The Basics of Solar Charge Controllers

Solar charge controllers are mainly designed for two essential things within the solar power system: stop the electricity from the batteries to go through the solar panels when there’s no sun and optimize the charging of the battery cycles by the solar panels.

There are many different solar charge controllers available in the market today. Most have a variety of additional features, which include the capacity to turn DC powered loads on or off automatically, deliver monitoring of the voltage and amp-hours left of the batteries and connect to a data network at home for efficient remote monitoring.

Ways to Size a Charge Controller

Solar charge controllers are specified by voltage and amperage. You will need the right solar controller than can support your solar panel array’s voltage, and then output to the voltage of the battery bank. You will also need to ensure that your solar charge controller has sufficient capacity to handle the current from the solar panel array. You have to take your solar panels’ wattage and then divide it by the voltage of the battery bank to obtain a rough estimate of how many amperes the controller requires.

Another way of sizing a charge controller is by taking the array’s short circuit current and multiple it by 1.56. Just ensure that the solar controller you choose can handle at least that many amperes.

What are the Types of Solar Charge Controllers?

The different types of solar controllers include the following:

MPPT Solar Charge Controllers. The Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) solar charge controller is the latest innovation of solar systems today. This controller can determine the solar panel array’s optimum amperage and operating voltage and match it with the battery bank. This results in additional fifteen to thirty percent more power out of your solar array. See ZHC solar MPPT Controller

PWM Solar Charge Controllers. Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) solar charge controllers are the traditional style of controllers. They are common, widely used in many solar panel applications and very affordable. It is a passive controller technology that utilizes solid state gates and switches to generate a constant DC output from a varying DC input. See ZHC solar PWM Controller

The Main Features of Solar Charge Controllers

Solar charge controllers provide battery bank’s multistage charging, which means that it changes the power amount set to the batteries according to its level for more valuable and healthier batteries. They also stop the solar panels from draining when there is no sun or no power that comes from the solar panels. They also turn off any attached load when the battery is low and then turns it back when it is charged back up.

There are also a variety of solar charge controllers on the market today. There are ,40A solar charge controllers and 30A solar charge controllers that safely control your source of energy and protect your batteries from being overcharged. They also provide essential protection from reverse connection of battery.

In addition, some solar charge controllers provide low voltage disconnect, modifiable control voltage set points and overload metering and protection. They also significantly enhance battery charging, making them a vital component of any solar power system.