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Issue #216 July 2008
Intelligent Energy Solutions
Living And Working Off The Grid
Part 1: Planning And Design
by George Martin
Start | Power Usage | Estimating Solar Radiation | Equipment | Solar Panels | Inverters | Charge Controller | Battery | Miscellaneous Items | System Cost | Sources & PDF
CHARGE CONTROLLER
OutBack offers the MX60 charge controller, which is a real-time maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system. So, as the sun travels across the sky, clouds pass by, solar panels age, or other real-world events occur, the MX60 adjusts the current drawn out of the panels to maximize the power produced. That sounds good. Now that it’s up and running, it’s neat to watch it work.
The controller’s other significant feature is its efficiency. It’s a buck converter and it will take solar panel output (say 100 V and 5 A) and convert it to battery input (say 50 V and 10 A) at 95% to 99% efficiency. There are many areas to lose power because of inefficiencies in your solar system. This is no longer one of them with the advent of MPPT charge controllers.
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