Charge Controllers - New England Solar

1 32 Call Toll Free: (800) 914-4131 New England Solar Electric, CONTROLLERSC harge controller BasicsSolar modules produceelectricity when the sunshines. The Charge con-troller regulates the flow ofelectricity from the solarmodules to the batterybank. When the batterybank is low, the Charge con-troller feeds all of the elec-tricity from the array to thebatteries. When the batter-ies reach a state of fullcharge, the Charge con-troller stops or redirectsthe supply of electricity toprevent Charge controllershave the ability to hold thebattery bank in a "float"state of Charge if the bankis not being used. At nightthe Charge controller pre-vents a reverse flow of cur-rent from the batteries tothe are three basictypes of Charge Controllers -series, shunt and pulse-width-modulated.

2 A seriescontroller, the most basictype, acts as a switch to dis-connect and re-connect thesolar modules to the bat-tery bank. A shunt type con-troller redirects the currentfrom the Solar modules -either by simply short-cir-cuiting the array or bydirecting the current tosome other load. Pulse-width-modulated chargecontrollers, the most up-to-date type, maintain the bat-tery bank in a float state ofcharge. "Float" is the volt-age level just below gassingvoltage. Keeping the batter-ies in this state of chargedelivers their best possiblelife without using Controllers aregenerally selected by theirsize or ability to control agiven amount of current,and by their operating volt-age. Listed on this and thenext few pages are some ofthe most popular and effec-tive Charge Controllers onthe market.

3 Xantrex Charge ControllersC35, C40 and C60730-035 C35 35A, 12 or 24 volt $119730-040 C40 40A, 12, 24 or 48 volt $159730-060 C60 60A, 12 or 24 volt $199 The C35, C40 and C60 Charge Controllers are 3stage solid-state, pulse width work as Charge Controllers , DCload Controllers or DC diversion regulators. Theyare electronically protected for short circuit,overload, over-temperature and reverse polarityconditions They will control 12V, 24V and in thecase of the C40, 48V PV systems. They featurefield adjustable set-points, automatic or manualbattery bank equalization settings and statusLED indicators. As their names suggest, the C35is rated for 35 amps, the C40 for 40 amps andthe C60 for 60 amps. But they will actually con-trol up to 60 amps before they self limit.

4 Theyeach have automatic high current overload pro-tection which simply turns the unit off until thehigh current condition is removed. Restart isautomatic. Each can be fitted with a digital meteras an option which monitors battery bank volt-age, array current and CM for C35, C40 and C60 Digital Volt/Amp/Power Meter730-041 CM/C35,C40,C60$99730-042 CM R/50' Remote$126730-043 CM R/100' Remote $146 Battery Temperature Sensors741-032 15 BTS/15$29741-033 35 BTS/35$32 For use with all Trace Charge Controllers and Trace DR and SW Plus invertersThe Xantrex CM displays volts, amps, andcumulative amp-hours for the Solar array. Itmounts directly on the C35, C40 or C60. TheCM R/50 or R/100 can be remotely mounted upto 50' or 100' away, respectively. All three ver-sions of the CM have a backlight LCD Xantrex remote meters require a dual-ganged electrical box for mounting.

5 See page 16for a surface mount C12 Charge / LoadController730-012 12 amp, 12 volt only $110 The C12 wasdesigned to completelycontrol small systems,automatic lighting sys-tems and unattendedremote systems. It canfunction as a chargecontroller, load con-troller and lightingcontroller at the sametime. The C12 can reg-ulate either wet orsealed lead-acid batteries. Its automatic equaliza-tion capability makes the C12 an ideal controllerfor unattended lead acid battery banks. Excellentinstallation instructions and Trace's standard 2year warranty are ASC-8/12 Charge Controller731-008 12 volts, 8 amps$53731-009 24 volts, 8 amps$53 This is a small, com-pact, epoxy encapsulatedcharge controller thatwill work with an arrayoutput up to 8 amps (two50W modules, or one 110W module).

6 The ASC-8 has a red LED which lights while charging andflashes as the battery bank reaches full controller is most often used on one modulesystems that will not later become large ChargeControllerwith CM R/50 RemoteC40 withoutCM on leftand with CMon England Solar Electric, Toll Free: (800) 914-4131 Charge CONTROLLERSS teca Charge Controllers737-010 PR 1010 12/24V 10A$150737-015 PR 1515 12/24V 15A$279 Steca Charge controllersare made in Germany andincorporate all the aspectsof German engineeringthat one would Controllers include aload controller as well as a Charge feature an LCD meter which monitorsstate-of- Charge in percent, array current and bat-tery bank voltage. The meter also monitors loadcurrent. The current rating is for both Charge andload control.

7 The included manual guides youthrough very thorough installation and operationprocedures. A very nice Charge controller forsomeone who wants excellent control for asmaller system. Morningstar Charge ControllersWe now carry the full line ofMorning Star Charge con-trollers: the TriStar, ProStar,SunSaver and SunGuardcharge Controllers as well asthe SunLight lighting TriStar will fit into any ofour pre-wired power panels orcharge controller panels. It isfully protected (short circuit,,reverse polarity and overload)and is rated at 45 or 60 amps at12 to 48 volts. Both remote and attached metersare available for the TriStar. The ProStar andSunsaver offer low battery disconnect from 6 to30 amps and 12 to 48 volts. The SunGuard is aninexpensive 12V controller and theSunLight controller allows 10 lighting options at10 to 20A at 12 or 24V.

8 Morningstar has manymore options in their Charge controller line thanwe have room to list here. Please call for moredetails about this versatile line of Charge TriStar TS-45 45A 12 to 48V $174736-060 TriStar TS-60 60A 12 to 48V $233736-047 TriStar Digital Meter $113736-003 TriStar Remote Digital Meter $136736-001 Remote Temperature Sensor $32736-210 SunSaver 10A 12V$57736-210L SunSaver 10A 12V w/LVD $72736-310L SunSaver 10A 24V w/LVD $79736-406 SunGuard 4A 12V$34 Morningstar also has maximum power pointtracking (MPPT) Charge Controllers have MPPT versions of their popular Tri-Star TS-45 and TS-60 as well as a less powerfulmodel, good for small TS-MPPT-45 45A 12 to 48V $547736-160 TS-MPPT-60 60A 12 to 48V $689736-147 Digital Meter for MPPT $104736-103 Remote Meter for MPPT $147736- MPPT SunSaver 15A 12 & 24V $286 TriStar TS-45with MeterSunSaver 10 w/LVDS teca PR1010 Tri-Star MPPT Charge Controllerwith attached digital meter.

9 SunSaver15A MPPT34 Call Toll Free: (800) 914-4131 New England Solar Electric, Charge CONTROLLERSM aximum PowerPoint TrackingMany people have askedabout power point trackingand whether it has any realadvantages. MaximumPower Point Tracking(MPPT) converts the differ-ence between a Solar mod-ules rated voltage, (usually17 volts) and a batterybanks charging voltage (upto volts) into usablecharging current. Oftenclaims are made for up to a30% increase in chargingcurrent. This gain, however,is possible under a very lim-ited set of conditions. The extra module voltage isthere for a reason: to allowfor real world use of thesolar module, ie. the voltagedrop caused by the arraywiring and other compo-nents, including the chargecontroller, between thesolar array and , high ambient tempera-tures cause the Solar mod-ule to drop in voltage fur-ther reducing this extra said that, thereare times when the voltagedifference will be highenough to provide extra cur-rent to a battery bank utiliz-ing this type of Charge con-troller.

10 Cold weather comesto mind, as well as low bat-tery bank voltage. Underthese conditions, it can bepossible to get as much as10% to 30% more currentfrom your Solar more important use forthe MPPT Charge con-trollers featured on thispage, is the ability to usehigher voltage arrays tocharge lesser voltage bat-tery banks, ie. a 48 voltarray can Charge a 24 voltbank (or even a 12V bank).The higher voltage meansless current through thearray wires and thereforeless voltage drop. Longerdistances can now be doneusing smaller wire is a very important fea-ture of these particularcharge Controllers . Outback Charge Controller735-060 Outback FLEXmax60 $749735-080 OutBack FLEXmax80 $849 The Outback FLEXmaxSeries Charge controllersare maximum power pointtracking Charge controllerswith the ability to chargelower voltage battery bankswith higher voltage means it could chargea 12 VDC battery bank witha 48V or 24V ability to work on a12V to 60V battery bankwith an open circuit voltageof up to 150V allows yoursystem to achieve its great-est possible FLEXmax60 and 80 have a backlit LCDdisplay which monitors system performance andis also used for programming system are among the finest Charge Controllers onthe Output Current 60A, 80Al Nominal Battery Voltage 12,24,32,36,48.