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SCC Volts and Amps VS Battery Volts and Amps

JBR

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Mar 26, 2020
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I'm a little confused... I have a Epever tracer 40 SCC and a couple battle borns .... During a charging, on the MT50, I showed 29.5v and 15.7 amps coming from the panels. Going to the batteries it shows 14.3 v and 32.6amps..... If the panels are only producing 15 amps, how can the SCC send 32 amps to the batteries....? Sorry for the dumb question, I'm sure its something simple.
 
An MPPT SCC is essentially a fancy DC-DC converter. It takes the volts and amps from the panels and converts it to the battery voltage.

The panels provided 29.5V @ 15.7A. That is 463W.

The SCC took that power and converted it to the battery voltage of 14.3V.

463W / 14.3V = 32.4A.
 
Agree with @rmaddy and would just add - in addition to dc-dc converter, think of the Epever as a 'buffer' between the solar panels and the battery. The solar panel voltage (and resulting power) is quite variable - any change in sun, clouds can have a dramatic affect. On the other hand, a battery is a pretty stable electrical source and would not do well to get surges or over-voltage etc. The Epever smooths things out so you don't hurt the battery but yet still get most of the power out of the panels. :)
 
Solar panels generate power. Power is expressed in watts. This power is carried over the wires as current. Current is express as amps.

In electricity there is a formula:

Watts = Volts X Amps

So if you have 120 watts, it could show up as:

120 Watts = 12 volts X 10 amps

or it could show up as:

120 Watts = 120 volts a 1 amp

In both cases, the power is the same (120 watts) but the current is very different (1 amp vs 10 amps).

In your specific example, the solar panels are creating 463 watts:

463 = 29.5 X 15.7

This is what enters your MPPT charge control.

The charge control then converts the voltage from 29.5 to 14.3, which is what you need to properly charge your batteries. But the power (watts) does not change (other than efficiency/inefficiency factors, which we will ignore).

Notice that

466 = 14.3 X 32.6

Your power hasn't changed.

The lesson, do not confuse AMPS with POWER. Amps alone do not give any indication of power, until you also know the voltage.
 

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