Solar Regulators (also known as Charge Controllers) enable you to charge 12V batteries from your solar panels. Australian Direct carry a range of PWM and MPPT Regulators. Shop now: kickassproducts.com.au/collec...
Thank you for the explanation. The analogy of compressed air and the balloon, comparing to PV Cells and the Battery Banks was absolutely perfect for people to understand the value of Charge Controller. Thank you. I’d definitely go for MPPT device.
On my motor home i run 3 x 200 watt Mono panels thru 3x 20 amp epsolar controlers , The reason is if one gets smashed or goes bad i still have 2 , they are great I have never had a drama and have the wifi modules also ,, I dont have my house batteries conected to the truck alternator as the solar keeps up with everything i need , I run a 3000 watt inverter (Yes conected to the battery and the 0awg wires to the inverter are short as possable , What i love is the MPPT controller can sense the inverter is on within 5 seconds and regulates the charge ,, I do have a 3600 onan genset but i only run that now to make sure the thing starts , EPSOLAR is the best thing to happen to solar for motorhomers in Australia in 20 years ,,,, I put them in the same basket as ENGEL and ARB ,,, just a top company ,,, B.J.T NSW South Coast ,,,,,, "having fun !"
very good info. thanks Clayton, just purchase one of your suggest MPPT brand, 40a, w 2 Gel battery x 150Ah and parallel connect together, question , should I setup Gel 150Ah or 300Ah in MPPT ?? ( as it is Parallel, so is still 12V, but double amps x2 ??), did not see this info. in the user manual, thanks, jeff
Bloody awesome vid mate. For people like me the balloon explained it so well. Will be getting 300 w solar panels for my setup from you guys cause the reviews I have seen are awesome and I just watched my old mate Buck Rogers do a review with a panel you guys sent him. Can you please answer me this. Got myself a Dometic PLB40 battery. Would I still benefit from a MPPT with a 300w solar panel cause I think this battery has in solar regulated of some sort.
Gday mate... I'm still finding my feet with my off grid solar system. I like the look of this controller (EPSolar Tracer-4210A 40amp 12/24v Controller) and recently was gifted 12 x 175w x 24v panels. Can you tell me how to calculate how many panels this controller will handle. Currently I'm running 3 x 85ah x 12v batteries in parallel off 3 x 185w panels and victron 100/15 controller.
Hi Big Dog, The maximum input is 100V and 550W on a 12 volt battery bank. This increases to 1100W on a 24 volt bank. Therefore you could have a maximum of 3 panels and they mist be wired in parallel so you don't go over 100V. If you have any further questions, or would like us to organise that for you, please don't hesitate to contact us directly.
I have a 4210A running for nearly a year now, without a hiccup. I run a 1.14 kW panel-set all parallel into a 24V 400Ah battery. The setup can produce 900W from my 1kW pure-sine inverter, but I avoid loading more than 70% of continuous rated power. Connect your PC/laptop to the comm-port via an RS485 to USB adaptor (~$2) using free Epever software/GUI. My 'Me-ter' was not worth the money and is still in it's box.
What if your solar panels have solar charge controllers on them and the solar generator has a solar charge controller on it would that be a bad thing? Is it better if the solar panel have a charge controller on itself then feed a regular charge controller. Or once the solar panel sends voltage from the panel controller it can go directly to battery without any worries? Reply
A solar panel can only be regulated once by a regulator (Charge Controller). Solar panels will output power to the regulator and onto the battery. The system must be kept in a string like this and cannot be regulated more than once.
The amount of current (amps) that the panel is producing all depends on what the connected load is. If you connect a flat battery to the panel you will see the battery "draw" a current in amps from the panels. If you then connect an accessory such as a fridge or oven to the battery you will see that current draw increase. Hope this helps.
MY EPEVER 40A UNIT STOPPED WORKING THIS WEEK AND THE CURRENT (AMPS) WILL NOT COME THROUGH - WHAT IS GOING ON PLEASE? mine stopped working today after owning it only 5 months. i have (4) 60W panels hooked in parallel @ 22V and 1.5A each. so the voltage reads correct as 22V but the current reads as 0.00A. my question is what could it be? or what is the contact for the manufacturer? or is this a known failure? after watching many reviews it seems i should check the internal fuses, which i will do right now. ...FUSES ARE BOTH IN TACT! one thing i did notice was the screws are NOT good in salt water air conditions because mine are corroded. i will attempt to replace with stainless steel screws.
Hey There, we are sorry to hear there was an issue with you MPPT, could you please contact our customer service team on (07)3123 4715 or alternatively email a detailed description of your issue, accompanied by a short video showing the problem, and your order number or customer details to sales@australiandirect.com.au and we will be able to help you out. Have a great day!
i have 2 trogen 6 volts connected for 12 volt bank. long story short they have sat for a yr with no charge to them a currently read 5.38 volts. i ordered a mttp controller and a 100 watt panel .not yet installed but after research i dont think the controller will recognise the low volt batteries to start charging them.can i hook the panel straight to the bank to bring up the voltage to then add the controller to finish the charging?........will this work ?.how long do you expect it would take to bring up the voltage to maybe 11.6
Clean the battery terminals & apply little grease on terminals & Charge battery direct with panel for 4 hrs. If battery voltage improve & check the temp.by touching , if it is bearable. Connect battery through Mppt.This will revive. imprrove
so i have a dual battery system incorporating a Ctek250SA dcdc charger, What can i add to get a screen to show me what my solar is putting in? So i can see it for myself!
Hi Crispin, we would not recommend this as the 3 regulators will be fighting against each other for the charge. Our recommendation would be to either charge the 3 batteries with three different panels or connect all the batteries in parallel and use 1 regulator and panel.
Amod Anand - I checked their site, and they have some videos on youtube to help size the system to your needs. They ARE a Retail store, so expect to pay full price, but if return/warranty policy is good then why not?
I have an instapower IPSG30CP that was fitted to a caravan we purchased but is showing the night symbol and i cant work out how to change it ....looked at instructions and doesnt explain ...can you offer me some advide please
Just purchased KA1224MMPT40A .... not too sure about user manual comment "Within ten minutes after the controller stops charging reversely connecting the battery will result in damage to the the controller" Can you tell us what you mean by "Reverse Connecting" .. What should we avoid? many thanks!
Hi Data Glasses, this just means that if you accidentally reversely connect the battery input (e.g, positive into negative or vice versa) you have 10 minutes to amend this error before damage may be done to the controller.
G'day, You will need at least a 20 amp controller for a 300 watt solar panel. However you may find that a 300 watt panel might not be enough to charged 2 batteries and may want to expand your system in the future. In that case a 40 amp controller will give you an upgrade path.
Clayton can you look into why your company cannot deliver battery or power box all Power station to my address in no one so far has helped me understand why
Michael, We ship Australia wide and there should be no reason that we cannot ship to you. Have you spoken to anyone from our customer support team? We use various freight companies and as such generally don't have any issues shipping anywhere in the country. We would like to sort out this problem ASAP If you could provide more information here or contact us via our support portal and we will get back to you!
Michael, We have discovered the issue and we are working with our freight companies to resolve it. In the mean time our customer service manager has attempted to contact you. We are sorry for any inconvenience.
Hi i brought the 40amp mppt kickass charge controller and just received my remote meter but they wont connect to bluetooth it just displays disconnected i have turned my phone off and on turned controller off and on but still says the same
Hey mate, please contact our Customer Service Team through our support portal and we will do everything we can to help you with your issue. supportportal.australiandirect.com.au/
luciano santucci Remember there’s also a controller (thermostat) for Pizza Oven so that they may not over cook. Every where there’s a controller.... The wife controls the Husband ! Etc etc. Abbia un grande giorno, il mio amigo.
Hey Merv, only chargers rated to charge lithium-ion batteries are capable of doing this. Just like with a normal charger you have the option to select "Wet, Calcium or AGM" to get battery type specific charging, lithium-ion has its own settings, specifications and needs from a charger.
It's about voltage regulation. A decent pwm will provide the appropriate voltage, up to the desired set point. Lifepo4 does not require float, so either use a cutoff timer or just pay attention.
Please read this article at www.powerstream.com/LLLF.htm I am putting together a 900Ah lifepo4 system, and plan on using a desktop switching power supply set to the appropriate voltage, say 14.4v. The bms will do the rest. BMS's are smart, too!
Australia Direct got awesome products, but it's a pitty that your company does not ship to South Africa or Namibia... You should consider selling on ebay or direct (from your website) to outide Australia (via paypal), otherwise these videos are only directed to the Australian market and only information to the outside world.
Hey Funky Dodo - thanks for your feedback. At the moment all of our videos are purposed as educational / tutorials only and while we currently only ship within Australia, we are looking at avenues to ship outside Australia in the future.
Thank you for the reply, I'm looking forward to direct from website purchase via PayPal. I think it will be good for your business as South Africa and Namibia got similar conditions as Australia, we can use most of your camping and off road gear. Australian gear are very robust and is doing well here (ARB, Ironman, OZ, Waeco etc etc). It would be nice to see in future the KickAss brand among the other Australian brands!!!
I think you just have a pop balloon fetish myself. Most of us that build our OWN systems have common sense and don't need that kind of CHILDISH directions as if you're talking to a 5 year old kid. Insulting.
