Charge Controllers and Battery Monitors

[Captain Smollett]

I am wondering what brand charge controllers and/or battery monitors are using.  For your brand/model, what are your personal pros and cons?  Would you buy the same unit again?


Reason I am asking:


My present electric system has neither charge controller nor batt monitor.  I presently have two 6 Volt batts in series (giving 215 amp-hours at 12V) and a shore power based charger (I forgot the brand, but I can look).  I had one little 5 Watt solar panel for keeping the batts up when we were on the hook, but it has given up the ghost.

(Actually, this is the second such unit to die on us in four years....the Sensei 5 W panels are now not among my favorites in terms of longevity).

We have replaced most of our lighting with LED's and will get to the rest soon (this year).  My energy budget is about 25 amps per 24 hour period.  That's actual use with quite a bit of cushion.

I am getting ready to add an 87 W panel and want to think through the support components before purchasing.  I will also add a 50 W or so rollable/foldable solar panel only to be used to "top off" for those times that the main 87 W unit fails to keep up with the load and stowed otherwise.

I also have a 5 amp (full throttle) charger on the outboard, but discount it as I refuse to run the ob just to charge batteries (and lower throttle output currents are not worth it anyway).

I am disinclined to have a Honda (or similar) genset aboard for a number of reasons, and have pretty much decided that wind/towable are not for me.

So, I'm going solar only.

[skylark]

i have had this one for about 8 years, no problems.

http://www.solar-electric.com/ss-10.html

[Tim]

i have had this one for about 8 years, no problems.

http://www.solar-electric.com/ss-10.html

I have the same one on the Ariel and know of a few others with it working fine.

[CharlieJ]

That Sunsaver is what we use on Tehani. We use a single 32 watt panel for our electricity.

A friend tested the unit and found that it wouldn't QUITE make good on claims of high temps, so he added some additional heat sinks. Now it works well. (gets REAL hot in Texas occasionally)

[marujo_sortudo]

I have the Morningstar Sunsaver-MPPT-15L with the remote meter.  Absolutely love it.  You can get quite a bit of data out of the thing if you're a geek like me and trying to optimize your solar setup.  Plus, a MPPT controller will get a good bit more power out of your panels and supports battery equalization which should theoretically get more life out of your batteries.  More pricey than a PWM controller, but worth considering.

I've been very happy with Morningstar.  The build quality, documentation, and technical support are outstanding.  The have a "string calculator" which is invaluable for analyzing your solar setup ahead of time:

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/strings/calc.php

I'd think you could probably get by quite well on just the 87W panel for your needs (depending on how good the mounting location is.)  I have a foldable panel (GlobalSolar P3-63W), but I wouldn't recommend it.  The foldable ones are quite expensive and looking at the build quality, I'm hoping to squeeze 4 years out of it, but I'm not optimistic.  One good wind when it's not mounted right or tears out a grommet, and it'll be done.  I'm going to eventually try and set up some hard panels on my dodger which will end up being the more permanent solution.

[Mario G]

We just installed a Morningstar controler with a Kyocera 135w panel and so far no lack of power.