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bradmason509 asked

Solar Charge controller size needed

I am wondering what solar charge controller I should get for my set up. I plan to have 3x175 watt panels in series for 525 watts with 4x100 amp hour 12 volt batteries. Another question I have is that enough to charge my bank? I will have a shore hookup with the Multipass 3000 I have already gotten and my Orion 12V DC/DC charger is on order.

MPPT Controllers
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Jesse avatar image
Jesse answered ·

Need to know what the open circuit voltage of your panels is. Then, on a cool sunny day they can easily go higher, so allow at least 10% margin, more preferably.

Assuming they're 12V panels (Renogy?) a 100/30 MPPT controller would be enough, the extra expense for the 100/50 probably wouldn't be justifiable given you're only rarely going to see maximum power output, if ever.

You can charge any battery bank with any size of panels, just will take quite a while with your current selection! Maybe 10 hours or so of midday sun, so probably 2-3 days in real life.

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bradmason509 avatar image bradmason509 commented ·
I understand more wattage would be better, but I will have limited space on the top of the van build. Plus, those time estimates are for charging the full 400 hours. Hopefully I will only use around half of that so should be a little more manageable.
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