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Hurricaner

Hurricane Utah

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Joined: 02/17/2007

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Posted: 05/15/12 02:22pm

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Something is wrong. You should be putting out at least 8 amps and you would have seen that as soon as you turned on all the lights, even if the battery was fully charged. Edit, is this a 24 volt panel!!! Are you reading panel amps or battery amps?

Sam

Sam & Kari
Hurricane, Utah

2004 34' Damon Challenger 315

bkirkpatrick

Brea / Orange County, CA

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Posted: 05/15/12 02:48pm

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smkettner wrote:

Is it this one?

http://www.samlexamerica.com/products/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=60

Manual p28: The scc-30ab is a Series Type of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) Charge Controller.

Is this the panel?

BP 3170

That 24v panel has Isc spec at 5.2 amps so 3.5 is a little low but I think you are mismatched on panel vs controller.

The panel is an BP sx170 and that is the correct controller.

Just got off the phone with tech support at samlexsolar and they confirmed what you said. The charge controller that I have is just that. It is meant for a 24v battery bank. It does have a battery bank switch setting for either 12 or 24v but running at 12v cuts everything by pretty much a third. Their recommendation was one of two: Go out and buy an MPPT controller or take my 4 six volt batteries and run them in series. However, since I have the Freedom 458 (2000w/100a) inverter, they did not recommend that since I would be pulling current from withing the battery bank. Any suggestions?

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wild bill

Mira Loma, Ca. USA

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Posted: 05/15/12 03:12pm

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Take a look at this http://www.altestore.com/store/Charge-Controllers/Solar-Charge-Controllers/PWM-Type-Solar-Charge-Controllers/Morningstar-Charge-Controllers-PWM/Morningstar-TriStar-TS-45-Charge-Controller-without-Display/p806/ as it will do what you want for not a lot of money......It is not MPTT ....I have had mine installed for over three years and it has been problem free....

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http://home.earthlink.net/~wbrown02/wildbillwashere22/index.html

smkettner

Southern California

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Posted: 05/15/12 03:32pm

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Well you need to sell or return something and I assume that would be the controller. I assume you want an MPPT as that is what you thought you were buying.

MPPT is expensive so to be cost effective you want to size it to what your final configuration will be. Are you going to stick with a single 170w panel?

Closest I know to recommend is MorningStar SunSaver SS-MPPT-15L Charge Controller

This is good for 200w max on a 12v battery

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/sunsavermppt

* This post was edited 05/15/12 04:08pm by smkettner *

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mena661

Southern California

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Posted: 05/15/12 03:43pm

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smkettner wrote:

2009 Newmar Canyon Star 3205, Ford F53 V10
Trojan L16 6V's 740 Amp-hours

bkirkpatrick

Brea / Orange County, CA

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Posted: 05/15/12 04:32pm

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smkettner wrote:

Are you going to stick with a single 170w panel?

I have two of the 170 panels.

bkirkpatrick

Brea / Orange County, CA

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Posted: 05/15/12 04:39pm

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When a controller says, "PV Open Circuit Voltage: 30 VDC Maximum" is it talking about the panel voltage?

smkettner

Southern California

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Posted: 05/15/12 04:44pm

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bkirkpatrick wrote:

When a controller says, "PV Open Circuit Voltage: 30 VDC Maximum" is it talking about the panel voltage?

Yes that is Voc spec at normal temperature. Voc will rise slightly as temp drops.

30VDC max controller would probably be for a 12v panel.

* This post was edited 05/15/12 04:52pm by smkettner *

smkettner

Southern California

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Posted: 05/15/12 04:50pm

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bkirkpatrick wrote:

I have two of the 170 panels.

Rogue controller might be a good fit. Lots of good posts about these.
The panels will need to be in parallel, series Voc is too high.
http://www.roguepowertech.com/products/mpt3024.htm

You can get snap on MC parallel connectors and avoid the combiner box.

If you want to run panels in series it will cost a bit more to go Morningstar Tristar MPPT 45.

* This post was edited 05/15/12 05:10pm by smkettner *