You need to know what size of battery bank you are going to use, according to your daily/ weekly energy consumption and the number of days of autonomy you'll need. That's going to be charge controller's output data.
Secondly, you need to determine how much solar pv power you are going install and how fast it can charge your battery bank. That's going to be your charge controller's input data.
You need to figure out the input and output voltages too.
If you know all the answers, all you need to do is to pick a suitable charge controller from the list and read the data sheet and installation guide.
If you know your PV array and battery bank information, I could point out some suggestions.
I have a PV system that I installed at a remote cabin (single 85W panel, ~250 Ah of 12v battery capacity and Morningstar Sunsaver MPPT 15 A charge controller - designed to provide 1 week of power when the cabin is occupied and 1 week to recharge when cabin is unoccupied).
The system gets very little use (~1-2 wks/yr). It worked great for a year (installed summer 2010 and was still working summer 2011). Since summer 2011 it has failed. When I arrived in summer 2012 the battery pack was not charged. I recharged batteries at home, fixed corrosion on battery terminals (I did not coat with petroleum jelly when 1st installed), confirmed PV panel providing current to charge controller and reconnected the system. This year (summer 2013) the battery pack was not charged again. Is it possible that the charge controller is my problem? Did I get the wrong charge controller given the minimal use of the system? I'm stumped as to where my problem lies or how I can tell if the charge controller is my problem. Any suggests are welcome.
Comments
There is a relevant article "How to select a charge controller" in the Tech Help/ Resources section.
Briefly,
You need to know what size of battery bank you are going to use, according to your daily/ weekly energy consumption and the number of days of autonomy you'll need. That's going to be charge controller's output data.
Secondly, you need to determine how much solar pv power you are going install and how fast it can charge your battery bank. That's going to be your charge controller's input data.
You need to figure out the input and output voltages too.
If you know all the answers, all you need to do is to pick a suitable charge controller from the list and read the data sheet and installation guide.
If you know your PV array and battery bank information, I could point out some suggestions.
I have a PV system that I installed at a remote cabin (single 85W panel, ~250 Ah of 12v battery capacity and Morningstar Sunsaver MPPT 15 A charge controller - designed to provide 1 week of power when the cabin is occupied and 1 week to recharge when cabin is unoccupied).
The system gets very little use (~1-2 wks/yr). It worked great for a year (installed summer 2010 and was still working summer 2011). Since summer 2011 it has failed. When I arrived in summer 2012 the battery pack was not charged. I recharged batteries at home, fixed corrosion on battery terminals (I did not coat with petroleum jelly when 1st installed), confirmed PV panel providing current to charge controller and reconnected the system. This year (summer 2013) the battery pack was not charged again. Is it possible that the charge controller is my problem? Did I get the wrong charge controller given the minimal use of the system?
I'm stumped as to where my problem lies or how I can tell if the charge controller is my problem. Any suggests are welcome.