MPPT vs PWM Solar Charge Controller 

Amen to that! My cheap 30A PWM just outperformed that Victron 100/50 on a small 640W (Solar) 12V (Battery-520Ah) setup. Normally, with indirect morning Sun, I can use a 1300W hoover on a SWI-Power, 3200W - 240V-50Hz Inverter to clean all my downstairs rooms, the MPPT only managed less than 1/4 of the space, and God forbid a cloud appears - I've learned that a PWM is an "Amp" Dump waiting to happen, and it is triggered by us, draining the battery. Mine gets down to around 12.2V, at which point my PWM is dumping 35A+ towards the battery bank and the drain on the batteries becomes very, very slow, staying 12,2V for up to 4 minutes, the MPPT just... Tracked with zero Volts to Amp conversion, it simply "Tracked"!! :¬/ I have just sent back the MPPT Victron 100/50 and upgraded to a 45A Epever PWM (More RF?) and am now adding a 20A Epever to the same battery bank to add a few more Amps - This is a very new setup and is still in test mode, but I am confident that this Paralleling of PWM's may completely stop the battery draining lower than 12.2V altogether:¬) - It's looking like 890W (DC) will run a 1300W (AC) hoover. Not many demonstrate what happens when MPPT and PWM's are under a real load via an inverter and battery bank, only then will people stop saying MPPT is better and more cost-effective. PWM's only start to really work when there is a significant drain in battery power folks, not virtually idle and certainly not with a device that takes less than 1 or 2 Amps. ;¬) PWM's own!

@@Dreadnyah I have done a lot of side by side testing over the years and have yet to have an mppt win my heart. That doesn't mean it won't work good for someone else. I do all kinds of strange things to my system that maybe some other people wouldn't do. I have my own ideas, such as I run my panels in a series/parallel array that auto switches to change the output voltage depending on conditions and demand and will switch between a 370v output and a 60v/30v output. When all my batts are full it will switch to series and 370v into gridtie, then it will switch back to a 60 and 30v system to charge the 48 sys, and 12v sys.

@@oldolfmann8927 WOW! Now that's a lot of Volts, why 370V for the grid, is that transformed to 240/120V? And how many Amps is that pumping out? , Ah, so the 48V DC is inverted and the same with the 12v system? Nonetheless, it's quite impressive. Auto switching is a new concept to me, that is DC panel switching?.--- With the MPPT, I tried Serial, Parallel, and both and yet still the MPPT fast drained my batteries and did not do anything in response to the battery voltage drop, it hits 12.2V and continues to plummet, whereas my EPever 45A PWM controller goes into a full throttle, 35 Amps+, @12.2V (427W) - The 12V rating for the MPPT was 640W and it performed miserably. I have since added another 250W, 10 Amps PV using an Epever 20A PWM Controller, and now it seems to dump Amps @12.3V (553.5W - DC) - I was able to Run 800W @240V AC constantly, that's only a 3.3 Amp draw from the inverter I know but I'm only using 5 panels @710W, I would need double that to run the MPPT in the same manner and quite frankly, I have no more space for more PV's. This humble little setup should, in my mind, the panels should eventually be able to feed or float to the inverter in full sun and only charge the battery when clouds appear. I will test 1KW and 1.3KW AC devices next for continuity, but I am sure I am very close to my humble 5 Amps required to keep my hoover running constantly, I am not a cleaning freak, lol. My hoover is a beast - This would also appear to have the bonus that the battery drain will be lower, so less taxing for them? In an MPPT, are we paying extra to simply "Track" data? If that is so, and there is zero amp dump, then is it not simply a giant rectifier with an onboard computer monitoring system? All the best.

@@Dreadnyah I can give an explanation here, or maybe more if you have an email I can send a pic. Anyways, i have several properties and each is different but they are all still connected to the grid, none are fully off grid, so... example here.... I have some 31 volt panels x 12 = 372 volts DC at about 8~9 amps, all in series but with a relay between each 2 panels. With all in series thru the relays the 372 volts @ 9amps is directed to my grid tie inverter (that's around 3000 watts) . It can actually handle up to 500VDC @10amps and it makes the 240vac for the grid tie. When the relays are switched it connects every set of 2 panels in parallel, for 62 volts DC @ about 50 amps, and that 60VDC goes to a charge controller for my dozens of deep cycle batteries wired at 48Volts. I have several sensors set up that monitor daylight and voltage. For example, when the sun goes down my light sensor automatically switches my home from grid power to battery power ( I have inverters connected to those batteries ). If the batteries get low before the sun rises (sometimes in winter) the low voltage detection will automatically override the sundown relay and connect my home back to the grid and of course when the sun rises the panels will be in the 62v configuration until the batteries are charged. There are a few more details than that, but that's the basics.

In my experience you need to be quite far away from one of these if they are producing noise. Farther than is really practical.

I have done that type of testing many times and like I metioned earlier, I haven't found an mppt that outshined the pwm

How’s it working out for you?

It wasn’t full. I drained ~7.5 ah out of it before charging. 30ah battery.

@K8MRD That's a beast of a battery. I thought it might be full base on the center battery display and the behavior. If you pull 15ah out, the charge controllers will give it all they can give. Although, based on the panel you used, I think you were right about at max for what the panel was giving. Thanks for a great video.

You should see my 300ah batteries! Those are beasts!

@@hamradiotube Fun for a loooong weekend with friends at 300ah!

I used a FT-240 toroid on the power cord. 100% cleaned up the birdies.

I wouldn't make that general statement, no. It's gonna depend on each individual charge controller and the quality with which it was made. I've come across plenty of noisy PWM controllers. But, I wouldn't want a noisy controller anywhere near me when I was operating. I would want a clean controller no matter what.

Yes, but PWM controllers are typically RF quiter. And MPPT controllers are more efficient!

Sure can. I can't help you with the 991settings though. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jy7uUQV1wRU.html

@@hamradiotube thank you. Very much.