Inside Another Cheap Solar Charge Controller
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- I like to look at solar charge controllers and compare them to their claims. Sometimes those claims are wrong, sometimes misleading. Sometimes you can't see the writing in front of your eyes.
Items used in this video:
❗️These links are affiliated and I may earn a small commission if you purchase❗️
30/60 Amp Solar Charge Controller: ebay.to/2Y3FeCo
I have one like this and it has been working for 4 years now
1 week for me.
@Thomas Chrombly lol I have a lot of experience in specialized industry installations. Solar system imstallation is for kids. Regards!
How many times did you change the battery? Does it keep the battery healthy enough so we can extract a great lifetime from it? Thanks.
Now that we've established that the seller misrepresented the product, I can say these cheap PWM controllers work pretty well for the price. I've had one charging a solar lighting system, and one charging a wifi remote relay system for going on 3 years. They have been working well for those applications using 70 watt panels and sealed lead-acid batteries. I'm powering the wifi repeater using the USB port which seems to be outputting around 2 amps as stated.
Thanks for the video!
There pretty good for what they are
I had one too, and it destroyed my battery. Hardware wise it's actually fine, but the firmware was set for a rather over-aggressive charge cycle.
@@vylbird8014 Would you care to elaborate a bit on that? I just got my hands on a 10A setup, where the battery is lead-acid, 7A. Is the charging cycle adjustable in any way? Thanks in advance!
@@1billthekid It's been a good many years, but from what little I remember, it was taking the voltage too high during charging resulting in outgassing. Which will quickly damage a SLA. Maybe it's made for flooded cells.
@@vylbird8014 Ok, thanks for replying mate!
good to see someone doing a teardown. I guess its easy enough to improve the heat sinking with what the controller is mounted to. for anyone who's bought one and they're concerned about the load track sizes, its no major issue to increase their density.
I have a couple of those for small portable solar genarators 1 for a shed. The other is totally portable on a dolly with an enclosed box & 2 grp 24 deep cycle marine batteries. I've been using them frequently for about 3-4 years now and they have worked perfectly. For around 10 bucks, what more could you ask for? I think there great myself, and all mine have been 100% reliable. They work especially well for the application I'm using them for. Minor lighting, running small tools, and actually if I hook up 200wats worth of panels, it will handle a small 10cf fridge quite nicely, BTW, I also have a 1500 -3000w surge inverter on the dolly set up as well for DC use.
Well worth having for mini systems IMO.
All and all, a quite handy tool for using around the property where power isn't normally avaible.
THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION . OPORTO - PORTUGAL
Those tracks will easily take 60 amps , the cross section of the tracks is quite large , also the mosfets have very low saturation resistance and produce little heat .. don't be so misleading
This usual thing used mainly in Swiftlet Farms in most areas in Borneo for 12v system setup. For residential , i doubt it can supply much energy supply that we need for daily usage.
"you get what you pay for!"
I actually have a couple similar looking controllers, but they are actually ribbed metal in the back, for your pleasure.
lol xD
benn using these for years they are great!
I purchased similar looking PWM solar charge controllers and found similar results. The back plate did get hot when connected to a 150w panel so I added a large heat sink scavenged from a motherboard, which seemed to help dissipate the heat.
I did the same.
I installed the thirty amp version of this to two 100 watt (parallel) 12V panels and have been quite pleased with the price/performance given my panels are flat mounted to the roof of Nellybelle (my 93 Dodge Grand Caravan LE - the L is for Luxury) and the system was installed and operated thru the winter here in the high mountain meadows (Fort Collins) of Colorado when solar conditions are less than ideal. #hobomessiah Enjoy.
I got one similar to yours. The usb outputs are rated at 2A, but the max you'll get out of ONE of them is +- 0.5A. If you try to pull anything more than that the voltage drops like crazy. float charge is also non-existent. I've opened a dispute with the seller saying the description isn't right, seeing as the usb's aren't working as advertised, and i'm getting my money back.
the same at my controller... but its very cheap... and better than nothing ?!...
@@utuberlars Its better than nothing but I'd rather use something a little bit more reliable. So Instead I bought one from a reputable brand for just under 30 dollar.
cheap as chips for the functionality offered, useful. Can't buy mppt for that price yet, it'd be silly to expect it to be true. Good vid, cheers!
Those controllers are decent for the price. They do control the voltage and seem to last a while, even in hot conditions. Mine has been running in 100*F in my RV this summer, but the batteries haven't had a load except when I have been in there with a roof vent fan turned on for ventilation while I was working in there. Checking the controller and a separate LCD voltage meter, it has maintained the batteries properly, so it seems.
I had a 20A for 100W originally, then 200W. I upgraded to a 30A controller when I added more panels for 400W total since a 20A would be at it's absolute limit, if not over. A low end, real 30A MMPT runs about $100 USD and a 40A runs about $150. Compared to $10-20 USD for PWM ones, it's a big savings if you are on a budget. Over 400W or 500W of panels, then I'd probably invest in an MPPT. I might anyway next year, if get it into my mind to do so. I'm running a a battery bank of two flooded lead acid batteries if about 100AH each (2 different brands) in parallel, keeping it at 12V since it's in an RV. For my needs, it's acceptable.
add a 100amp sticker to get even more output!
Hahahahaha
The a overage charges are not filtered into the system and the most important thing is the load ambient temperature and humidity is the best
I feel sorry about these scamsters branding their products wrongly to fool around with customers. This PWM is a cheaper alternative to MPPT controllers, but MPPT costs much higher than this. I know it because I made an electronic model of the solar charge controller using MPPT scheme as my final year project, and I discovered that proper MPPT is much costlier and we can arrive at a PWM charge controller easily with electronics, also with a microcontroller, making MPPT is far more complicated than we think of. Thank you for posting this and please drop in a site where I can buy a true MPPT controller for a rooftop solar home. Try an ebike or e-scooter charger with this, because your money has been wasted as you did not get what you were looking for. Laymen seriously need to understand a bit of modern engineering to catch these scams.
What you didn't touch on was the terminals. Specifically, whether the 60a charger is capable of properly terminating a larger conductor capable of carrying 60 amps.
For heavier wires you are going to have to make some custom adjustments. On one, I crimped a pin type terminator onto the wire to get it to fit. On another, I used solid copper wire and used a file to make it fit. But I wouldn't realistically expect it to handle more than 20A continuous.
You will have 4 times the heat if you double the current. I^2R loss, MOSFET turned fully on is like a low value resistor :)
Yep! It's working great with a better heat sink...of course for the money
Soemthing I think worth mentioning. When looking at the traces, there is a common ground between the solar panel, the battery and the output.
those plates are enough to sink that heat, but the connection from mosfet to plate though is a problem
At last someone with technical knowledge. I have a 30 amp pwm. Was investigating the possibility to increase to 40 amp (real) and basicly can only use those kind of FET's. No 1404/7 or 4110 because of the low nc of the 70N?? Or 50N??. Will have to get 2 more and locate all of them off board with decent heatsink.
I don't think I'd describe those MOSFETs as "attached" to the back panel!
Ha! Adjacent to?
@@AdamWelchUK waving about near to...
In the vicinity of...?
@@AdamWelchUK barely acquainted...
@@juststeve5542 Loitering with intent?
Adam. Please don't encourage the scumbags! They knew exactly what they were doing in the description, but were too lazy to edit all the pictures..
Raise a case with eBay, get your money back, and tell us *whodunnit.* With any luck, you'll get to keep the controllers.
Couldn't have put it better myself. 👍
But it is good he is making these videos to showcase it for new people who don't know any better.
I’ll be in touch with them. I agree descriptions need to be accurate but it’s difficult as to where to point the blame. I’m sire they’ll offer some kind of resolution, but hopefully this video plays a small part to force all sellers to be more honest with the product description.
@@gavjlewis MPPT is vastly overrated, IMO. They only make a difference if they are in bulk charge mode. As soon as you reach absorb voltage, they are dumping power. My battery never gets that low.
As for Adam's attitude to the scumbags, I wonder if he had ordered a Rolls Royce and received a Ford Fiesta, if he would be so forgiving? :oD
SarkyBugger I’d prefer the insurance bill for the fiesta! I think MPPT is useful for the bulk stage as you say, but also when you use your energy when it is being produced. Otherwise I’d agree, PWM is perfectly adequate for the vast majority of applications.
@@AdamWelchUK Ignore me. I'm in one of those moods today.
I report any and all misleadingly described items to eBay. Doesn't matter to me if it's a 99p item, or £99. They know what they are doing, and they aren't doing it to me!
Nail 'em up, I say! ;o)
Another UA-camr tested the 60amp model. Output didn't go over 30amps, although that could have been due to their setup. Of more interest is that the heatsink reached 100ºC during the test. If anyone invests in these, I'd say you need to also invest in a good sized heatsink and make sure there's a good connection between the heatsink and the back of the controller.
Here is that video:
ua-cam.com/video/xCKpwlXq5CY/v-deo.html
his wire is very low quality so thats why
Aside from the seller description being wrong, this didn't tell us much at all.
You didn't test them up to rated load, so i can't really see how you can condemn the 60 amp unit as having a flimsy head sink when it may well have been sufficient and the 30 amp unit could in fact have been over engineered. No functions were shown, no temperature measurements under load were taken and no tests were done on the USB outlets.
From a technical aspect this was no more than an unboxing video.
I'm not sure why they just don't sell them as 100A, 200A, and 300A versions ;)
I'm sure they do LOL
I want to know where it has 'auto-focus'.
I ordered the 40 amps from a site that actually advertised them as PWM, and it seems that they've upgraded the heatsink in the meantime. Mine has actual ribs on the back.
Please turn up the volume on your next video. Thank you. Your advice is valuable.
Very good 👍
They offer both mppt & pwm. Maybe you ordered the wrong one. It basically has the same main functions, so..
I’ve got one of these marked as “100 amps” what I’m sceptical on and I can provide more information on differences between the one you have and mine. But mine will be used for 80w going to a battery and then the battery will be hooked up with an inverter so it should be all fine and safe considering the look of the scratchy device
pwm means pulse width modulation, which means it interprits the width of the radiowave to talk bs
Great Videao Adam. So what 12 volt charge controller do you actually recommend, that works & lasts ?
Thank you for the fine charge controller review. 👍🏼
Couple of MOSFETs for £2 is £1.98p profit. Sellers in China need to sell or it costs them money, so if they can get away with false advertising, they will.
Which controller IC is inside this ? The one I saw had the CN3722 which according to the data sheet is "The CN3722(Note 1) is a PWM switch-mode
battery charger controller that can be powered by photovoltaic cell with maximum power point tracking function." A voltage divider does the MPPT set point. Thanks for the review
well done. its hard to find a alarm about this on the net... the figure
of 14.4v is fake you can have 20v or more coming out of the controller
and it will read 14.4. it wont show any higher. this controller will
limit your output voltage to 75% of the input, so with 36v coming in
from your panel youll have 27v cooking your 12v battery.. there by use
this with a 24v batt, for a 12v batt you need a 18v panel. your 18v
panel will give 13.5v out from the controller.. when the batt gets near
fullly charged. the 18v panel will rise to about 20v.. 75% of that is
15v going into the batt.. the display on the controller will show the
correct float voltage of 15v..when you have scrolled to the float
voltage display.. this is no way to control battery charging.. this can
be easily measured with a multimeter.. the amps are straight through..
the cheap mppts that look similar are also fakes.. ive measured some of
those as well. no matter how insistant the seller is. there fake
I would love a bigclive-style test with actual 60A test loads to see how long it lasts (outdoors, over concrete or masonry, of course)
Give it to John Ward. He knows how to *stress test* things. ;o)
Send them back! That is the only way Ebay know that the seller is lie about things they sell. They should know from looking at the box that it was not MPPT!
I have one that looks identical to that except that the label claims it is MPPT. How can I tell for sure whether it is or not?
It probably isn’t I’m afraid, but to be sure open it up and if you don’t see a decent sized inductor (usually a coil of copper coloured wire wrapped around a ring) then you can be fairly sure it is not mppt.
Alternatively, check the voltage of the solar panel then check the voltage of the battery. If they are the same, it’s probably not mppt. This method works best with a battery which isn’t fully charged.
above is about my new controller it is the same as on the video, but no on/off buttom.
i really like your videos! You are the best!
Good to know I'm glad I found your video these are selling on wish for like $6
I blew one of those up. Mine was rated at 30A and couldn't handle two 2.5A marine bilge fans. After a brief period it started shutting down. I put a capacitor across the fans just to make sure feedback spikes were reduced. The thing was toast though. I pitched it and bought one made in the USA instead.
I have one of these and it was only $3.50 shipped on an ebay auction, the 4 FET version. I just use it to maintain a battery, but I use it on 60V panels. Between that and the panel I have another wonder, a 72-12V 15A voltage converter that only cost $4.50. It is modified into a linear current booster that puts out a max of 14.6V and doesn't let the panels drop below 59V. You get 90% of all the advantages of MPPT for less than $10. Any relation to what the display says and the battery voltage is pure coincidence. Those FET barely touch the panel and it is beat to add more thermal compound. All said, they are not a bad performer for a small system. The unused power of the panels goes to heat water. Stop wasting money on 12V panels, go grid tie.
I got Same one from shop in $3. Inside is exactly same but outer front plastic case is different though.
It works good at least for the price
No beefing up of tracks: you can look at that two ways. There's no beefing down of tracks either. Maybe now you should start the nit pick the color.
If you use a higher voltage with these they do not cut off. Mine was set to 14.2 v and caught it over 15.5v. I had 32v panel.
Is the voltage of the "load" circuit regulated at all? Could it be used to drive some 12v devices - like a router without the use of a DC-DC converter / voltage regulator?
Chance question. Why do they state only use solar panel input. I am using lithium ion battery to charge my lead acid batteries on my boat rather than starting the engine. Surely DC input is a dc input
LOL, those are good to be retrofitted for MPPT function, they already have all the necessary circuitry to monitor the current and voltage, need a adequate coil and diode between the drain of the charge transistors and battery and a new firmware for the microcontroller, I wander what is the microcontroller, a STM32?, I will buy one to see if a MPPT can be done from it if has a STM32 uController.
Those transistors can push 30A respectively 50 A, the power dissipation on them is very small, usually need to be little warm is they are driven correctly.
If someone do a reverse engineering for the schematic will be a good start, I will do an open source repository for the firmware and all necessary changes inside the device :)
I have a cheap solar charger just exactly like this one, it says "60amps" but I plugged to the LOAD port a water pump 180w (12v x 15amps) and it only worked for 3 to 4 seconds and it burned the charger with a lot of smoke.
Why didnt you hook anything up to the load side of the controller?
Hi Adam a couple of years ago you did a video on a jumper pack and charging it with a solar panel mine has given up the ghost because of the battery I wondered if you could do a project on replacing the battery with 18650 or similar great vids mate thanks a lot!
3 years later and there are many charge controllers on ebay labeled mppt for just 12 bucks.
I think it's a bit of a lucky dip as to what you get. I purchased an almost identical unit from another eBay seller and got a bad item . Again supposed to be MPPT but not, even worse I cannot adjust the charge voltage to less than 15 volts which is frying my 12 volt battery. You get what you pay for!!!
Why be cheap? There’s the P30L that works from windyNation plus iirc both Victorian and epever are each ~$40ish US
It is 4 pounds on Lasaa in Thailand
So where is the fire?
Hi, I've seen some different videos about adding a heatsink to these models but can't find where to get them! Can you PLEASE let me know who to contact to get to get one? Thanks so much, Sincerely, Dee
The seller was not confused. He lied. You can tell that by the modified pictures of the unit, no PWM.
Remember to give the seller 1 star, and notify ebay of this scam. And also ask for a refund on both models.
6:44 Tech Params shows Battery voltage is 12/24v, Max solar input shows various voltages including 24v, is it possible to set the Battery voltage to charge a 24V battery?
bought a 1.5a 30w panel with it and after all cabling i m not sure if 30watts is enough to wake it up
PWM u its are OK for low voltage step down eg from an 18V panel to 12V, but it is a complete waste of a oanel if you put two panels in series.
Not bad for a tenner though the 60 amp one if you run it up to about 20 amps... Apart from the soldering (which is a 2 min job to fix) it seems not too bad actually...
Very well done ! Thanks from Canada(r)
If someone was going to buy at this price point, i'd never expect that they would have an array close to outputting 60a. Unless they bought many many of those 100w fake panels and just assumed they'd be getting close to 60a. I'd never risk an electrical fire with this crap, Victron for life!
so if you add those mosfets yourself then the rest is the same? program included?
Is there a way to improve the 60 version so it works better?
How much can the 60 version have on it in solar wattage? half that would be what is used in the video?
Hi. Could I connect this to my 48V 42A power supply and use it as a buck converter to charge my 6S8P li-ion pack (adjust the voltage down to 25.2V)?
Maybe the tracks were designed with 60 amp in mind ,then kept the same for 30 amp version .Why change it for less amps ?
What happens to the charge controller when the LiFePo4 battery internal controller disconnects due to charge or temperature? Does it fry the solar controller?
If you open it up you see that the higher amperage comes by putting more mosfets in parallel... up to 3.
If its working in pwm mode the mosfet shouldnt heat up that much
The one I have allows Battery type to be set from b1 to b7, but I've no idea what that changes.
I was hoping to find out what setting to use for 6 -6volt batteries, wired as 3 - 12volt. The manual doesn't say, but there are different settings on the unit.
I bought one from Wish. The display sometimes disappeared altogether and it randomly switched on my pump, maybe something to do with the on off switch which got stuck and I had to open it up to release it. Very flimsy
60 amp cc can only do 760 watts.
Well less, as it over heats.. about 500w for 30 minutes
I just bought similar IRF3205 MOSFETS for £1.80 a pop so the 60A upgrade isn't a bad deal. Incidentally, what kind of micro-controller are they using ?
update. ive tried my other one that looks like this. so i have 2... they are different. one scrolls through on its own all the time when plugged in, the other one does not. one you have to press and hold to enter the settings.. the other one you do not. they both will not control the voltage if the battery is crook.. the good one works perfectly on a good battery. it stops charging when the batt is full. and is not a fake..
Questions how did you get the programme to run on your computer
Cheap but we need to be very much careful on these charge controllers, these are cheap but too much costful because these controllers keep killing batteries trough overheating the batteries 🤔 I don't see if anyone talks abut what size charge controls we should use with respect to solar panels voltage sizes, and battery max charge capability.
Would it be worth modifying one of these to reduce idle power consumption by desoldering the usb ports, and also wiring in a button to turn the lcd screen on/off? I'm working on a remote solar project and trying to keep overall power consumption down to absolute minimum. I would resent keeping the lcd screen illuminated when no one is there to read it. I can't for the life of me find a pinout diagram for one of these displays. How would one identify the + and - of the led using a multimeter?
Great video.
I've tried putting two in parallel. Charging stops. What am I doing wrong?
so did you get your money back ?
Sorry I don't get it. I have a similar product from ali. It was 6 euro's so almost free :) I thought to keep it as a spare just incase my rv's currents charge controller fails during a vacation. If you have to buy a charge controller at the nearest local store in a right away you pay the jackpot if you can find one at all.
But mine says max input is 24 volt when using a 12 volt battery. I hooked up 17 year old 105 watt panel I got from my brother last week but the panel is 31.8 (oc) volts and 25.5 (mpp?). When I connected it it evening was comming and not too much light out there and it started charging my battery. When I measured the voltage on the solar in it was about 12.8 so I thought it is working. The next day I checked and it stopped charging. Checking the voltage on the solar input it was 30 volts. Disconnecting and reconnecting the wires started the charge process again but I do suspect it just stopped charging when max the voltage was reached? When I red the manual in this video at arround 9:07 it also says max solar input 12/18 or 24/36 which is way less than the 40 volt you feed it.
When cheap solar chargers only handle like 18 to 24 volts and not the 30 volts the pannels I got produce. Can I just ignore the voltage input than?
I think i'm missing the clou as a layman, does it mean that when I connect a 10 to 15w panel to this controller in my car my 95Ah battery will explode?
WHY would you think that?
Oh, they know what they're selling you alright. It's another blatant scam. Ask for a refund, and consider seriously reporting it to eBay, so that others might be less likely to be swindled by that outfit.
these types of PCB are very common South Asia and they come with name of CM24x(amp)Z ie CM2430Z is 30 amp model.
That thing may do 60 amps for a minute, the PCB is likely going to go, at the tracks!!
Ya just need to understand the Chinesium Rating System. When they say it's good for 30A they mean it only Smokes at 20A and will not burst into flames until it reaches 30A. I buy piles of this kinda stuff. You just need to buy ratings two and three times what your needing. Works for me. Especially any types of Power supplies and Buck/Boost controllers.
I have the 10 amps of it and the blue ceramic capacitor blew up
Can you tell me the number of it if you still remember
Was it just the camera angle or was that tiny capacitor on the front top right a little larger on the 60a model?
Interesting, at wallmart online they also say MPPT I was pissed. IT SAYS RIGHT ON THE BOX PWM
another good video .thanks
I would love to see a video that point to a descent wpm charge controller. I guess there must be no such thing. I have a poor man solar box and The pwm controlers are telling me that the sun , from 7:30 am to 10 in the U.S., tend to overload these controllers. This started this year and I have to keep an eye on them. I have 3 smart box and they are doing the same thing. They were made by different manufacturers and are made differently. Someone please point to a good one. MPPT is not an affordable choice for the poor.
i have the same cheap 30A controller but mine wont allow me to set "2) float voltage" below 25.4V. that can't be good. is this thing just meant for the garbage?
What does a controller like that understands as "float charge"? Mine(model identical to yours) would start upping the voltage at the start of the charge(early morning, 6h AM), than, as it gets to 14.4v(midday), it will keep it there until the end of the day(6h PM), even if I don't discharge the battery during the night, and even as the battery is pulling less than 200mAh of current from the charger. Shouldn't the charger go to "float charge" and try to keep my battery stable, from 13.0v to 13.7v (adjustable), when it is no longer getting usable current from the charger? Isn't that the dictionary definition of "float charge"? Ps: My inverter only turns itself on at 6h PM, so it can't be blamed for any "current leak", all the power produced by the solar panel during the day hours has only the battery as its consumer.
We learn something new everyday. £2 for 2 mosfets? maybe 80p more like.LOL
WONDER HOW MUCH THE KIDS WERE BEING PAID MAKING THESE
I ordered one of them last week from Ali express £3.50. going to take week to get hear so was good to have a sneak peek. But was hoping to see some of settings.. I am going using this to charge a 140 ah lead acid battery.. and was wondering if it only bulk charges.. and what parameters it has with lead acid.. like can you set it high for the bulk and when you know it's full then manually set it low for float.. ?? Any advice in the comments will be appreciated.. thanks.. 👍 *edit* the one I got was a 20a at £3.70
£3.50! I’ve been done! Sorry - as you could see it was hard to film the screen and I didn’t want to make the video too long.
To answer your question, you can select between three battery types. ‘Lithium, gel and flooded’. The lithium settings are a equalization charge of 12.6 volts then you can set the float voltage anywhere within 12-15 volts. The equalization or boost voltage seems to be set by battery type and is not adjustable, only float voltages, disconnect and reconnect voltages can. On each screen you can hold the menu button for a few seconds to adjust one parameter.
@@AdamWelchUK lol the price is reflected in the years it takes to ship.. lol.. and thanks for the help.. you may be interested in some good batteries I found "26650 type" liitoKala have good energy density and always come under rated. Say 5000 mAh and test around 5200 and best of all are cheep.. so good for people that can't get there hands on old laptop batteries.. I am building up a collection with my left over cash.. thanks for the interesting videos 👍
3.50 for 20A charge controller... No need to know more
I too ordered one on aliexpress as it was $4.85 inklude postage! Beat that - soo cheap! Its my second .... just couldn't belive this price ;)
www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Solar-Charge-Controller-10A-PWM-12V-24V-Auto-LCD-Solar-Charger-with-Dual-USB-Output/32953353968.html
But these controllers are good for the price! They do what these supose to do. Only I would not drive them to hard .... see a 60A (with dobble the Mosfets - but not the print/wire :( They have a LCD, you can adjust the voltage and you can charge your USB-stuff. And if you short-circut the solar input .... nothing happens - GREAT - as some of my other controllers burn the fuse at battery input. So for a small solar up to 100W this is enough. AND ABOUT MPPT ..... I too saw some of this marked MPPT - but hey - there is no real MPPT under $19USD!!! They cheapest MPPT is a CPY-2410 but people don't recomand it as there is no LCD nor adjustment for voltage.
Perhaps a MPPT5025A-DUO is good - unfortunaly they over 50USD and over the free custom toll value of Norway.