I finally stopped overcomplicating my solar battery bank setup

Last month I helped a friend set up his first off grid cabin, and he kept buying these expensive charge controllers from random brands. I told him to just get a basic PWM controller from a reputable brand since his panels are only 200 watts. He spent $120 on a fancy MPPT one with Bluetooth and it gave him errors for 3 days straight. I swapped in my old $25 PWM controller and everything worked perfect. Why do people think they need the most expensive gear for tiny solar setups? Has anyone else noticed beginners overspending on stuff they don't actually need?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant4782d ago

Honestly $120 for a 200 watt setup is wild, what was he expecting that Bluetooth app to do that a multimeter couldn't?

cooper.drew2d ago

Buddy of mine blew up a cheap controller trying the same thing.

troy_price2d agoTop Commenter

Yeah I read somewhere that those cheap controllers can't handle the feedback from higher watt motors, they just fry the mosfets. @grant478 is probably right that relying on a Bluetooth app instead of a multimeter is asking for trouble, especially with budget parts. Sounds like your buddy learned the hard way what happens when the magic smoke escapes.