Charge Controllers for Solar Power

[Jafo]

As I mentioned before, I will be adding a shower yurt late this summer. It will be powered by a 12v RV pump I have which uses a small marine battery I have. I am going to charge that battery with some of my existing amorphous panels. I am going to use my current charge controller for it and replace that with the one I just ordered which is an MPPT controller. I have nothing against my current controller, it has worked okay. I just bought two new mono-crystalline panels (200W) and the amperage will be too high for it. At peak power, the new panels could push 11.5 amps and the controller is rated for 10 amps. The new controller is rated for 20 amps.

During the winter, I have noticed the charge controller does not work as well as it does in the summer, and from my studying on the matter, MPPT might alleviate that problem.

I am pretty excited about getting these new panels installed. I am going from three 45 watt amorphous arrays (135 watts) to a full 200 watt mono array. I am also planning on adding at least two more batteries to the bank this year, and maybe more if I can get some good pricing.

What kind of charge controllers are you guys using?

[Bob Rowlands]

Good plan. Thanks for putting up the info.

[chrisdag]

If my budget was unlimited I'd go with an integrated battery bank + controller setup, something like this: The Rolling Thunder Portable Back Up System

But I'll probably start with something like this that I can easily repurpose or use for emergencies when I upgrade: Goal Zero Yeti 1250 Solar Generator | Power Packs | Goal Zero - less industrial than the other stuff and cosmetically it will not annoy the wife yet it will still allow me to (a) charge via solar, (b) charge via AC and (c) charge via generator. Not enough power to drive a big coffee maker but plenty to keep laptops and LED lanterns running

[Jafo]

Well I got the new charge controller hooked up last night, but won't really know how it is performing until my next stay.