Solar Charge Controller Showdown & Buyers Guide

How to choose the right solar charge controller?  In this video I’ll be testing out the most popular solar charge controllers.  From super cheap PWM’s to super expensive MPPT charge controllers.  We’ll answer the question: What solar charge controller is best for my scenario.  When would you want to buy one over another? Pros vs Cons. We’ll also be testing which Solar Charge controller will collect the most solar power from the sun.

*RESULTS FROM 6 HOURS of FULL CLOUDs*:
EPEver - 207wh
Victron - 207wh
Powerqueen - 198wh
PWM - 103wh
Bateria Mppt - NA. Couldn't find this one(Lost in my garage somewhere)

*Chapters*:
00:00 Intro
00:27 What 12v Solar Charge Controller to buy
04:25 Describing the Test
06:50 100 Watt Sunny Test
09:04 Full Day Sunny Test
13:47 Cloudy Test
17:13 FULL TEST RESULTS
17:38 Saving money on Solar Charge Controllers

#solar #mppt #pwm #renewableenergy #solarenergy #solarpower #victronenergy #epever #batteria #solargenerator #solarchargecontroller #solarcharger

*Recommended Solar Stores* (Using these links will help support the channel)

*Contact info*
I am not available for personal consulting. Please reach out to me in the video comments where I and others can provide feedback to you

*Disclaimer*
I am not a licensed electrician. Working with electricity is dangerous and can lead to injury or death, even when following documentation and instructions. I can not be held liable for such damage or injury. I am not giving or seeking to give advice on how to work with electricity. You should consult with a licensed professional whenever possible and get all work reviewed by an inspector and follow any local regulations in your area. I'm documenting my projects for informational purposes only. Electricity can kill you! BE CAREFUL!

[saxmusicmail]

This info is what got me to buy MPPT instead of the cheaper PWM controller. Thanks!

[SuperSushidog]

I live in my RV full time, and boondock (dry camp) most of the time. We boondocked for 8 months straight in 2023. We have been using a 50a Epever on a 620w liftable array, charging a 560ah LiFePo-4 battery. It has worked perfectly for the almost 5 years we've had it and is a great value. It has fast tracking and high efficiency too, I'd say it is comparable to the feature rich Victron, just with less bells and whistles. I recommend getting the MT-50 monitor with it for ease of programing/monitoring.

[junkerzn]

That's a really decent overview. I would add in terms of charge controllers... never buy a charge controller with a fan. If the charge controller needs a fan it's because it is a bad design. One might want to externally have some airflow in the box everything is in, that's fine. But charge controllers with internal fans should always be avoided.

The Victron 100|20 can handle 12, 24, or 48V, and the SmartSolar version is $88. That is really the sweet spot, I think. Even if someone is just doing 12V or 24V, I can guarantee that anyone who gets enthusiastic about solar and batteries will be wanting to go to 48V in fairly short order. Higher voltage systems massively reduce currents, the wire sizes needed, and heat. In anycase, getting charge controllers that can do everything helps because upgrading the system voltage after the fact can be costly and it will be one less cost to worry about.

With a 48V battery (16s, 51.2V LiFePO4 nominal), while charging the battery, voltage will average around 53V. That's over 1000W of solar (~53V x 20A) possible on a single 100|20 charge controller.

There is one and only one downside to 48V and that is you need the solar open-circuit voltage to be 60V+. e.g. 4 x 50W panels in series or 3 x 100W panels in series or 2 x residential panels in series at a minimum. Well, also the minimum reasonable 48V (51.2V nominal) battery size is 25Ah (such as the Lithova battery).

But in my mind that's really the minimum system anyone should be thinking about when going discrete parts anyway. Any smaller... like if you have just one solar panel, and you might as well just get a power station.

-Matt

[torpemonguz]

Thank's this video!
Victron is a fricking good and expensive system, specially the mppts..
For larger systems.. 15kwpi panel with 12kw inverter like Deye / Solark roughly a half ( or lower?) price... and You do not care with the components... All in one..
( Yeah if something happen, all in one tougher go to the scrap....but the life is dangerous..😂) Greatings from Hungary!

[BenJefferyCanada]

Great video! I was always curious how much different the performance would be between brands, but it seems like you'll be in good shape as long as you have a true MPPT controller.

[BobBob-ilku]

Didn’t realize you were a prepper the LDS food storage gave it away you should do more content on it.

[BlueThailand]

I have 2 DIRT CHEAP PWM controllers for more than 2 years. It is perfect for a cheap 12V and USB electricity backup in case of outage
I created a set with a 50W solar panel + PWM controller + an electric bicycle battery : Super cheap and i can supply electricity 11h to a 12V led lamp + charging USB devices
This DIRT CHEAP PWM has also another advantage : it includes 2 USB ports

When selecting a charge controller you do want to take into account what kind of battery you are going to be connecting it to and how many amps of DC current that it could possibly produce using the solar panels data sheet.. If lead acid batteries are used any charge controller will be fine as long as it works with the voltage you plan to use.. For LiFePo4 and Li batteries you want a controller that has a charging mode for them or has the ability for the user to adjust the settings and these settings stay set even if the solar panels or battery are disconnected then reconnected.. After calculating the maximum watts that could ever be produced by the panels on a freezing cold sunny day you need to see what the maximum safe charging watts/amps the battery can handle without causing damage and match this for all day output to total battery storage capacity.. It would be very inefficient to have 10 kilowatt hours of solar output going into a battery that could only store 5 kilowatts unless you can use power while the sun is shining you waste at least 5kwh of potential.. I have 7.2kw of panels that produce on average of 5-6.5kwh in peak sun and 20 to 35kwh a day connected to a 30kw 600 amp LiFePo4 battery bank and I do use power all day and night from this setup.. There are many sources to get a guesstimate of how much on average for different locations on the planet that solar will produce that take into account latitude and weather for a location.. I have an Amish friend that got a couple 350 watt panels and an MPPT controller who connected them to far too small a battery and literally boiled the battery to death in a week because it was charging with far more amps than was safe for the battery.. Rule of thumb is 10% of the battery rating for lead acid and 25% for LiFePo4 for longer battery life.. You certainly can go higher but it causes heat and heat is an early death..

[lexpee]

only disadvantage of the victron MPPT mppt charge controller is that these are not repairable, completely cast in the aluminum housing.

If you connect the plus and minus battery cables incorrectly, then you can throw away the MPPT controller. The fuse cannot be replaced.

No warranty by Victron

[TheSimpleLivingAussie]

I think you and I are the same, we're addicted to buying solar controllers, batteries and panels 😂
You probably know this but it's still worth mentioning, a good way of seeing if a controller is MPPT is to measure the solar input voltage at the solar controller and the battery voltage at the solar controller. If it is MPPT the solar input voltage will be higher than the battery voltage when under load. If it is a PWM controller both the solar input and battery voltage will be the same when under load. There are so many fake controllers out there.

[jeremyjedynak]

Thanks for doing this "bake off" video! Its wasn't clear why the higher voltage battery with stepdown converter would save money over a lower voltage battery. Could you please further explain this?

[matthewknight]

I have 5 victron charge controllers and a few powmr 100 amp charge controllers. The victron are super nice with the smart app and higher voltage input but actually the powmr 100's have never missed a beat and work great also. My all in one units on the other hand ... Lol

[fc]

If the wiring is perfectly identical, and the controllers are in parallel and IN BULK STAGE (absorbtion and floating stage don't work in MPPT mode, even if almost anyone knows that) the results are reasonably accurate.

[ronwatkins]

Im trying to find a combo charge controller and inverter for off-grid solution. 500W continuous for about 12KWh/day

[paveljelinek]

Good one, i have mppt too (manual mppt trimmer), was very cheap, like 10$

[bowlampar]

'Dirt Cheap' company products are not that useless after all, they worked out quite well in low power application。 😉😉

[commodore]

I got the srne voltx 50a mppt + dcdc charger in one and its a game changer

[larryphillips]

Anyone out there that’s going to do solar, just go 48v. Unless you’re just doing it for 1 fridge or something small… just go 48v and if you are doing something small, do at least 24v. Trust me, don’t waste your time and money with 12v. 12v is a dying breed…

[fc]

The only thing don't convince me are the meters. Or better, I ask you if they are very good quality meters. Because if not, it's impossible trust to 3 or 4 watts of difference in a day with 200wh of productivity.
A very small deviation or measure error on instant reading, get accumulated along the day. You can mix the meters, in a second or third test in cloudy day, sto see at least if results are confirmed or not

[zzzdoerrr]

Hello. Thank you verry much. It's really helpfull! Is it possible to use victron mppt as a booster. For exemple i have a ebike with a batterie 48v. 25 amp. And a solar panel 100w 12 v ? I want to charge my bike while riding... let's say with a smal victron mppt. Have a nice day!