Astounded!

CommanderDave said:

What the mppt controller does is takes the excess voltage over your charging voltage and converts it also to amps.

Click to expand...

Wait, so my PWM charge controller just wastes the extra volts as heat?

Then I might get a bit more watts from my solar panels if I use a buck convertor to convert the panels 18v output to 14vdc before it gets to the charge controller, which would have the effect of increasing the amps also.

bulrush said:

Wait, so my PWM charge controller just wastes the extra volts as heat?

Then I might get a bit more watts from my solar panels if I use a buck convertor to convert the panels 18v output to 14vdc before it gets to the charge controller, which would have the effect of increasing the amps also.

Click to expand...

A PWM doesn't convert it to heat, it pulls the panel down to the battery voltage so the power never gets generated by the panel.
An MPPT uses a DC to DC converter to transform the higher panel volts to the lower battery volts, which is exactly what you're describing...just get the MPPT and you're done.