Which solar panel regulator?

[ColinR]

I have an aging Marlec regulator which I originally got for a wind generator, but now it is connected to two small solar panels. I think its time to replace before it conks out as it protects the batteries when the boat is unattended on the mooring. The panels are: one fixed 50w and a roving 30w that I plug in when needed and over the winter when the other one is obscured by the winter cover. There is an open lead acid domestic battery bank and sealed lead acid starter battery. As these need slightly different charging, it would be good to have a regulator that can be set for the different battery types. Any suggestions welcome! Thanks

 

[NormanS]

My solar panels charge only the domestic battery bank. Provided that your start battery is in reasonable condition, it should hold its charge without any help from the sun. My regulator is a Marlec HRDi one, which seems to perform well.

 

[William_H]

Concern re different preferred charge/cut off voltages for different batteries assumes that you are going to have excess charge from solar panels. I would suspect that those small panels in winter in UK will beat best able to provide some replacement charge but hardly to the point of concern re cutoff voltage. Can you get a dual output controller with individual settings for charge. What I would do is fit an ordinary controller to the domestic battery then run a schotky diode from there to the engine battery. Diode loses about .25 volt so engine battery would always be charged .25v less than domestic but may keep it alive over winter. Or connect one panel to one battery other panel to other battery with cheap controllers. ol'will

 

[samfieldhouse]

I’ve been very impressed with Victron’s products.

 

[Stemar]

On Jazzcat, I had one of these

EP Solar Duo-Battery Solar Charge Controller 12/24v 10A. £33.30

It's cheap and cheerful, but did the job. I set it up so it charged the starter battery until it burped, then turned its attention to the domestic, on the basis that I could live with dim lights, but I really, really want to be able to start the engine. In practice, the starter never took long, and the domestic took almost all the output.

You could spend three or more times as much for an MPPT dual battery job, but I'm not sure it's worth it for you.

 

[Refueler]

Stemar's controller is basically same one that I posted about on another thread :

10/20/30A Solar Charge Controller For 12V/24V Panel Dual Battery Regulator Kit | eBay

Cost incl Import Handlers is about 18 quid for me .....

I'm waiting to receive my unit - I chose the 20A version even though I don't expect to push more than about 5A from charger - I am thinking on adding solar panel later ... but nice to read Stemar's post that it works well.

 

[vyv_cox]

My PWM dual bank controller charges my 3 X 100 Ah open cell and 1 x Red Flash AGM. Both seem perfectly happy, the Red Flash is now 8 years old and the domestic bank is doing well at 5 years (although three of them disconnected during COVID)

 

[GunfleetSand]

I bought one of these thistharthing which is reduced by a few quid. PU are really very helpful on the phone. Solar nerds, quite niche but very handy. Looks identical to the model above. Also bought a remote display.
tried it on starter battery with a 20w solar panel last week and with November cloud was getting around 12-13v

 

[Manosk]

Victron is the way to go

 

[Refueler]

Victron is the way to go

I appreciate its likely a good piece of kit - but why should it be better than the others linked to on this thread ??

I would always be interested and persuaded by a side by side comparative table ....

 

[Manosk]

I have the Mppt 75 15 by Victron connected to 2 100w solar panels on my Nordship 32 for 4 years now no problems so far
Also as far as I know most charter and private boats are fitted with those in Greece

 

[geem]

You have such small panels I would buy two cheap PWM controllers with the settings for each battery type. One controller for each battery. Wire the larger panel into the house bank. This will look after them both whilst you aren't there.
You can fit a changeover switch to parallel up both panels to charge the house battery when onboard. This would leave the engine battery with no solar charging but you engine could presumably look after that with the alternator

 

[PaulRainbow]

You have such small panels I would buy two cheap PWM controllers with the settings for each battery type. One controller for each battery. Wire the larger panel into the house bank. This will look after them both whilst you aren't there.
You can fit a changeover switch to parallel up both panels to charge the house battery when onboard. This would leave the engine battery with no solar charging but you engine could presumably look after that with the alternator

That's a good plan.

Victron, as mentioned previously, is very good kit, but the OPs small panels don't need anything as sophisticated or expensive.

I'd fit a pair of small, inexpensive controllers from Photonic Universe.

 

[Refueler]

Just to be clear .... the Photonic Universe controllers - look and act exactly same as the Controllers I linked to and was advised to spend more money on 'better gear' ....

Fancy that !

In fact the unit I linked to had DUAL battery capability ...

 

[PaulRainbow]

Just to be clear .... the Photonic Universe controllers - look and act exactly same as the Controllers I linked to and was advised to spend more money on 'better gear' ....

Fancy that !

In fact the unit I linked to had DUAL battery capability ...

Just to be even clearer, the cheap Ebay one that you linked to, whilst looking similar to the one that Stemar linked to, it is not the same.

The SunStore one is also dual battery, but the OP doesn't need a dual battery controller.

Not only is it not the same, it comes direct from China, with zero support and no warranty.

Fancy that !

 

[peteK]

Stemar's controller is basically same one that I posted about on another thread :

10/20/30A Solar Charge Controller For 12V/24V Panel Dual Battery Regulator Kit | eBay

Cost incl Import Handlers is about 18 quid for me .....

I'm waiting to receive my unit - I chose the 20A version even though I don't expect to push more than about 5A from charger - I am thinking on adding solar panel later ... but nice to read Stemar's post that it works well.

Thats the one I have good for the price,5 years and no problems.

 

[Refueler]

Thats the one I have good for the price,5 years and no problems.

Thank you - nice to hear from someone with hands on experience of it .....

 

[Refueler]

Just to be even clearer, the cheap Ebay one that you linked to, whilst looking similar to the one that Stemar linked to, it is not the same.

Dual vs single .... that's basically only difference. I'd put money on the table that under the different label / case - Chinese made and single version of what I posted ...

The SunStore one is also dual battery, but the OP doesn't need a dual battery controller.

Your failure to read OP's post fully is not my concern. He asked for a controller that could cover two batterys ... one being sealed.

Not only is it not the same, it comes direct from China, with zero support and no warranty.

Fancy that !

So spend a lot more money for what is basically same .... think I'll stick with the one coming from China ... if it does fail later - at least I haven't wasted also UK mark-up pricing !!


Don't really fancy that

Maybe read Post #16 ??

Anyway - I won a bet .... that you'd 'bite' and reply as usual to anything I post ...

 

[PaulRainbow]

Dual vs single .... that's basically only difference. I'd put money on the table that under the different label / case - Chinese made and single version of what I posted ...

Need a trip to Specsavers ?

All three controllers linked to are DUAL.

Your failure to read OP's post fully is not my concern. He asked for a controller that could cover two batterys ... one being sealed.

The OP said "As these need slightly different charging, it would be good to have a regulator that can be set for the different battery types"

There is no such thing as a controller that can be set to two different battery charging regimes at the same time, the only way to do that is with two controllers.

So spend a lot more money for what is basically same .... think I'll stick with the one coming from China ... if it does fail later - at least I haven't wasted also UK mark-up pricing !!

Buy whatever cheap crap you want, but don't price match it to UK based goods that have support and a warranty, unless you want to delude yourself.

Maybe read Post #16 ??

One Swallow a Summer does not make.

Anyway - I won a bet .... that you'd 'bite' and reply as usual to anything I post ...

I usually only comment on your posts when they contain inaccurate and misleading drivel, which does seem to be often.

 

[PetiteFleur]

Like stemar - #5 - I use a very similar dual battery pwm controller by Photonic Universe - does the job perfectly. I like it because you can alter the percentage to each battery in 10% stages. I use 10% to the start battery and 90% to the house battery - when either is full, all the charge goes to the other.