Rich Solar 20A MPPT Charge Controller Review
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- Today on HamRadioComms I show the features, do a walk-through of the menus, and review of the Rich Solar MPPT 20A charge controller.
I said 6 Amps for each charge controller, I meant for each 100W solar panel! - Наука та технологія
![Sizing an MPPT Charge Controller [Basics]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GaPaoIjy5Ko/mqdefault.jpg)
My system is larger but I'm constantly scaling up my capacity. You did a Fine job going over this unit! One of my charge controllers is the Renogy Rover 40 amp equivalent of this unit (I believe that they are made by the same company). I like t h e Renogy and it has been very reliable but it costs more than the Rich solar 40 amp. I am considering this unit for the next big jump. Thank you for the in depth overview. You usually can't learn that much about a piece of equipment without buying it! Keep the useful information coming! And Yes it is useful even if someone is running a bigger system already. Great Video.
Ya'll Take Care and be safe, John
Thank you for the nice comments! I'm constantly upgrading my solar system also, I now have the 40A Renogy as well. I have a 100ah LiFePo4 for each controller on separate systems, and both have been running flawlessly. I have a review of the 40A Rover on my channel. I have a overview of my system on the channel as well but I've upgraded it so much I'll be doing another hopefully by next week. For emergency power, I can power my refrigerator for about 24hrs and with good sun shining I can extend that to about 2 days or so. My other system runs my radio shack and for emergency power my TV and blue ray player . I use both systems to charge most of my rechargeable batteries for flashlights, 1860 devices, anything with micro usb, etc.
Hey, man! I’m truly glad to see that you are still uploading. Quite the inspirational setup that you have created! Ive been reading the online manual for the Alinco DR-735T but still can’t for the life of me figure out how exactly to program a repeater. I’d be so appreciative if you’d make an instructional video on how exactly to program a repeater with the Alinco DR-735T.
I’ve watched your great review of the radio more times than I can count and it’s by far the best video on that radio but I feel uncomfortable with the idea of making the purchase without basically a step-by-step because I’d be kind of devastated if I bought the radio and couldn’t figure it out, which I’m scared of (lol).
Either way, I appreciate the video that you’ve already done and these videos that you’re making now are awesome. Eventually seeing the tour of your shack would be sweet indeed!
I literally only have a Baofeng BFF8HP and have only used Repeaterbook to program repeaters. I’d imagine that the info from repeaterbook that I’ve used to program the Baofeng would be the same as I’d need for the Alinco
Thanks! I'll be uploading videos more often now that I have the time. If you're able to program the Baofeng, then this radio would be easy for you and the Alinco manual goes step by step, it's not hard at all. Some radios are difficult like the Yaesu FT-8800 and 8900 series, I hated the menu system and programming.
I would do a video on repeater programming but I sold the radio to buy a Fusion mobile that also is full duplex, so I don't have one to do the video. I big repeater near me went online with Yaesu C4FM / Fusion so I bought the FTM-300, very expensive radio. There was nothing wrong with the Alinco but I couldn't own them both, so sold that one. I have to buy all my own radios for the channel so I switch radios once in a while and make videos about them. I'll be doing a review of the FTM-300 in the near future.
Today I'm working on a video showing my small telegraph key collection that includes a straight key, 3 paddles and a 1939 bug.
Thanks for watching my videos, I"m glad you find them useful.
Thank you for the video report.
Well done, thanks.
Thank you !
I just wired up that same charge controller and am getting an error of ACr. The owners manual doesn't tell me what that code means. Do you happen to know? Or how I can get my system to work? It's only 2X30w Renogy panels in series feeding 4X100ah LiFePo4 batteries and a 3000w charger/Inverter plugged into house current to charge the batteries until I get this solar panel input working. Thanks. Ken S in Maine.
very useful tutorial
Thank you!
Great tutorial, thank you.
thanks!
Perfect review., thank you. I never like to read the manual. But I feel fully knowable after reviewing your video. All connect. All working Does it let you know how many WH or AH is left in the battery ?
Hi Suzette.. thank you! Unfortunately it doesn't let you know how many wh or ah is left, since it doesn't know how large it is, no place to put that information in. However, you can tell by how much current is going into the battery from the charge controller whether it is near full or empty.. for example in my 200w system, if it's putting in 10 or 11amps for a good period of time the batteries are pretty low, and if it's full sun yet only 6amps then 4 amps etc.. then it's getting full. It's hard to tell though at any given time how empty it is since the load can draw amps while the Charge controller is supplying power to the battery and the load at the same time.. good question.
Great video rich solar 20 A MPPT charge controller review very helpful watched its several times I'm on my 2nd one because of a return no power DC post contacted customer service great help but still no power Multi tester reads 6.6 is new battery 13.3 several small working LED lights light when I touch panel post light when I touch battery post no light when I touch load post any help
Ah mode shows how much total energy in from panel or out to load (ampere.hours).
Load mode lets you set up control of your load incl. turning load on/off based on when the sun comes out with time offsets
Just got one of these this week. All connections and fuses connected. No deep cycle battery yet to test it. I did hook it up momentarily to car battery and it lit up. Disconnected promptly.
You can use a car battery without any problems. I used one for a year before getting a deep cycle battery.
I have the 40 amp version. Question - how do you keep the screws from loosening on the terminal connections? No matter how much I tighten them the wires come loose after a few days. Thanks.
Hi…. I check mine every few months and might find one screw a little bit loose every 4 or 5 months or so. The
things I do is: I make sure the wires are centered well and long enough to engage the whole terminal inside, and make sure I tighten them down really well. I also have the wires stable so they don’t move around which may loosen them.
I have both the 20a and the 40a. I use ferules on wire ends to connect to charge controller and the wires have never come loose. Dunno if the ferules are what makes the difference.
I just purchased the 40A version of this controller, I have deep cycle batteries which I believe is the FLA symbol so that is what I have mine set on. I went through all the settings and I programed everything according to the voltage I wanted. The problem is I set the boost setting for 14.4V and it ignores my settings and charges it at 14.7v also I set the float mode for 13.4v and it is charging it at 13.7 volts in float mode. I know every thing is programed correctly because I went back and checked to make sure everything was set like I had programed it and it was. I was wondering if your controller ever surpassed the set voltage or if something might be wrong with mine. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I haven't tested custom settings, i just set battery type toLi which is for LiFePO4 batteries and the boost and float are correct so I never tested the custom settings. IDK if there is another setting that custom trumps battery type?
Are you sure you have flooded? Deep cycle come in flooded or AGM types.. the Marine deep cycle ones are typically flooded. The 2v newer solar battery types are often AGM. That might get you closer to the numbers you looking for, but not sure.
@@hamradiocomms Thank you for this video and thanks for your quick reply to my problem, I just realized the mistake I was making. After I set all my parameters it was going back to my battery type, FLA and was overriding the settings I had programed and it was charging according to the factory settings for that battery type. Now I know that I need to make sure it stays on the USE icon after every thing is set and it will charge according to my custom settings. I should of figured that out from the beginning.
@@JD0333 That's great that you figured it out! Thanks for letting me know the details.
Is it possible to use this controller and a solar panel to use as a battery charger for a couple of diesel trucks with dual batteries, that don't get driven very often?
Yes that would work, there is a setting for that type of battery, larger solar panels will require larger 30 or 40 amp controller but this one is a 20 amp model and handles up to 260 watts… a battery always has to be connected, so if switching trucks the solar panel has to be disconnected before disconnecting batteries from one truck to another.
@@hamradiocomms, Thank You for the info Sir!
does the screen have an off switch or does it stay on constantly? if constantly then its putting a small load on the battery constantly i presume?
Hi, yes the lcd display is on all the time but no backlight so the current draw is minimal. The unit itself draws current also, monitoring the battery voltage and state of charge same as most other controllers.
Thanks for the good question.
Is it holding up? I'm considering buying what looks like a newer 40A version w/bluetooth
It’s in daily use 2 years now and still working perfectly
MPPT can be over paneled just fine. The controllers will just limit output to the Amp rating. Can put say 500w on that 20a and it will just output 20a. Roughly 70% of rated panels is what you'll see. So I personally wouldn't go over about 30% over or you actually lose potential output. But it is possible to see 100% panel out on occasion.
For sizing say 300w / 12v = 25a so a 20-30a mppt controller is fine.
If you wanna use the Load terminals the best way to do it is connect the Trigger for a relay to the load. Then the load can be set to turn off at a low voltage to prevent draing the battery empty. The load terminals cuts power which then cuts power to the relay by way of the trigger then the load is disabled by the relay. That way you can run larger loads like 30, 60 or 120a depending on the relay used. Yet you can't fully kill your battery
I don't agree with 'over-panelling'. My main reason is because some units can handle it and some can't, better not to fry gear!
A lot of people setting up a Solar backup or backup power parallel to the grid are on a budget. Most folks usually start smaller and expand or 'scale' up as they want (or can afford) to. Overloading equipment may be fun to see how much you can get out of something but it gets expensive quickly when you fry equipment! Your best bet is to get all of your gear sized to handle much more power than you are working with. This will give a little room for growth and you won't fry gear, especially when the ice storm hits, the grid is down and your backup system is all the power that you have.
Ya'll Take Care and be safe, John
@@JohnDoe-pv2iu Over paneling doesn't "fry gear" any MPPT has no issue. I don't think a PWM actually would have any issue either but I don't know as much about them. Overpaneling doesn't force the controller to do anything they aren't designed to do. In bright full sun the controller CAN output full power...but will limit it if battery is full. Overpaneling is no different it just limits the output to the controller max. If your controller dies from putting out its rated amperage then you probably have a junk controller.
Overpaneling a controller will not hurt an MPPT controller or "fry it"
looks like a dependable unit.
Good review...have you noticed any RF issues or noise?
Thank you.. good question, I haven't noticed any RFI, but I haven't tested it on different bands while it is charging, I'll have to try it on the common bands of 80 40 and 20 while it's charging with high current, currious myself. My HF antennas are down now for tree trimming but when they're back in operation I'll have to test it.
I'll post here the results in a few weeks. Thanks for watching and posting!
@@hamradiocomms Sounds good....I have a while to go before I dig radios out after our move. No antennas up either. Again....good job on the review.
@@hamradiocomms Great video, I also am waiting to buy this controller but am waiting to find out if it causes any RFI problems. I look forward to your tests.
@@caulktel I’ll be doing those tests soon. Today I installed my LiFePO4 battery to the Rich Solar controller, I’ll post here what I find on the RFI tests.
I tested the Rich Solar charge controller and found no RFI at all. I had my IC-7200 connected directly to the solar battery while it was charging and went across the entire 80, 40, and 20 meter bands and found no birdies, wistles, electronic noise, nothing at all. So I"m happy about that since I just converted my station to solar. My 2m and 440 doesn't have any problem with it either.
Where did you get your temp sensor?
Hi .. the sensor came with the Rich Solar MPPT charge controller.
Hi. What kind of temp sensor does this unit need please?
The temp sensor is included with the Rich Solar Panels
Does this controller cause EMI in your radios?
Hi.. I listened up and down 80m, 40m, and 20m bands and couldn’t find any QRM from this controller while charging or idle. It is only about 6 feet from the radios and 20 feet from the antennas and no EMI that I can find.
@@hamradiocomms 😃 Awesome I have an EPever Tracer A that noise. So I will have to give it a try thank you