Got this Solar Charge Controller locally made in China by Mobolo Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. It came with a 3 page Mandarin user instructions and the Solar Charge Controller. This model is EPOW-PS10 10amp PWM Solar Charge Controller, on their website you can download the User Instructions but it is in Chinese. PWM, Pulse Width Modulation are one of the most sophisticated technology as it is able to monitor, adjust and control the charge going into the battery.
The construction is not the best but acceptable however the electronic component was very well made. There are 3 connections, one for the Solar Panel, Battery and the other is output to Load.
Beside a Charge Controller, there are few modes you can select to control the supply to the Load, such as direct current to Load or hourly timer to Load. Load can be any 12V electrical appliances such LED lamp, pump etc. Meaning when the Sun is down, I can set it automatically to on LED lamp. The hours range from 1 to 13hrs, pretty interesting. I am planning to use the Load to charge the Starter Battery, might try 1 hour setting. Yes, not recommended as there is no overload trip protection to stop the charging but will still try it and see if it works.
There are 3 lamp indicators, one for solar, the other Battery and Load, if the battery has insufficient supply, it will automatically cut supply to Load. Few safety feature are build into this unit, there is a 25amp fuse and overload cut out supply.
The Modification
Most Solar Charge Controller do no come with a volt meter unless you can afford a good set. I decided to in-cooperate a volt meter into this unit. Using the Royce Power Tool cut a measured square slot for the volt meter. The volt meter is then hot glued and the wires soldered to the battery terminals. This volt meter will allow me to read the voltage reading from the battery.
The Solar Charge Controller is secured to my previous LED switches on the seat belt mechanism cover. I decided to modify and use the mini cigarette plug as solar panel connector.
Tomorrow will set up the whole Solar installation. Below is a Youtube vid on the same Solar Charge Controller.
Got similar charger too. But my is 20A ( EPOW-PS22 ).
ReplyDeleteDescription says about MPPT - it is false. MPPT requires high-quality DC-DC converter which is not case for this(no DC-DC at all).
I will try to reverse-engineer schematic diagram to understand how improve power stages and maybe add charging channel for wind generator))
Sergey.
Just today got this device. Didn't try yet. Agreed with Sergey - there is no MPPT, only single PWM algorithm. Cost of this controller, i think, a lttle high.
ReplyDelete