Review: The world's cheapest 10A MPPT solar charge controller? Ming He MPT-7210A
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- čas přidán 18. 08. 2016
- Let's find out if this is a real MPPT charge controller and what it's capable of. Specs:
Solar panel input: 12V-60V DC
Output to battery: 15V-90V DC (does not work with a 12V battery system)
Based on your review, it seems the MPT-7210A is not automatically detecting the solar panel's maximum power voltage (Vmpp) which is why you have to input it manually. That's one reason why it's so inexpensive. The downside to this is, it's not as efficient as it could be, because it fails to adjust for varying Vmpp due to changes in light intensity and/or temperature, both factors which dynamically affect a solar panel's Vmpp.
That's correct. It does not auto detect solar panel's voltage. You have to manually input solar panel voltage or it will be just confused and keep resetting itself. It's not really an MPPT controller as I have shown in the video. It's basically just a boost converter, that's why it's so cheap. But that's not what I wanted to use it for anyway as my main purpose for it is to charge my high voltage Li-ion batteries. If you need a true MPPT controller, go for a Morningstar, Outback, or Midnight solar. But they can make a hole in your pocket!
yes, it needs the auto detection setting and possible transformer
Hi i have some trouble whit the save seting . cut you make some infovideo for specific set . thanks i will appreciate su sabiduria
If not tracking, at least it's MPP
It probably needs to know the "ballpark" voltage as a starting point for the voltage to try for MPPT, however, many solar panels have this as a known fraction of the no load voltage such as 75 to 80%. For example, a panel with 54V no load in full sun might have 40V output at it maximum power point.
I tried to use the same controller to keep my 36V golf cart charged via a 400W solar panel that is mounted on the roof of the golf cart. With this controller I could get only 230W out of my 400W panel. I switched the MPT-7210A controller with a Elejoy EL-MU400SP MPT boost charge controller. Now I get up to 380W out of my 400W panel. That is excellent. Having said this, I can't recommend using the MPT-7210A controller. It is very slow to adapt to different light condition - when driving around the golf cart the charge current was very low until I come to a stop. Then the controller ramps up the Ampere. I don not have those problems with the Elejoy EL-MU400SP controller. Even driving around I get my full charge amperes.
"I just dont get why" - that summerizes that review quite well
The reviewer doesnt seem to understand that mppt is not the name for a specific circut its the name for a working principle(Maximum Power Point Tracking). This principle can be realized with different circuts: With a Buck Converter, With an DC-AC-Transformer-AC-DC Circut or with a boost Converter like in this Controller.
The thing is you need to know what are the characteristics of all those circuts and when which is usefull to give a reasonable opinion on a Controller.
A DC-AC-Transforer-AC-DC Circut - like the one that is used in the Outback Controller doesnt care about the input voltage and can output any output voltage. It is the easysed to use if you dont know what you are doing. But its a relativly old and inefficant circut.
The Buck converter Circut is the most common way to realize MPPT, but you have to feed it a higher input voltage than a your desired output voltage. When you use multiple Solarpanels in series on your roof and charge a 12v Battery System then Controllers with this circut are ideal.
This Controller here is using a Boost converter to realize MPPT . It needs a lower Input Voltage then the desiered output Voltage. This Controller would be a great choice if you are on a boat with a 48V System and have all your solar panels in parallel to reduce shading effect from your sails for instance.
Great review. Mine didn't come with instructions but figured they wouldn't be useful anyway and when I heard you say useless I knew this video would help me. I was able to figure it out but didn't know how to "save" the setting so it would come back on the next day. I'm certainly excited I'll be able to get that going tomorrow. The video was very informative and taught me through all the settings. Thank you for taking the time to make the video and run the test. I rather appreciated you talking to the differences between a true MMPT controller. That was very helpful as well.
thanks, the printed instructions eluded me from understanding how to set the lower functions. You were a big help.
this is indeed true - chinese english is not understandable to native (or non-chinese, for that matter) english speakers; i have re-edited the user manual, or you can use other people mpt-7210a yt review, they talk about settings etc.
Thank you so much sir! Finally I was able to fully set my controller. As you said the manual is useless and I really needed a nice demo as you did!
Most helpful! It cleared up a major question for me.
@Vuaeco - 31:44 "It's not an MPPT controller". Yes it is! Look at the voltage it is reporting from the solar input. It is fluctuating as you are speaking. It is trying to find the point at which the charging wattage is maximized for a given amount of available input power. If it was just a voltage booster, then likely the output voltage would be constant. Also at 34:06, you are wondering why a single solar panel provides less than half the power of 2 solar panels. Well, the solar charge controller (scc) consumes power to run itself, so why would you expect a single panel to be half? That would be assuming the scc takes no power which is not correct.
Excellent video. Thanks. I have learned from you.
Great video, thank you. Have you found a better cheap option than this on since you made this video?
Did the line resistance affect the output voltage of the series panel arrangement ?
By the way, did you make a review about the Victron Energy MPPT charge controllers ?
27:04 "alright, it's been a good 10 minutes now..." and the timer on the controller is showing about 4 minutes elapsed.
nice video. did you measure each cells voltages after you had finished charging?
Interesting little unit, I'd love for it to come in a bigger unit that could handle a 1000W max input. I have two (33V max 1000W max) wind turbines.. I'd love to see if it could give some usable power on days where they just tick over 14V not topping up the batteries. Liked and subbed.
When an Asian man says the instructions are useless, I believe him!
Chinglish.....
SO?
2ff
'
As an Asian person who is fed up of seeing Indian's comments on videos, I agree with you !!!
They are useFUL. They give an example of how to take a "12V" panel with a Vmpp of 18.0V, and use it to charge 24V battery bank, step by step with an illustration for each step. How is that "useless"? The person that reviewed this is wrong saying the manual is useless.
I bought one of these and tried it for the first time on Jan 1st, 2019. I connected a single 210W (max) solar panel with a Vmpp of 40.0V and an Impp of 5.25A to this to charge a 48V AGM battery bank (four 12V 100Ah batteries in series). I selected 54.0V max charge voltage and told it 40.0V is the Vmpp of the panel and it seemed to work. The most I saw it at was 169.0W briefly and in the 5 hours it was in off and on sun, it accumulated about 1/4 KWh. Strangely, many times when it is cloudy it drops to 0 watts for a few seconds. Perhaps it is "thinking" of how to handle that situation. I also got low wattage in strong clouds such as 10W or even less. When the strong sun came back out, it took a few seconds (maybe 10-15) for it to "ramp up" to 100+ watts.
I think the comment about it not knowing the solar panel voltage is wrong. It DOES detect solar panel voltage and displays it. I even checked it with an external voltage meter. Both the solar panel voltage and battery bank voltage displayed on this unit are within a very small amount of what I saw on my external voltmeter so they seem accurate.
When I get my proper setup, I will have a pair of 210W panels connected in parallel using Y adapters (with MC3 connectors). I will then set the controller to allow the full 10A, although it will never reach it such the voltage is being boosted from about 40.0V (Vmpp) to around 54V, so the output amperage will drop below 10A (although the input amperage might hit 10A).
Overall it is a pretty good charge controller. I paid around $30 on Ebay and it is fun to monkey around with. I think with my 2 panel proper setup (on roof), I should be able to collect 1 KWh per sunny day, enough to run an HDTV and possible a fridge/freezer too.
It is fun to watch the numbers adjust on the display and the cumulative watt hours increase. As I learn more I will update this comment but so far, I am happy with it.
when shady it's dropping below the programmed power point thus going to zero
Do you still use it? I think its a setting. I read in the ebay description the following:
Working modes: MPPT and DC-DC (SELECTABLE), MPPT for photovoltaic panels application and DC-DC for boost power supply.
@VONSAINT HAVVOK - I still have it but I don't use it much. I wasn't really aware of the DC-DC boost mode so I just used it as if I was using a solar panel, but connected a 0 to 30V adjustable laboratory DC power supply instead. So for example, if I were to use a 48V battery bank for solar daily, and they did not fully recharge from the sun during the day, I could connect them in that same mode using the full 30V output, and it would boost it to 55V or whatever maximum charge voltage I set it at. Then it "thinks" I have a 30V 1.5A solar panel when in fact I really have a 30V 0-3A power supply set at the middle 1.5A setting. It seems to work fine that way. I am not sure what advantage the DC-DC mode would be and I don't think I have ever tried it.
@@MH-es9rn any idea how to get it into DC-DC mode? I have been trying for months. I can't find any info on it.
Those bottom numbers are the accumulated wh as the battery is being charged and the time is the accumulated time the battery has been on the charger. Dividing the wh by the time gives the average watts during the charge.
It actually can be set to read either AH or WH. The clock resets to zero when the power to the controller drops below about 5 Volts.
Great video, very interesting, thanks for your time and effort :D
ever on the hunt for a cheap(est) MPPT controller that can do it all. haha I can live in hope :P
Hello, thanks for your video, could you tell me if the mppt 7210A could charge a 72v LiFePo4 battery? (100% at 84v) thanks
MingHe makes good stuff.
The magnitude of China is beyond my comprehension! They have many large companies we have never even heard of ! Products can be as good as those made in the west, yet QC will always be an issue, imo. That bit of negative said, they Have flown their Rabbit to the moon ! rc
Rusty Case just blew my controller up. Over voltage, all my fault. It worked well untill i fried it.
Yessir ! They all work dandy until the magic smoke comes out ! :-) rc
if you have two 12v 50W panels and connect them in parallel, you will have 12V 100W.. but when you serial connect them, you get 24V 50W, therefor the watt is lower?
Which aligator clips did you use to connect your cables to the charger? Which size are they?
Good review. I think if it could handle 150v in PV volts and also charge a 12v battery bank...might be better. This inexpensive unit is start...just needs some improvements.
That could be better but could also be much more expensive.
I did a little test with the unit with 12v battery and 12v input and it was charging the battery ok to 13.7 but if you have 18v or 19v input the output can not be lower than that.That is why its so small because its only a boost converter with cc cv for balk charging any battery ;) As far as i tested it
Chris DIYer so an example on how to work around this small limitation.. Wire 5 12v batteries in series to make a 60v bank..this allows you to have anything up to 60v of solar panel as an input.. Anything less will be boosted up to the maximum set charging voltage. You then simply tap off the battery bank to power an inverter.. If you tap off of two of those series wired batteries, you would have 24v to power an inverter, or you could tap off a single battery for just 12v..as you pull power from that one or two 12v batteries to feed the inverter, the others will drain into them to equalize. This is a common practice in bus conversions where the bus itself has a pair of batteries to provide 24v to the starter and engine electronics, but they tap off a single battery to provide 12v for coach lighting, water pump, etc.. Hope that makes sense.. Lol
My current cc doesn't provide same voltage as my solar panels dish out. My panels show 22v in full sun but when I connect to cc it only shows 11.9v. Very frustrating. Any idea what it could be Vaueco? Thanks
thanks just got mine from aliexpress nice to charge a 24v 46ah lion with a 18v 100 watt panel
I've been looking at this controller as a potential option for switching between 2x 48v lithium packs to charge one from a boost converter/charger from a third battery, or inverter while using the other. I think it's possible but it would obviously not be the intended use. In this case that would make this unit's lack of certain features actually favorable. I wonder if it's worth a shot???
Wow, such an interesting controlller ! 😂 Did you ever try solar charging a lower voltage battery with significantly higher voltage panels? Like for example a 12v battery with your 2x 12v (17v open circuit ) panels in series? I can’t help but wonder there is a greater difference in the voltage of the panels vs the battery, if it goes into true step down mode?
Working modes: MPPT and DC-DC selectable, MPPT for photovoltaic panels application and DC-DC for boost power supply.
Copy and pasted from ebay. Do you still have one? Maybe a follow up video trying to find out how to switch between mppt and dc-dc mode?
One gripe I have about this device is the battery and solar panel screws are deep in the device so when I tried to probe them from the top using my multitester leads, they did not reach that far down. It would have been nicer had they put those screws much shallower in the case to eliminate this problem.
I have read some details about this charge controller and they claim it's basically made for up-converting from 12-24 solar panels to more than input voltage. So it's possible to charge a 48v bicycle battery with a 12v solar panel. This is done efficiently and you can cap the amperage if that battery has a safe maximum value to charge. Ideal to built your own 24/36/48 or even 72v batteries and charge them with a couple of 12v solar panels in parallel. It is very versatile.
How is it holding up over the years?
does this realy not do 12v out as i have 3 large sla batterys i was planning to connecct in paralell and want to use this to charge them from my solar pannels, i have 2 x 240w and one 200w, can i connect them in series and charge the sla batterys , use inverter from batteries to run microwave and hob , what would i set the controller to?
Thanks for a great video. From this video i understood that a 12volt 150 watt solar panel when using with this controller it can charge 36 volt battery. So meaning the controller boosts up the voltage right?
yes, that's correct.
so if this boost controller was charging a 24volt battery bank, with a 24 volt panel producing 24+ volts, are is the extra current above 24 volts wasted like with a PWM charge controller? if so.. would it be wasted still if it were charging a 48volt battery bank? .... also.. what happens if you try to connect it to a 12v solar panel on a 24volt battery bank and vice versa?
I have one to charge my electric bike 36 volt battery pack. Works great. Solar panel is a 20 watt 18 volt (12 volt nominal, 20 volt open circuit) system. Set up the input for tracking 18 volt and output to 42 volt...charges just original plug-in charger...
Very nice. I would like to see your setup if possible.
Greg Gulbrandsen I'm having a problem I also have a 36v battery 12s lifepo4 20ah but my solar panels are 72 cells 37.4v underload and 45 open circuit the problem is the this thing cant bring the voltage low enough to charge the battery its 960w in total my system or 3 320 solar panels any ideas
@@nightmareinaction629 too large of a power input, these things *ONLY* work if your panel voltage is *LESS THAN* your battery.
I have lots of batteries here so I will play around with input and output voltages to see how well it handles small, medium, and large voltage boosts. For example, I can feed the solar charge controller (scc) anything between 12V and 30V (adjustable) and up to 3A. For the output, I can have it charge 2, 3, 4, 5, or even 6 batteries in series (12V AGMs). I would use 13.67v of charge voltage per battery so 13.67v, 27.34v, 41v, 54.68v, 68.35v, and 82v respectively. I wonder if it can output 82V using only a 12V input. That is almost a 7x boost in voltage. I will test all this stuff out and report back (today is April 22nd, 2020).
Nice review
isn't the Coil actually a toroid transformer, that how the switching circuit "steps up" the voltage
Mr_Wizard looks more like a large inductor
No. It's an inductor. The FETs switch it at around 150kHz to charge the capacitors above the input voltage. No transformer in there.
It could run more efficiently in parallel because the boost circuit needs more amps than volts to boost up the voltage. I'm going to try this when mine comes in, it's to charge an e-bike.
This controller is used when you want to charge a battery that has a higher voltage than the panel max voltage, e. g. when you use and 18v panel to charge a 48v battery.
I wonder if you can "trick" it though. Telling it the Vmpp of say a panel with a 40V actual Vmpp (like mine), is 24V (Vmpp fudged), then see if it can charge a 24V battery bank at maybe 28V max. I might be able to test this tomorrow and report back. Another way to accomplish this (at reduced power though), is to disable 1/3rd of the panel, tinkering around with the blocking diodes. For example, my 210W panel has a Vmpp of 40.0V but if I were to somehow block 1/3rd of it, it would become an effective 140W panel with a Vmpp of about 26.7V. That might be low enough to work with a 24V battery bank if you set the maximum charge voltage higher than 26.7V. Not sure what it would do if the actual battery bank voltage dropped below that of the solar panel voltage (such as a 26.0V battery bank but 26.7V solar panel).
So clearly this controller is trying to implement MPPT via boost conversion, which is certainly possible to do. You can still achieve maximum power point in this way, it's just you loose one of the common benefits of buck converter topologies - being able to put panels in series for higher voltage and lower currents.
Given that this is a boost converter type device how do they qualify the 10 amp rating? Because, if you were outputting 10 amps there would be much more than that going into the input side due to the boosting action. Is it 10 amps max on the input?
Quite a niche product this. Not many people with higher battery voltage than solar voltage. Minghe make some reasonable converters though, so it should last a while.
The Solar Edge brand of grid tied inverters uses optimizers on the roof. The optimizer is really a MPPT boost converter boosting to 450VDC. That means the "inverter" below is now "transformerless", has no boost stage. Like the upper end SMA units that have a high input and no boost stage. So I can certainly see a use for a boost topology MPPT.
Julian Illet also did a three part review on this.
it's a programmable boost/buck converter using ferrite toroids and switching MOSFETs. Very common technology. Likely a common negative so not isolated like the Outback. These are made for small or single cell applications like charging a 1kw lifepo4 pack.
Works fine on Lead acid batteries also. You just have to know how to program the thing.
Yes, they are connected in series.
Can this solar panel controller can changed the ebike 52 13 ah With using charger?
I plan in using one of these MPT-7210A charge controllers with a pair of 24V solar panels in parallel and a 48V (nominal) battery bank. The 2 panels can produce a little under 10A max (combined) with a Vmpp of just under 36V. So on the output side, I am hoping to get something like 54V while charging and maybe 5.5A max for about 300W total. I will report back when I get it working.
Sounds good. :D
This is a boost charge controller : it needs to have voltage of PV BELOW battery voltage at all time.
This controller only works when the panel voltage is less than the battery voltage.
I am able to get option of on amd off it is unable to select so next day it is not automatically turning on . Evry time it is going off i need to manually on it
This is a very good, and practical video presentation ! Subscribed !! Tnx, rc
not agreed; it is 40+ min blabber, not sure why i watched it, since i usually omit any 'instructional' video longer than +- 12 minutes
Does it have battery temperature cutoff?
I have a 300w solar panel and a 32ah 72v battery can i charg it with this
@vuaeco - 16:55 - Two 10Ah batteries in series is not 20Ah, it is 10Ah at the higher series voltage.
Parallel connection increases amps series connection increases volts ( parallel is positive to positive negative to negative and use the positive on one battery and negative on the other battery to give even charge to the 2 batteries series is positive to negative
@Daniel Roy - This guy in the video is not very smart.
But you still have 20AH of power if you then changed it back to 12 Volts thru a buck converter. Which is why it often is better to refer to Watt Hours instead. A 10 AH FLA battery is only good for a half Amp continuous draw for 20 hours. At 12 Volts, that would be a 120 WH battery. Now with two at 12 Volts in parallel, you would have a 240 WH rating setup. If you hook them up in series so that you have a 24 Volt string, you still have a 240 WH string rating. There is the same power available in either setup. The advantage of a 24 Volt system is that for the same power, you can use smaller wire or have less line loss over a 12 Volt system.
->> I am finding deep cycle batteries heavy, out of my price range, hard to find as a recycle, and also lead acid antiquated. I have my first solar panel i will use for a tiny home and wondering, if i should get this Charge controller so i can charge lithium ion batteries as I will eventually build a Tesla style powerwall, and a APS backup charger unit as well. I have not bought a charge controller for my first single panel , thanks for your advice.
Does it have thermal heat protection? Battery protection please l want this one in 40amps tommorow
One thing I don't yet understand about this device is how does it know how to properly charge a battery? There are different types (such as FLA, AGM, gel...) that have different charge profiles. It might be interesting to connect a well regulated power supply to the input (solar) size of this and adjust the output parameters to that of the battery bank and see what it does. Since the input will be constant, the output can be observed to see what it is actually doing. For example, I can put a constant 13.6V input on the controller and set the output to charge my 48V battery bank by setting it to 54.0V max (which is the equivalent of 13.5V of charge voltage per 12V of battery voltage). The power supply I have can output up to 10A but since I will be boosting the voltage by a factor of 4, the output current should not exceed 2.5A (at 54V). It would be interesting to set it to say 1.0A max and see if it honors it. I will test this and report back here.
Update: yes it works. I can take a 13.6V regulated power supply and use it to charge a 48V battery bank, without having to break the series connections (a great convenience). I do not get the full power of the power supply as charging power, but I do get a respectable 40 watts or so.
Also, it appears the device DOES honor the maximum amperage limit but not 100%. The current can exceed the set limit briefly before it "catches" it. For example, I set it to 0.25A and a few times I saw 0.28A or even 0.30A but then it quickly went below the 0.25A limit. So I would say it is semi-reliable for not for critical circuits where the amperage cannot go above a certain amount for even a split second.
So this device seems VERY useful for taking some low voltage device (a solar panel, a power supply, or even a battery (bank), and using it to charge something higher voltage. For someone that has say a 48V battery bank but no 48V battery charger, at night (or whenever the sun goes down or if it is a rainy/cloudy day), instead of running your batteries down, if you already have a 12V (13.8V) power supply, go ahead and connect that to the solar panel side of this device. The "best" way to do that might be to put the same connectors on the power supply as the solar panels have, then you can quickly swap in the power supply in lieu of the panels.
Of course with only about 40 watts or so of charge power, you would have to go VERY easy on the load. It might be best to do this at night if your batteries did not get a full charge from the solar panels during the day, when there is perhaps little to no load on the battery bank.
Does this thing have battery protection?
33:00 it could still be MPPT. If the battery was bigger 48V for example, it may go to MPPT. It seems to need to have the solar 6 volts below the battery voltage. Thus it is still doing the most efficient as possible. It still probably is not MPPT, but you can set the voltage at MPPT and you should get more amps and watts than a PWM controller.
I have 2 solars on the roof of my motorhome
Kyocera 2x120W
KC 120-1
Details Maximum Power 120 W
Maximum Power Voltage 16.9 V
Maximum Power Current 7.1 A
Open Circuit Voltage 21.5 V
Short Circuit Current 7.45 A
and the MPPT controller that loads two batteries from these two panels in series to give a 12V output. Can I use this controller to recharge these batteries. What voltage should I set for charging?
Is this MPPT charge boost controller compatible with "Lithium-ion" batteries..? 48v..? Thanks
yes, it's a constant current \ constant voltage charger which is compatible with any li ion bank \ pack up to 90v
This charge controller is a boost converter only, the output voltage must be higher than the solar panel voltage feeding it. This may explain the problems you are having trying to charge the batteries with solar panel voltage higher than your batteries.
I see the inductor, it's on the right of the fet's heat sink.
what is the lowest you can go to charge a battery 🔋 can it go as low as 4.2v
So an RV'er with a large 12v battery bank could use this to charge a 48v electric bike battery at the 2 amps recommended Is that right?
Greg White probably
It has charge cutoff right?
need your help again, please!
Here in Israel outside is 45 degrees Centigrades and I am a little warried. Please look at the pictures and give me an advise and tell me if I should be warried and what I should do.
The charger shows that the two batteries are more than 30 volts as you see in the voltmeter and I measured the two together and each one. And the other device says the each battery is full and has the red light of alternator lit but this electric car has no alternator. The green light that shows that the battery is good lights only sometimes. Is this normal? Please help me.
Thank You!
Best regards,
Emmanuel
From what I can tell this is not an mppt controller it is just a boast converter. The instructions on mine says that the input voltage must be lower then the battery voltage mpt want pv higher then battery and buck it down. For a higher bvank like mine it works fine my panels are 44 volts and battery bank is 55v. I paid $30 to test one so far I like it
I currently have (20) 36v 4ah ebike packs made from 18650 cells. I want to wire all together in parallel to give me 36v 80ah 3kwh for a solar generator project. Would this controller work well to charge my battery bank via solar power, and what is the most panels I could use and at what voltage to maximize the ability of this boost controller? Thank you
It's a boost controller. So you definitely would want your solar panels to be less than 36V. It is rated at 10A max so you can run up to 360W (36x10) total of solar power.
vuaeco thank you
hi there, good review., anyway i wanna ask something if its ok.,im planning to make an AUTOMATED EMERGENCY BACKUP POWER using solar panel, charger controller, inverter, UPS, and an AC Line., how can i connect the solar charger to the battery ups along with the inverter? is my material good?., thanks a lot
you connect the + from the charger to the + on the battery of the ups and - to -.
hi, im just curious with this mppt. so my plan is to charge a 60v bank with this. so can I charge a 60v bank with a 24v 250w 8.3 amps solar panel? or its a recipe for a disaster? thanks
Yes, you can charge a 60V battery bank with 24V solar panel. It's a boost converter so its designed to charge a higher voltage battery bank than solar panel input. Note that a 24V solar panel usually has open circuit voltage of about 40V.
opps, looks to me as there are 20 settings.00-19 but thanks like ur video much
So for this dc dc converter :P not quite an mppt you cant use a 12v solar panel to charge 5v battery right ? You need at least the same voltage battery as the panels because its a step up dc dc converter to be more correct.
Wont charge 12 volt system? Probably set up for 24v, 48v ect.
Presents an inconvience but there is always a work around.
it is a booster as it says in the manual
Nice video, somebody knows the website of MingHe ?
Instead of connect to the solar panel, can you connect to a 12v battery to boost the voltage to charge a higher voltage pack?
Yes, you can. It's a boost converter after all.
1. As you noted, this device really isn't a MPPT controller. The voltage you set for the panels will be the voltage it tries to hold up. You don't seem to change that value after changing the arrangement of your panels from parallel to series. That's why you're getting a "weird result". A real MPPT controller would get you more or less the same results, no matter how you arrange your panels. That's neglecting wire and contact losses of course.
2. If you connect batteries in series, you add up the voltages, not the amp hours.
3. A DC/DC converter does not convert to AC current. Also converting to AC is no requirement to get to the MPP of a solar panel.
Otherwise a good review. Thanks ;)
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You setted the panel voltage to 17.xx, thats why it tries to goto that voltage, eventhough your MPP isn't 17, and it claims that it should do the tracking automatically since they used the term MPPT.
Check the panel's MPP and set it manually, then you'll be able to harvest all that wattage.
Sounds like its detecting voltage changes to me
The small MTTP charge controller is for only 10 amps! I thought anyone would know that. Take a class in electronics!
Its MPPT not MTTP ( Maximum Power Point Tracking) and the small ones are usually 10 amps
Hello Vuaeco. According to what you said it looks more to be a controller. This device you not found inside a transformer. All what you will found it is electronics for powers - to much capacitor .
In manual of this device is writen "it will make to track MPPT accuracy and industry-leading conversion efficiency" what indicate a simulation of MPPT but no real MPPT device . Second is the problem with autodetection of panel's. This mean can be just a simple convertor/controler type "from-to" what not have to much expensiv electronics inside for detection of equipmenmt's connected. Best regards
This only seems to have a panel input and a battery output.
where does the load go ?
other Charge controllers I have seen usually have a load output.
I guess you must put in in parallel with the battery?
Something I was not clear on from the video. I see you can change the output for charging different sized batteries but can you sett upper charge and lower discharge limits ?
I'm guessing not if the load is not on a separate output. There would no way to cut the load off if the battery falls below a set limit.
so only good for charging Li-ion batteries that are not "in use" ?
It does not have a load. For a true off-grid system, you'll need a separate inverter for your load. The load on a charge controller is just for some lights only with very low current. You cannot pass large current through the load on a charge controller. Plus, a load on a charge controller can only allow you to use 12V DC. You cannot run AC especially all home devices that run normally on 110v/220V
How much is Charch Controlar$
i have the same charge controller, but my amps, watts, and amp/watt hours always read 0. and the battery symbol is always empty. got any advice on how to make this work? i have all the settings in place and saved, and it is outputting the proper voltage ( or close to it, 0.6v over) if i check the output with a voltmeter, but the screen says 0 for most things.
How many watts is your solar panel? If your solar panel is too small, it won't be able to charge the battery. That's because the controller is powered by the solar panel and it does use quite a bit of power from the solar panel. So if your panel is too small, there's little left to charge the battery. How small is too small? I would say 5W or less. Mine is about 8W and it only charges my battery at 4.7W. The rest of the power is used to power the panel (and its fan) and some lost in the system (wiring, heat...etc). As far as battery symbol, you will need to change your Ah ratings or it won't display your battery symbol properly.
vuaeco thanks, i am using two 100w pannels (200w total).. i can do series and parallel...and my battery is 48v 15ah, and i programmed all the settings available.....every thing seams to run, but the screen says 0a and 0w, with or without the battery attached.
That means it's not charging. On the lower right side of the screen, does it say "on" or "off"?
i have it set to on of course, i even programmed it to auto turn on, but no output...... from the top my settings are . Pannels = aprox 37v ... V out = 58.6v ... A=3.0... W=0.0.... Ah/Wh = 0.0 ..... chargeTime = 4 hours... saved to settings 00, and 01.... power= ON... Auto Lock = on..... fan and screen power = half... screen timer =2mins
once again, thanks, this is soo close to being done and working, but not, its driving me crazy
Maybe yours is defective. It should just charge automatically
I don't think this convert to AC
No it does not. So that's why it is not an MPPT. By the way, Jehu, nice to meet you. I'm a big fan of your CZcams channel also.
i just installed one on my golf cart to charge 4 6 v batteries , i have two 70 w 36v panels , however when i conect the panels to mpt charge control the voltage out of panels drops to 8.5v . any advice?
are you sure your batteries are wired up right? are you connected to the right terminals to get 24v?
Yes , batteries are on my golf cart and I. charge it with 12 volt battery charger two at a time , I, just got this two 36v 70 watt panels and MPT-7210 charge controller it is working but not charging at all, when I, turned on after setting voltages on MPT-7210 the voltage on panels drops to 8.5v . It was on for all day , in the morning my total batteries voltage dropped to 22 volt. And there is not enough current to drive the golf cart.
My panels assuming is very old and it might have lost it’s electrical current production so I had to crisscross it to get it at 72v . but again under a load it dropped to same 8.5 v .
I just couldn’t figure it out, and it seems my Mpt-7210 has already have been malfunctioning and the screen went blank.
This charge controller is a boost converter only, the output voltage must be higher than the solar panel voltage feeding it. This may explain the problems you are having trying to charge the batteries with solar panel voltage higher than the 24 volt golf cart batteries.
The battery volts reaches +- 31volts and the display reads +- 30watts. In +- 9 hours working I have approximately more than 270watts. If you have an email I can send you photos of the charger working.
Can this charge a 4S 18650 pack?
Yes. Set the output voltage to 16.2 volts... (4.2v x 4 = 16.2v)
the manual says that your battery voltage must be higher than your panel voltage - so that is why you dont know whats going on at 28:00
It's 72v it uses an buck converter to up the voltage to 120v then that charges the battery with 12v like an car battery charger would
I need a 40amp unit for 12volt batteries
I have a question and I need an answer from a professional.....if I have a 4s Li-Ion battery pack (16.8v - 12.8v) will it work correctly on the whole range of the batteries?
16.8V is its max. When under load, it's a bit less than that, more like 14V-15V. To answer your question, in general, it will work fine within that voltage range. But it also depends on what device you're running with the battery.
vuaeco thank you a lot! I will keep that in mind
i thought mine was faulty because it wouldnt turn on when i connected it to my battery
why would they design it that way?
Save power when the sun is down. I think it is even better this way. A regular controller is always on and it wastes power when the sun is down. Most gridtie inverters like Sunnyboy inverters turn itself off when the sun is down and turn back on when they receive power from the sun the next morning.
Hello, Why I can't get more charge power than 150W on the mpt-7210a regulator? In full sun, I connect 4x230W solar panels in parallel mpp = 29V Open circuit 40V. The rechargeable batteries are 48V 40Ah. The parameters set in the controller are 55V charging voltage and 10A charging current and mppt set to 29V. The regulator shows the voltage on the PV during charging 35V and the battery charging current 3A and the voltage on the battery 50V. The regulator should draw PV voltage to 29V and give a charging current of 10A which would give 500W.
4x230W panels might be too much for it. THis can only handle 10A. Each panel is already about 6-7A. Try one first, then two and see if there's any difference.
im using this same mppt controller for my hydo pelton 1-3kw making 36-50v and charging 2-12v banks #1-4,6v@225ah
but only 10amps did I make a bad but some saying I should've bought a 20-100amp controller
10amps like a trickle charging
This charge controller does not work well with 12V battery system. It's designed to charge higher voltage batteries like Li-ion battery packs. You will need a higher Amp rating charge controller that works with 12V systems.
vuaeco I switched to 24volt 650AH in two banks I and where should the amp # setting I put at 2.22
The fan last no time at all, especially because it is usually installed vertically, it could last longer if the Fan goes horizonally but then the display is sidewards... also if you use them in a rugged environment add an additional Transparent layer over the display, it can break easily by impact of anything edgy... The Total Wattage specs can not be reached for all step up or down combinations!
The manual is completely useless 🤣👍
Thanks for your efforts and sharing 👍
This is great for a cheap small solar based system! Only need a small number of components for a 24V or 48V battery system and it would only need 1 decent size solar panel. 24V or 48v systems are good since you can get away with smaller wire gauges for inverters, etc.
Can somebody help ?
I have hooked this to 2x 12V=24 volt system. I set the batt voltage to 27.4Volts and current to 2A. But it automatically switches to PV voltage of 40V.
Then I set Solar voltage on this to 27.4Volts. It still changes to that 40V of PV again.
What is this ? Are the settings not getting saved ?
Looks like you did not save the settings. Watch the video at the part where I went through saving the settings. The "save" icon has to be hightlighted and then you click "OK" to save it. Or maybe you opened another saved settings which was set at 40V so thats why it switches back to 40V when you run it.
Many thanks for the reply. Yes I definitely saved it by OK (the disk icon turns red), but the voltage tries to creep .... anyways
Now, I have tested this MPPT on 04 batteries in series, so that it can boost the PV=40Volts -> 54V to that of batteries. Now its working fine except one issue.
The current is just 0.01 to 0.1A ........I set it to 5A or 10A, but its just under 0.1A ...... help ?
Is the CC CV icon on the left charged up all the way ?if so the battery is full or you did not setup the AH's of your bank.You are using a solar panel of you just try with a power supply ?
@vuaeco 30:00 - This is not a good test. You should have used a higher voltage battery bank such as 48V and then repeat this efficiency test. Also to be more fair, you should use the same pair of solar panels. My understanding from reading about this solar charge controller (scc) is that under load, the panel voltage should ideally be about 2/3rds that of the battery bank voltage. I am not sure if they mean the nominal battery bank voltage or the actual voltage it is charging at so for example, a 48V battery bank will charge at around 56V max so the average of those is 52V, so using the 2/3rds rule, the ideal panel voltage (under load) should be around 34 to 35 volts. The idea is, the scc "likes" to boost but not excessively. For example, a single 12V (20V open circuit) solar panel under heavy load may sag to about 16-17V, and asking it to output 56V is asking it to more than triple the output voltage. I used a solar panel with a Vmpp of about 40V (under load), and the scc was quite "happy" to output 56V max using it. Also notice the "2/3rds rule" is consistent with the specs. Maximum input voltage is 60V and maximum output voltage is 90V and those are at a 2/3rds ratio. The most I have ever tried is a 48V battery bank but it seems like it would handle even higher such as a 60V or even a 72V battery bank. That way you could use a solar panel in the 50V Vmpp range and make the scc "happy" having it boost it to 70 to 84V (14V max per 12V battery).
Good one. but a you could compile the vedio into 10 minutes.
The device is tracking. The user may input the maximum voltage of the panels power point so the tracking is faster. It is very useful for my electric scooters battery
@Rico Lauersdorf - Maximum or rated Vmpp? I agree it is useful for charging battery banks (24V, 36V, 48V, 60V, 72V, 84V) if you only have say a 13.8V regulated power supply for example. Just tell the device the Vmpp will be 13.8V and then set the charge voltage you want (such as 55V for a 48V battery bank like for a scooter), and you should be good to go. Much better that rewiring them all to a 12V battery bank just for charging. Keep them wired in series and let this little green box work its "magic".
The voltage that you input ist the voltage that the tracker will reach after you replug solar, when the voltage goes down from open circuit voltage. then the tracker starts tracking below that voltage. When clouds appear, it may stop a moment to work. then it starts the tracking again from the voltage you input. So best is to input the highest mpp that your modules can reach, it also becomes somehow instable when you input lets say 12V, using a 21voc module.