What would be the max charge rate expected out of this 7 amp controller from a 15 watt solar panel? Thanks.
350740
Assuming you are charging a 12V (nominal) battery at a charging voltage of approx. 14 volts, from a 15 W panel, your charging rate would be about 1.07A-Hr. (This answer was typed in before reading the other two previous answers -- I totally agree with the answer provided by "D. Kearns". "northern boy's" answer is incorrect.)
350741
You will not get more amps than the panel can produce. Watts= Volts X Amps. A 15 Watt panel @13.5 Volts will charge at 1.1 amps.
1680258
From My experience the "30 amp" Sunforce controller is not robust enough for the output of the 4 158 Watt panels. I had to buy an Outback controller. Because there does not seem to be a good inexpensive controller in the realm of 30 to 60 amps out there. You could get 2 controllers and split the panels. A little more info on the Sunforce controller, they die quietly for the most part, and there are some Websites out there that may have figured out a way to beef up the controller. The world of solar is very seductive and can suck your wallet dry in minutes... or months. If you are just trying to supplement your home use, and do not need power at night, you should consider getting a 500 watt grid tie inverter. During the day the inverter will produce power, and run reduce the speed of the electric meter, if it makes more than you are using it will run the meter backwards.They plug right into the house, and they have island protection, meaning that if the power goes out the inverter stop. Amazon has them,
683246
This controller does have a "load" connection for lights or any "Load', but the controllers rating is only 7 amp. Hooking up a power inverter and expecting it to never pull 7 amps would mean the load can't be over ~60 watts which seems pretty low for an inverter, so I'd not try it. Also if the inverter is running anything that has any kind of "surge" load, the controllers rating needs to be able to handle that too, so it doesn't sound like the best idea to have an inverter running through a controller like this (I've even seen the inverter alone create a fair arc as I connect up the wires to batteries because of charging capacitors). If you're pretty sure you have a steady load that will be under 20 amps at 12V, then there are controllers rated at that, but I'd not try it with something under ~20 amp rating even for a 100-150 watt inverter (which is almost the smallest size for inverters).
1771954
I have 2 panels, each puts out about 7 amps connected to this controller and could easily add more. Look at the specs on your panels and size your controller appropriately.
1027176
According to the directions you do not need a charge controller for a 30w panel on this unit. Larger panels would require a charge controller.
1332096
The charge control can handle up to 7A. Your 30 watt panel puts out ~1.68A at high noon. You should be fine with one charge controller charging two or more batteries and it would require more charge time. Just make sure you hook up your batteries correctly. Personally and for convenience I would much prefer to get two charge controller with two solar panels for the two batteries so that I could avoid having to move and or reconnect the batteries. A larger solar panel can would benefit you quite a bit if you need to drawn power from the battery each night. Hope you are using deep cycle batteries. The charge control can handle up to 7A. Your 30 watt panel puts out ~1.68A at high noon. You should be fine with one charge controller charging two or more batteries and it would require more charge time. Just make sure you hook up your batteries correctly. Personally and for convenience I would much prefer to get two charge controller with two solar panels for the two batteries so that I could avoid having to move and or reconnect the batteries. A larger solar panel can would benefit you quite a bit if you need to drawn power from the battery each night. Hope you are using deep cycle... » Read More The charge control can handle up to 7A. Your 30 watt panel puts out ~1.68A at high noon. You should be fine with one charge controller charging two or more batteries and it would require more charge time. Just make sure you hook up your batteries correctly. Personally and for convenience I would much prefer to get two charge controller with two solar panels for the two batteries so that I could avoid having to move and or reconnect the batteries. A larger solar panel can would benefit you quite a bit if you need to drawn power from the battery each night. Hope you are using deep cycle batteries. « Show Less
2203338
Jaco, I have used that same breaker on my RV solar panel array. I have not had any problems with it. It is well build and it is resettable should it trip. Your load I am assuming is connected directly of the batteries. You did not state how many batteries you have. Should the load be greater then 50 Amps the breaker will trip. As you have stated that your controller output is 30 Amps you should be fine.
1680255
I my self would get a bigger charge controller at least 45 to 50 amps becouse you will like the dms solar pannels.
1510052
In full sun mine at times produced 180 watts which = 15amps. But not all the time. depends on the sun.
2242774
You need a charge controller pretty much for any solar panel over 10 watts. I like the ones that have a digital voltage meter and built in float mode. Lots of choices for controllers in the $20 range Panel has held up well so far on my sailboat.
974745
That will work just fine. Just make sure your solar controller is rated for at least 10 amps and preferably 15 amps just to be safe.
2064081
This unit is a 10 Amp charge controller. That means the maximum input wattage it can handle is 120 watts @ 12 vdc. Your 500 watt panel would exceed this unit's rating. After my unit didn't work I sent it back and purchased a Morning Star, which was made in the United States.
467335
You've probably checked on line, but this is a good site to referencehttp://www.chargingchargers.com/tutorials/solar.html25 milliamps is really small, and may not generate enough watts to bring the controller into play.I connected the controller to a largish solar panel, output approx 20 volts, for keeping my boat battery topped up.. the combination seems to work well at this level.Hope this helps.
1075036
From the Battery Tender site.(http://batterytender.com/products/solar/battery-tender-solar-controller.html)Battery Tender® Solar Controller allows you to convert an existing solar panel into a solar charger using Battery Tender® patented Super Smart Charging Algorithm. Usable input range between 5-45 Watts!
2215261
The goal of using an "MPPT" (maximum power point tracking) controller with a panel like this is to automatically detect how much power you can get (in both volts and amps) from the panel, then take that and put out as much power as you can to the battery you're charging. On many panels like this, the actual optimum output (to get the "50 watts" it's labeled as) is at something like 19V & 2.6 amps, yet charging a typical 12V battery (which is "fully charged" at 14-14.5V) would mean that just connecting it directly only gives you ~40 watts with the 2.6 amps at ~14V. An MPPT controller will take in that 19V 2.6 amps and give off ~14V 3.3 amps where both of those powers are ~50 watts, but are obviously different V & A ammounts. So being able to take in all the power you can (but not be virtually "shorting" out the panel) as well as "transform" all of that to the best voltage & amps takes a lot more circuitry than a cheapy controller that just "switches on & off" based on reaching the battery "full voltage" level (or detecting a drop in battery voltage). You can choose to design a controller intended to be able to handle 100 watts, 500 watts, 1000 watts, or any other range you want (which can be for certain size panels and/or battery sizes). One MPPT controller I have even says it can take in power at 19V, 38V or 69V from panels and then put out power to a battery bank at ~12V or 24V systems (and will automatically detect the power from each of those systems & adjust things internally having the same "input" and "output" connections for any system). Of course you still need higher input voltage than output, so you can't charge 24V batteries with only 19V input (unless you can come up with a way to "transform" things in that manor). Hope you can come up with a fairly efficient circuit design.
1351572
At 120 volts, the maximum a 15 amp circuit can handle is 1800 watts. P=IxE Your breaker may trip on you.
1997564
Anthony, This controller is only rated for 10 amps and 180 watts at 12V is 15 amps. I have controlled a 12 V motor with it just fine but it required less power.