I am not sure if they are same model number or not

Then I have some more that are same model number but very small panels I have quite a few them but I do not remember what the voltage and current they are but I know that one of that was in the name of mthe mad scientist in me I want to know how easy it was to up the current and lower the voltage output but not easily resealed unfortunately so I have decided not to do this anymore of them because of it

But from what I have seen from this MPPT charging controller it will do what I wanting it to do and it has a function for a light bulb output and you can set it up for how many hours you want it to be ON for then it will shut off

[sam_sam_sam]

Well a primarily testing results on this MPPT charging controller

I am using on half of a 24 volt lipo4 battery pack the battery pack is about 20% charged when put on the MPPT charging controller voltage 13.3 volts @ 2.1 amps

Solar panel 21 volts with no load short circuit load amps output 1.5

But from what I have seen from this MPPT charging controller it will do what I wanting it to do and it has a function for a light bulb output and you can set it up for how many hours you want it to be ON for then it will shut off

This MPPT controller does work very well with Lipo 4 battery cells it fully charged the battery pack that I had on it because I put it on the battery testing machine and set it for 14.7 volts and the BMS balancing protection board that I did not work properly does I do not understand why you have to cycle the BMS balancing protection boards once so they function correctly weird parameters these seem to have

Yes I can rely on it functionality which I am very surprised by right out of the box nothing to actually set because by default it's charging voltage is set to 14.3 volts for a 12 volt battery pack Lipo 4 battery cells

You probably can charge lithium ion that are 4.2 volts would also work fine in this MPPT charging controller but you have to go into the menu setup for high voltage settings and it is from 12.6 to 14.8

The low voltage settings are from 9.6 to 11.5 or something very close to it it also lets you set the time clock for the light controller section but it is limited to 500 mil amperes

[sam_sam_sam]

This weekend I going to run a couple of tests on this MPPT charging controller and my new solar panels that are supposed to 8 amp current output so let see how well this works I will post results after testing has been completed

[truclacicr]

If it's a genuine MPPT controller, then panel voltage and current should differ from battery voltage and current. Does the LCD show these parameters separately? Is there a large inductor inside?

[sam_sam_sam]

If it's a genuine MPPT controller, then panel voltage and current should differ from battery voltage and current. Does the LCD show these parameters separately? Is there a large inductor inside?

To answer it does the solar panel voltage with no load is 21 volts and direct short output is 1.5 amps

When charging a 12.0 volt battery pack 12 volt @ 2 amps current output when it reaches 14.4 volts ( which is what the controller is set to by default )

I do not remember if when you are charging a battery if it shows the solar panel voltage at this point I do not think so I will put a volt meter on the solar panel input and post what it is

I do not think that the voltage is going to differ much from the battery voltage when it is charging at 2 amp which is the maximum output current of the solar panel that I am using

As far as taking it apart this is going to have to wait until I buy another one and finish doing the testing one the new solar panels that I just bought that claim that there output current is around 8 amps which I going to find out tomorrow if it is nice and sunny because I have a 24 volt battery that needs to be tested

[sam_sam_sam]

I was looking at some GTI on eBay and I noticed that there is a version that does not require a battery pack

Question what is the advantage of using this type of inverter over one that uses a battery pack

I personally would think that if you could have both features in one unit would be better in the long run but remember that I just starting in this subject so I am a novice at this point in time

Here is one that some of the description *******does not make sense to what they are talking about ********

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26637605288...Bk9SR8D60KvfZQ


[QUOTE]

Description:




Features:

• Grid Tie Inverter MPPT range: 26V - 36V***DO NOT use solar controller load ports to connect to the inverter****
• *****Solar Grid Tie Inverter-Vmp(of a solar panel) must be in the MPPT range to ensure the good output ***** efficiencyGrid Tie Inverter cannot work, please contact Yong Hui merchant
• *****Grid Tie Solar Inverter-Creative MPPT technology,efficiency more than 99%Please do not use other voltage input, for example: (20V) or(45V)****** Please use 200W-1000W solar panel (Voc36-46V)

[/QOUTE]

[truclacicr]

The whole point of an MPPT charger is that the panel is operating at its maximum power point.

Here is an example of a 175W panel:

https://www.4x4industries.com.au/pro...-1485x668x30mm

• Nominal Power (Pmpp): 175W
• Max Power Voltage (Vmpp): 19.4V
• Max Power Current (Impp): 9.03A
• Open Circuit Voltage (Voc): 23.7V
• Short Circuit Current (lsc): 9.89A

Max power = 19.4V x 9.03A = 175W

If the battery voltage is 12v, say, then the panel voltage will be 19.4V and the panel current will be 9.03A (at its rated specs). The battery voltage will 175W / 12V = 14.6A (at 100% efficiency).

[petehall347]

The whole point of an MPPT charger is that the panel is operating at its maximum power point.

Here is an example of a 175W panel:

https://www.4x4industries.com.au/pro...-1485x668x30mm

• Nominal Power (Pmpp): 175W
• Max Power Voltage (Vmpp): 19.4V
• Max Power Current (Impp): 9.03A
• Open Circuit Voltage (Voc): 23.7V
• Short Circuit Current (lsc): 9.89A

Max power = 19.4V x 9.03A = 175W

If the battery voltage is 12v, say, then the panel voltage will be 19.4V and the panel current will be 9.03A (at its rated specs). The battery voltage will 175W / 12V = 14.6A (at 100% efficiency).

battery will be more like 14v when charging .

[sam_sam_sam]

The whole point of an MPPT charger is that the panel is operating at its maximum power point.

If this is the case what do you do if you do not always need that much current to charge your battery packs size the panel for the amperage that you plan using to charge your battery packs current size this is not very convenient to use then if this is the case

My theory is get the MPPT controller that is the maximum current and voltage you plan on using you can always add more battery packs until you get to the maximum current capacity of the MPPT charging controller

Correct me if my theory and thinking is wrong about the how to size the MPPT charger controller you can always add solar panels but in my case I putting them on the roof so I have to be concerned and carful about the size of the solar panels


Cost of the solar panels is a big factor in my decision on what to buy and can afford

[truclacicr]

battery will be more like 14v when charging .

I intentionally used the example of a dead flat battery to illustrate max power (bulk) charging. The typical battery chemistry for solar applications is LiFePO4.

https://www.solar4rvs.com.au/assets/...0discharge.png

The initial phase involves bulk charging at a constant current. The final phase is constant voltage charging.

[sam_sam_sam]

I intentionally used the example of a dead flat battery to illustrate max power (bulk) charging. The typical battery chemistry for solar applications is LiFePO4.

https://www.solar4rvs.com.au/assets/...0discharge.png

The initial phase involves bulk charging at a constant current. The final phase is constant voltage charging.

Thank you for the charging charge this exactly the results that I get on my battery testing machine but what I like about this chart is that it shows the “C” charging rate which will be very helpful in determining some calculations that I need to do for setting up a solar charging station system

[sam_sam_sam]

Well I was going to charge a 24 battery pack but unfortunately I only have one cable apparently right now so I have to wait until I have the other cable coming sometime next week but I can charge some 12 volt battery packs I just have split another 24 volt battery packs into half so I have something to work with for mthe time being

I am also going to run a test on some buck converter that I also have and see how well they work on this solar panel which it does put out 6 amps of charging current so are as advertised from the company that I bought them from

Stay tuned more to come later maybe next weekend if it is nice and sunny weather

[sam_sam_sam]

Here are some pictures of the controller board and the display board

[truclacicr]

It looks like an ordinary PWM controller to me.

U6 and L3 appear to be associated with the USB ports.

U1, L1 and U4 appear to power the ICs on the PCB.

This appears to be the user guide:

https://ia804609.us.archive.org/2/it...8100A_text.pdf

I see nothing that would be consistent with an MPPT controller.

This appears to be the design registration for the box (SY48100A):

https://qxb-img-osscache.qixin.com/p...194f0dbe56.pdf

I don't know how to search for the patent(s) here:

https://english.cnipa.gov.cn/

Display controller (HT1621A):

https://www.holtek.com/webapi/116711/HT1621_21Gv340.pdf

The chip is marked "HOLETK" (sic), so it looks like a fake.

H6215L is a "12-200V input, 2A, buck constant voltage chip (high power - line loss compensation)".

https://taoic.oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/6511/product/HHBDT_1663134630000.pdf

https://www.hxc-power.com/h-col-113.html

[petehall347]

It looks like an ordinary PWM controller to me.

U6 and L3 appear to be associated with the USB ports.

U1, L1 and U4 appear to power the ICs on the PCB.

This appears to be the user guide:

https://ia804609.us.archive.org/2/it...8100A_text.pdf

I see nothing that would be consistent with an MPPT controller.

This appears to be the design registration for the box (SY48100A):

https://qxb-img-osscache.qixin.com/p...194f0dbe56.pdf

I don't know how to search for the patent(s) here:

https://english.cnipa.gov.cn/

Display controller (HT1621A):

https://www.holtek.com/webapi/116711/HT1621_21Gv340.pdf

The chip is marked "HOLETK" (sic), so it looks like a fake.

H6215L is a "12-200V input, 2A, buck constant voltage chip (high power - line loss compensation)".

https://taoic.oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyun...3134630000.pdf

https://www.lexology.com/library/det...0-551823bb6d65