Off the shelf charge contollers?

Thread Starter

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I am looking at adding a charge controller to my solar garden light timer project. I don't need much. My panel is probably only about 10W and the battery is only a 5AH SLA. Most of the below are probably overkill but if this all works out we may invest in a bigger panel and battery.

I have looked at:

The Sungaurd

Which claims to be very efficient.


The Sunforce

Even their website does not have much data. But it can be bought at Radio Shack.


This one

No name or anything. No telling how efficient it is.


Any thoughts? Or maybe recommendations on another charger?
 

timrobbins

Joined Aug 29, 2009
318
Have you checked if the battery can be ever overcharged with the PV panel (worst-case charge current versus time)? You may need no controller at all except for a series diode.

Ciao, Tim
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
Friend had the Sunforce, worked fine up until he was doing something and hooked the power up backwards. That model didn't have polarity protection in it.
 
I have the Morningstar Sunsaver 10A controller in my pickup slide-in camper, it has worked well for the last five years. Have used 60W to 135W of panel power, into a 100ah flood lead acid, and lately an AGM type battery.

To my knowledge, the Sunsaver (like the Sunguard?) is an analog pwm type of controller with temperature compensation. It has a voltage limit, but not real sure as to what amount of hysteresis is built in.
 
Top