peteK
Well-Known Member
The cheap one I bought gives priority to battery 1 and you can set it in 10% stages so if you set it at 70% it will charge battery 1 until its 70% charged and then start charging battery 2.
Which solar panel regulator?
- Thread starter ColinR
- Start date
Keith-i
Well-Known Member
I chose a Votronic unit which sends the bulk of the charge to the domestic bank and just a trickle to the start battery. I guess the battery type would be less of a concern for trickle charging.
Refueler
Well-Known Member
I would like to refer to the comment made by Paul about Service and Warranty.
I have had terrible service / warranty arguments in UK where sales persons have tried to duck out of responsibility. I have had Raymarine demand advance fee before accepting my forwarding item to them.
Nothing to be proud of.
But with any item I have bought through online from China - the few times I have had to refer back to sellers - I have received literally next day email with information requested or simply asking if I want refund or replacement item. NEVER have any required I send back the item before their solution.
Additionally - lets say the seller refuses to accept or deal with you - eBay .. Paypal .. Credit Card - have systems in place that provide for customer to make case.
Final : With such as Controllers and most electronics today - service is a non starter as regards 'repair' .... it usually comes down to refund / replacement if short period since purchase ... or partial refund if longer. You may be lucky to have a decent seller who will replace even at extended period - but not usual.
Yesteryear with older gear - repair was common place ... but today - its becoming a rarity as items become more solid state.
I have had terrible service / warranty arguments in UK where sales persons have tried to duck out of responsibility. I have had Raymarine demand advance fee before accepting my forwarding item to them.
Nothing to be proud of.
But with any item I have bought through online from China - the few times I have had to refer back to sellers - I have received literally next day email with information requested or simply asking if I want refund or replacement item. NEVER have any required I send back the item before their solution.
Additionally - lets say the seller refuses to accept or deal with you - eBay .. Paypal .. Credit Card - have systems in place that provide for customer to make case.
Final : With such as Controllers and most electronics today - service is a non starter as regards 'repair' .... it usually comes down to refund / replacement if short period since purchase ... or partial refund if longer. You may be lucky to have a decent seller who will replace even at extended period - but not usual.
Yesteryear with older gear - repair was common place ... but today - its becoming a rarity as items become more solid state.
Refueler
Well-Known Member
Todays electronics - there are many solutions to user settable limits on chargers and controllers.
I have a bag full of small units designed to auto control charger to battery ..... basically the charger is wired to the small unit, the battery is connected ... unit detects battery level ... user sets the low and high limits of the unit. The unit then switches the charger on / off via chargers mains power input.
12V Battery Automatic Charger Charging Switch Controller Module Protection Board | eBay
https://i.ebayimg.com/t/12V-Automat.../00/s/NzMxWDczMg==/z/-CoAAOSwbYZXak-Y/$_3.JPG
They are also available with digital display of voltage.
Other units I have looked act on the actual charge connection - more suited to solar / wind possibly.
I have solid state splitter that rate is low enough that it caters for standard and sealed Lead Acid ... it can be fed from Solar or mains charger.
All it needs is to spend some time searching online and I can say that some would be surprised what is out there without 'breaking the bank' .....
The question then is - do you want it in a cosmetically 'nice' case or is an open board style acceptable ?
I have a bag full of small units designed to auto control charger to battery ..... basically the charger is wired to the small unit, the battery is connected ... unit detects battery level ... user sets the low and high limits of the unit. The unit then switches the charger on / off via chargers mains power input.
12V Battery Automatic Charger Charging Switch Controller Module Protection Board | eBay
https://i.ebayimg.com/t/12V-Automat.../00/s/NzMxWDczMg==/z/-CoAAOSwbYZXak-Y/$_3.JPG
They are also available with digital display of voltage.
Other units I have looked act on the actual charge connection - more suited to solar / wind possibly.
I have solid state splitter that rate is low enough that it caters for standard and sealed Lead Acid ... it can be fed from Solar or mains charger.
All it needs is to spend some time searching online and I can say that some would be surprised what is out there without 'breaking the bank' .....
The question then is - do you want it in a cosmetically 'nice' case or is an open board style acceptable ?
PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
Seriously ? For controlling the mains charger on a boat ?
What sort of charger would you envisage to be using this with ?
Refueler
Well-Known Member
I don't use now - but they were destined for a 'project' ... myself and an experienced electrician pal from Fishing Boat yard had ideas to create charge control systems as Latvia is poorly served locally. Literally everything needs to be imported. The test setup we created worked excellently, but we decided not to proceed further as various items then started appearing online.
The units are still a viable item to control a charger - it would be expected that charger be of the lower rate 'dumb variety' of up to 10A. The idea to use this as a maintenance setup allied to a typical portable car charger.
As said - there are other versions that do not act by controlling the mains power to charger ... so they could in fact work with solar / wind.
The units are actually very good and far better than you seem to imply. With large range adjustment to cater for literally any common battery type.
You may scoff ... dismiss all you want - but some people appreciate or look for ways to create solutions. If my linking to items helps - then I'm happy. If people don't use - fine also. There are those who just want to buy the answer ... others who enjoy creating their own solution.
If it wasn't for such people in the past - many of the items over counter would never have appeared ......
PaulRainbow
Well-Known Member
So, you cannot actually use it to control a proper multi stage charger. If you use it to control a dumb charger it's either on or off, no float etc and as it cuts the charger out at 14.4v you cannot charge at the correct voltage for lead acid batteries.
ColinR
Well-Known Member
thanks All for these interesting replies. Plenty to think about here. Given that they are small panels I might stick with the Marlec HRDX controller which is about 15 years old but still seems fine. It has two inputs and outputs for two battery banks so works pretty well for my needs. Its impossible to know how long a piece of kit like this will last though....
Refueler
Well-Known Member
Good enough surely ?
I honestly think that some get a bit over the top with tech and forget that there are simple ways to the solution.
I can remember many years ago trying to convince an old-boater to swap his large single battery for two modest sized batterys and a change-over switch ... easier to handle ... divide the on-board systems to protect engine start .... etc.
He felt I was adding tech and complications to his simple one battery setup.
William_H
Well-Known Member
There is no reason to believe the 15yo controller is near end of life. Generally electronics die of there own reasons just as likely in first few weeks as after many years. This of course must exclude corrosion which might cause a finite life. ol'will