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Quality vs China MPPT?

Which is why I loves me some midnite solar product. They don't need warranties, but have them and will stand behind them.
 
AFAIK, the algorithms that perform the MPPT are not that difficult to implement.
Effectively, they're just operating the array at different points on the power curve. In other words, if you have a step-down voltage converter that is controlled by software, you can vary the impedance that the MPPT presents to the array by varying the duty cycle of the switching element in the converter.
One of the simplest techniques is sometimes known as "perturb and observe." In this technique, you alter the duty cycle a little bit either up or down, and see if the power being produced increases. If so, make an additional little change in the same direction--- if not, then make a small change in the opposite direction. By doing this loop over and over you can track the MPP with very little hassle. Of course there are other techniques that are faster and thus have slightly increased gains or other advantages, such as being able to detect and take advantage of unusual arrays with more than one "knee" on their power curve. (With the P&O algorith, you'll always wind up on the knee you started with, even if it's not actually the ultimate MPP for the array at that time)

I'm sure there's chinese crap out there that doesn't perform anything like how it's supposed to (they sent me a battery charger once that was just a nice looking case filled with plastic inside and no electronics :ROFLMAO: )
But in general, if it seems to perform OK from the beginning, I would think the major difference would be in warranty support or possibly longevity rather than a huge difference in power production; it's not that difficult to get "pretty good" MPPT working once the rest of the converter is built and operational.
 
I care less about a stated warranty. I have learned the hard way of a lot of products that boast lifetime or 10 year warranty, that just turns out to be a crap product that you end up replacing several times, or they don't hold up the warranty because of some stupid fine print sh*t.

I do NOT buy a product based on the warranty, but rather the quality of the product, in hopes I never have to use a warranty. Same goes for a lot of things, cars/trucks/trailers/TV's, etc.
haha seriously! its like car parts....

With any MPPT I think you'll net similar results, but at the end of the day, Id rather have the piece of mind using a Victron on $4+k worth of battery. then cheaping out and risk a component failure sending panel voltage to the pack.
 
can't find anything on warranty information for one of their higher end charge controllers:
I believe that is two years?

But it doesn’t actually matter!
They don’t have parts or a US service center when I contacted them about a terminal clamp a couple weeks back. There advice was to, “weld the wire to terminal” which is disconcerting to me anyways. It’s soldering not welding. The CS email isn’t answered by knowledgeable staff.

I sure do like the products though.
 
I saw an youtube once touching on that stuff

Epever performed well in the vid. Much better than some aio pwm. The top shelf stuff did well.

I think it’s more of a reflection on the software than on the hardware. I’m not sure but the hardware I would guess is superior with substantial longevity on the Duesenberg level products.

I wish I could find that vid but nope.
you're compairing apples to pears

MPPT vd PWM

most , but not all ,AIO's now feature a MPPT, and yes there is a big performance difference between them
 
you're compairing apples to pears

MPPT vd PWM
No, just a mention that the vid guy I recalled had “tested” a couple pwm AIOs as well. Not a comparison. I couldn’t find it when I looked.
The search terms seemed to bring up three or four commonly known producers and Will Prowse sorta dominated the returns LOL
 
One of the reasons I did this was to find out if some of the Chinese stuff had gotten better over the years. I've been running this set-up now for a year and a half without issues. Both the charge controllers and the inverter are from MUST (not using the Reliable Electric inverter anymore) and I ordered spare parts for them just in case (for the inverter, came to about $50 or so for the control board and $50 for the power board or thereabout). All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised and I believe MUST to be a higher tier Chinese provider.
 
I'm sure there's chinese crap out there that doesn't perform anything like how it's supposed to (they sent me a battery charger once that was just a nice looking case filled with plastic inside and no electronics :ROFLMAO: )
Man, I got a non-contact voltage tester as a freebie once. It was a plastic tube, with an unpopulated, unmarked, uncut, blank PCB, a piece of glass instead of an LCD, and there were no connections inside. It never worked, and was never supposed to. It was completely a dummy product. It even had a cutout to insert batteries, that wasn't actually cut out, just a line on the plastic. ?

The amount of effort and time it took someone to design and make a product that would never work blows my mind.
 
I have 2, 60 amp SCC from China on a shelf. The literature claims compatibility with all battery types and user defined. As it turns out in each scheme bulk absorb and float are all the same voltage. When I have too few panels it didn’t matter I never got out of bulk. Now I have enough panels I replaced them.
 
I have an American built Midnite classic. It's been solely charging my house batteries for the last 10 years (Australia). In the late afternoon the shipping container that houses all my gear gets to around 50 degrees C inside with no issues. It's extremely programable and support is great. Support your countries manufacturing.
 
Again guys, we all know a quality American made product will last longer. The purpose of this thread was to find out if a quality MPPT SCC produced more PV per day than a cheaper MPPT SCC.

The general consensus is they should be the same, but still no factual evidence. Maybe when I have some extra time and money I'll buy a smaller Victron MPPT and an EPEver and compare.
 
I would have preferred if Midnite Solar made a Classic that would handle higher voltage so I could save on wiring.
But their philosophy is higher voltages create higher losses because of heat generated.
 
Again guys, we all know a quality American made product will last longer. The purpose of this thread was to find out if a quality MPPT SCC produced more PV per day than a cheaper MPPT SCC.

The general consensus is they should be the same, but still no factual evidence. Maybe when I have some extra time and money I'll buy a smaller Victron MPPT and an EPEver and compare.
I have seen a video where someone has a few controllers hooked up to panels and they watch how fast the controller can sweep and track. Not sure if they had any chinese stuff but midnite did seem to perform well
 
In a real world test the Morningstar outpreformed all comers, but they were only 1-2% better than the others in the test.

The others were the Midnight Classic and the Outback

All 3 were designed in America!

2 of them were manufactured here!
 
I have seen a video where someone has a few controllers hooked up to panels and they watch how fast the controller can sweep and track. Not sure if they had any chinese stuff but midnite did seem to perform well
The Midnight Classic has by far the best sweep algorithms.....

AFAIK.....none of the Chinese units have multiple sweep algorithms
 
The Midnight Classic has by far the best sweep algorithms.....

AFAIK.....none of the Chinese units have multiple sweep algorithms
Victrons are made in india and have multiple power point tracking. Still doesn't improve a thing for most people. Midnight sweep algorithm is nice, but most won't notice a difference at all. And many others on the market today sweep quite quickly. Even the cheap ones. This was not true a few years ago.

MPPT algorithm is dead simple. You don't need to improve it. And if you have shade on your panel, move your solar panel array into direct sunlight. If your controller is constantly needing to track the power point due to shade from a branch on one of your panels in your string, then cut the tree. Very simple.
 
haha seriously! its like car parts....

With any MPPT I think you'll net similar results, but at the end of the day, Id rather have the piece of mind using a Victron on $4+k worth of battery. then cheaping out and risk a component failure sending panel voltage to the pack.
Yes agreed! I would buy a high quality MPPT for just this reason alone. Having a charge controller fail is no fun. Buying a midnite/victron etc gives great piece of mind.
 
In a real world test the Morningstar outpreformed all comers, but they were only 1-2% better than the others in the test.

The others were the Midnight Classic and the Outback

All 3 were designed in America!

2 of them were manufactured here!
Can you post evidence of a morningstar performing better than the others? And specifically why it performed better?
 
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