Feedback on this Solar Charge Controller

I am trying to build a basic sort of system with expansion capabilities, cash is on the tight side but have found this No Name charger
that I hope someone might have some experience with. Because the add that I am looking at does not have a name associated with it I am including an image of the controller. It is important to me that the controller be an MPPT version and not a PWM controller.



Thank you for any and all assistance.

It does claim to be MPPT in various eBay ads, but at around £20-30 UKP, I would suspect this is highly unlikely and it is really a PWM in disguise!


Best avoided I think.

You won't get much better value than an EPever, but it will cost around 4 times that.

In fact, here's someone who admits it is a PWM!

Honestly, Avoid No Name Brands ! You will get what you pay for. Stick to a known brand, EPEver makes good "Value" product that works exactly as it should and is what is marked on the box. Plus they have support & years of experience.

Thank you all for the great replies.
I did some extra checking on the Internet and found a fellow who tore one apart and looked for an inductor and one was not to be found.
Unfortunately it is merely a PWM controller and fraudulently labeled as a MPPT unit.
Time to continue my search.

Al Slitter said:

Thank you all for the great replies.
I did some extra checking on the Internet and found a fellow who tore one apart and looked for an inductor and one was not to be found.
Unfortunately it is merely a PWM controller and fraudulently labeled as a MPPT unit.
Time to continue my search.

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Some Shlock Vendors use a "Brand Name" of MPPT for PWM Controllers, we HAVE encountered this.

Hello All, I am attaching this to a previous request and hope I get some replies.
How does one rate for there needs the Amperage of the EPEver controller?
Thoughts please.

Al Slitter said:

Hello All, I am attaching this to a previous request and hope I get some replies.
How does one rate for there needs the Amperage of the EPEver controller?
Thoughts please.

Click to expand...

If I understand you correctly, you want to know how to size a controller? You need to look at your panels and how they will be configured. For MPPT controllers you want your voltage higher than voltage of your batteries. Look at the Voc rating of the panels for that. For currrent look at the short circuit Isc of the panels. Remember that in series voltage adds, in parallel current adds. You will see a maximum voltage for the charge controller typically something like 100v or 150v. Don't exceed that. There will also be a watts rating based on the battery voltage. So for example you might see 12 (720w), 24 (1440w), 48v (2880w). For a 24v battery bank you can have up to 1440 watts of panels in this example.

The current rating of the controller will be how much it can deliver which if you work backwards relates to the other values above. If you can go with a higher voltage battery bank. High DC current with low DC voltage requires very thick wires. Do a search on "DC wire gauge chart". It gets ugly fast depending on how long your wires will be. Also do a search for voltage drop calculator. You can see depending on how long your wires are and the gauge how much the voltage will drop one end to the other. The more voltage you lose the more power you lose in the transfer.

Hope this helps.

Thank you JMH1783, your explanation was very clear and helps a lot.
Thank you again!

I am afraid sizing a Controller is relative to the Battery Bank Size and what it takes to charge that battery bank with regards to Voltage & Amperage. For example, if you have a 200AH Battery Bank which can take 100A charge rate, that means it can take 100A for 2 hours to charge from empty, or 50A for 4 hours or 25A for 8 hours. Now if you have a 600AH Bank made up of Three 200AH Packs the time & amperage needed to charge within a reasonable time window has to be addressed by the Solar Charge Controller. Undersizing a Solar Charge Controller will not only undercharge the battery system it will seriously & negatively affect the performance of the system while driving the undersized SCC to its limit which will also shorten its lifecycle.

Once you know the Battery Bank size and know what it will require to charge the bank up within your Available Solar Hours window (Including consideration for Low Sun Hour such as December and High Sun Hours such as June) Then you can look at Solar Controllers which can deliver the required Amps to charge the batteries.

Next, you have to Size the Solar Array to support the SCC Requirements to be able to deliver. Each SCC has a Maximum Voltage, Wattage & Amperage it can handle for input. This is relative to the Battery Bank Voltage as SCC's support 12/24/48, + Volt batteries.. There are SCC's which can take up to 500VDC Input.

Case in Point: I use a Midnite Classic-200 Solar Charge Controller with a 2100W Array, which outputs up to 79A for my 24V/910AH LFP Primary Bank, it can be SmartLinked and paired with another Midnite SCC to double up or more if desired. Each SCC would run it's own Array and feed into the common DC Bus to charge the Battery Bank(s).

There is a lot to consider. To add to what Steve_S contributed, you also have to consider what reserve you want for those dark days. Unless you live in the desert SW, you may have a considerable number of them. Aside from getting through the night, how many hours/days do you want to be able to go without significant charging from the solar array? My system switched to building power when the batteries get too low. If you don't have the luxury then you may want to increase your battery bank size.

If you also live in the darker part of the country as I do, then you might want to have more solar panel capacity and multiple charge controllers to provide more power when it is partly cloudy. I currently have two 1200w arrays each with its own controller. I'm working on setting up another like it. I've also angled the arrays differently to catch morning and evening sun.

All of this is a bit overkill if you are just trying to setup a small beginner system of course.

Thank you for the additional thoughts and information.

Al Slitter said:

Hello All, I am attaching this to a previous request and hope I get some replies.
How does one rate for there needs the Amperage of the EPEver controller?
Thoughts please.

Click to expand...

I live in the desert southwest, so it is very easy for me. If I have full sun, will it fully charge the battery in 5 hours. Obviously your needs might be different.

I ordered today a Tracer 4215bn 40 Amp SOC for my new solar system and will be ordering a MT50 meter.
I live near the equator but not on the coast so I get a lot of sunshine.
Thank you for your reply!

Al Slitter said:

I ordered today a Tracer 4215bn 40 Amp SOC for my new solar system and will be ordering a MT50 meter.
I live near the equator but not on the coast so I get a lot of sunshine.
Thank you for your reply!

Click to expand...

I have a couple of 30A EPever controllers on separate panel arrays as per picture. As you can see, I have been experimenting with both the MT50 and the BLE box. The MT50 is good for basic programming and shows real time charge, battery status etc. The BLE box has no real programming capabilities, and just grabs a 'snapshot' of current status. My system is housed outside in a small enclosure though, so it's useful to keep an eye on things without having to wire the MT50 back into the cabin - obviously only plugged into one SCC at a time though!

I have another backup system in the shed which uses a small Victron 75/15 controller with Bluetooth. The Victron connect app is far superior to the EPever app in every way with full programming and real time monitoring, but of course the product is premium prices. A couple of Victron 100/30 devices for my main system would have cost 3 or 4 times more than the EPever, plus I already had them from the old 12v system. It's in my plan to update them at some point when funds allow. Inverter already changed from Iconica to Multiplus

Thank you for the feedback, I am impressed!

Al Slitter said:

Thank you for the feedback, I am impressed!

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Glad to help. Here's the backup shed system with redeployed Iconica hybrid inverter from the house system and a pair of small Victron SCC.

Always something needing updating and many new lessons to be learnt along the way ?