280 watt panel controller question

[Matlock]

Recommend a MPPT controller for at first one and eventually a pair of these panels. Charging two 6V 220AH GC batteries.

 

[jimindenver]

Morningstar TS-MPPT-45

I've know a few using EP solar MPPT controllers and haven't been hearing complaints. You could check out their 40a.

 

[akrvbob]

It has to be MPPT because of the voltage, but then there are several ways to go

1) Very low end, cheap and disposable, non-name cotroller. There are a bunch of these around and they will work. But if it breaks, who will do the warranty work? On the other hand, if they break, you throw them away and buy a new one. Maybe even carry a spare. You can buy 5 of them for the price of a high end controller.

2) Middle of the road, good quality, good features, good price, good support. It's hard to argue with this choice.

3) Top of the line- high-end, very high features . When you call about a problem you'll probably talk to the engineer who deisgned it or the owner of the company. They usually take very good care of you.

None of these is a bad choice!! It's much more a matter of your, budget, personality and "style." My first controller was a cheap one and when it broke 4 years later I wasn't upset. Since then I've bought Blue Sky which I think is a good, middle controller. I recommend them! When you call with a problem, you WILL talk to either the owner or designer right here in America. The owner comes to Quartzsite every winter and puts on a seminar and you can go talk to him. I'm wiling to pay a little more for that!

The one thing I'd do if I were you, is buy too big a controller and not to small, not even good enough. Much better to have a 40 amp controller that can easily handle the load than a 25 amp controller that can just barely handle it.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

It has to be MPPT because of the voltage, but then there are several ways to go

1) Very low end, cheap and disposable, non-name cotroller. There are a bunch of these around and they will work. But if it breaks, who will do the warranty work? On the other hand, if they break, you throw them away and buy a new one. Maybe even carry a spare. You can buy 5 of them for the price of a high end controller.

2) Middle of the road, good quality, good features, good price, good support. It's hard to argue with this choice.

3) Top of the line- high-end, very high features . When you call about a problem you'll probably talk to the engineer who deisgned it or the owner of the company. They usually take very good care of you.

None of these is a bad choice!! It's much more a matter of your, budget, personality and "style." My first controller was a cheap one and when it broke 4 years later I wasn't upset. Since then I've bought Blue Sky which I think is a good, middle controller. I recommend them! When you call with a problem, you WILL talk to either the owner or designer right here in America. The owner comes to Quartzsite every winter and puts on a seminar and you can go talk to him.  I'm wiling to pay a little more for that!

The one thing I'd do if I were you, is buy too big a controller and not to small, not even good enough. Much better to have a 40 amp controller that can easily handle the load than a 25 amp controller that can just barely handle it.

This is good advice from Bob.  I'd only add one thing.

If you do decide to go the low end route and carry a spare, hook one up and run it for a couple of weeks, then pull it and hook the other one up and let THAT one run.  The first one is now your spare.  If you have problems with either or both (you can tell I have a lot of confidence in cheap crap from China) in the first month or so, you might have recourse.  If your first controller quits in a year, and you hook the "spare" controller up and discover that it arrived broken, you're pretty well screwed.

Regards
John