Budget MPPT recommendation - Epever BN 40A 150V - was Eco-Worthy 60A 150V MPPT

[AlpineJoe]

Updating the firmware to Victron firmware along with its accompanying hardware.

Your units definitely need to be dealt with.

I'm still having no issues with my 4215bns. Today I tested the Victron 24/1200 inverter at its highest setting by having my EV set to 10A of charge limit instead of 5A to see if it could handle it. It did but the alarm LED was on. After a few minutes, I set the car back to the 5A limit. During the 10A test though, most of the energy was coming from my panels as combined the EPevers were doing about 980W which isn't bad for the time of day, and that the panels are flat mounted.

That said, I did finally hook up my Victron 150/45 SCC and moved the larger panel bank over to it. So now I have 1 Epever hooked to a small PV bank (725W) and the Victron on the larger bank (1.5KW). Again, both banks are flat mounted, and the shading comes on early thanks to my neighbors large shrubs near the fence line, and his property is 3 feet higher than mine. And then there's the darn power line casting a shadow really early. I need more property and less neighbors. . . . . I've only seen a max of 1.2KW for both these panel banks together.

Early afternoon when I did move the large bank from the Epever to the Victron, I actually saw a little less power from the Victron. The Victron hunts continuously it seems. Really noisy graph for the current going to the battery. This was with heavy shadows though, so useful power production was low (< 100W). Tomorrow will be the test to see if the Victron will actually make more power than the Epevers.

For the now 'extra' Epever, I moved an un-used 225W 24V panel up on the roof and connected it. Sunday I'm going to buy some more panels as I don't have enough PVs yet to handle what I've offloaded from the the house AND to put another 2KWh into my EV daily.

 

[Crowz]

I tested one my 4215bn's today messing around with panel location. Its was quite cold here today but still the output was very surprising.

The panel is a rich solar 200watt I had with these specs :

pmax 200w

vmp 37.6v

imp 5.32a

voc 45.4v

isc 5.83a

The 4215bn was able to pop up to 10.something amps and then settled into 8.5 amps which was wild with it rated at 5.32 amps.

Not bad.

 

[Kiwi2000]

MPPT will move amps and voltage around to get the highest wattage possible.

It's the amount of watts that count from a particular panel or array.

 

[AlpineJoe]

First day with the Victron 150/45 connected to the 1.5KW PV array. If it is doing a better job, I cannot tell yet. The peak amps is about what I've seen on the Epever. The width of the curve/area under the curve looks about the same too. One difference I see is that the Victon is continually and noticeably looking for a better MPPT point. The current output is noisy as it does this searching, and is even seen in the Smart Shunt graphs. Also, every 10 mins the Victron output drops and then a new MPPT point is found that might be very different from what it was before. I think this is how it doesn't get stuck in a local maximum. You can see this easily on the right side of today's graph.

Unfortunately the Epevers don't have graphing capabilities. I also added 2 panels I had lying around to my setup so I cannot compare the daily production pre/post VIctron SCC using the smart shunt.

 

[Kiwi2000]

The Victron price drop reached New Zealand so I went ahead and got a 150/100 SCC as well. Now my lounge system's 3 strings all have Victron SCC's. 2800 watts PV total available.

At least now I'm confident that whenever the light allows and the battery bank isn't fully charged yet or I'm running a load, that the SCC's will be pulling in every watt that they can.

 

[pollenface]

Arrgh! I'm now leaning towards NOT getting the Eco Worthy as I don't like the fan. Would rather have something that is passively cooled for longevity. The Epever BN 40A series looks interesting and industrial.

I got all passive ones and put computer fans behind them ?

 

[AlpineJoe]

I got all passive ones and put computer fans behind them ?

My epevers and Victron 150/45 are all doing well with just the passive cooling.

 

[pollenface]

My epevers and Victron 150/45 are all doing well with just the passive cooling.

But I'm an old pc nerd who likes putting fans on everything

 

[AlpineJoe]

But I'm an old pc nerd who likes putting

Remember when fans used to SCREAM on pcs? So glad they figured out that that was NOT what we wanted. Long live large, slow turning fans.

BTW, I might try and add a fan to my panels. They're flat mounted other than spaced off the surface only 1.5" using 80-20 extrusions. I'm seeing max solar production drop during full sun likely from the panels getting too hot.

 

[AF_Bob]

I'm starting to put my off grid setup together finally. Looking to peel off ~ 200W of 24/7 power consumption, and have a power source if we have any planned or unplanned power shutdowns.

My system will be 24V with LiFePO4 batteries that total up to about 400AH of storage.

I'm going to feed this with 6 qty REC Solar 250W panels (Voc is 37.4V, Vmpp 30.7V, Impp 8.3A) in a 3 series, 2 parallel setup.

This is the controller I was looking to get. https://www.ebay.com/itm/275555190008
ECO-WORTHY 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller 12/24/36/48V DC Input

The max input voltage is higher than the 3 series connection, and the 60A on paper is enough.

Any reason I shouldn't get this SCC?

Edit: now looking at the Epever BN series, 150V input 40A output as I don't want a fan.

Both solar charge controllers should work based on the voltage and current. Your 3 panels in series = ~92V @8.3A and when you put another series string in parallel with that, you'll have ~92V @ 16.6A, which equals ~1,500 watts. Your PV voltage and current will be under the maximum listed for both of the solar charge controllers you listed.

 

[MrPutz]

Just an update on the EPEVER BN model. I've installed about 8 of the AN models and thought the BN with its higher panel voltage rating and larger heat sinks would be a better choice. WRONG! The BN model overnight will lose its panel voltage and display it incorrectly. If I shut off/on the solar panel breaker then it reads correctly. I've contacted EPEVER and they ran me through the mill with pics, videos, etc... but then refuse to admit the unit has an issue. I'm going to replace the BN with a Victron I think and move away from EPEVER after this 3 month experience with their support guy, Fred Zhao. I've attached pics of the MT-50 showing panel voltage before and after cycling the solar panel breaker. My system is two 300w panels in series charging 300ah of lithium's.

 

[Crowz]

Just an update on the EPEVER BN model. I've installed about 8 of the AN models and thought the BN with its higher panel voltage rating and larger heat sinks would be a better choice. WRONG! The BN model overnight will lose its panel voltage and display it incorrectly. If I shut off/on the solar panel breaker then it reads correctly. I've contacted EPEVER and they ran me through the mill with pics, videos, etc... but then refuse to admit the unit has an issue. I'm going to replace the BN with a Victron I think and move away from EPEVER after this 3 month experience with their support guy, Fred Zhao. I've attached pics of the MT-50 showing panel voltage before and after cycling the solar panel breaker. My system is two 300w panels in series charging 300ah of lithium's.

There was another member that had an issue and got a firmware update that fixed it. Do a search on here for it and if you can get that I imagine it will solve your problem. Mine are very old with the original firmware and do not have problems like that.

 

[AlpineJoe]

Just an update on the EPEVER BN model. I've installed about 8 of the AN models and thought the BN with its higher panel voltage rating and larger heat sinks would be a better choice. WRONG! The BN model overnight will lose its panel voltage and display it incorrectly. If I shut off/on the solar panel breaker then it reads correctly. I've contacted EPEVER and they ran me through the mill with pics, videos, etc... but then refuse to admit the unit has an issue. I'm going to replace the BN with a Victron I think and move away from EPEVER after this 3 month experience with their support guy, Fred Zhao. I've attached pics of the MT-50 showing panel voltage before and after cycling the solar panel breaker. My system is two 300w panels in series charging 300ah of lithium's.

Fred Zhao is the one that gave me new FW for my BN and fixed that problem. Haven't had an issue for many many months, with cloudy rainy days even. Solid performance.

 

[MrPutz]

Crowz/AlpineJoe, appreciate the info. I've worked with Fred for months and he never offered that solution? I asked the issue to be escalated to his management and now working with Bianca Chen. The first thing she asked was a pic of the label on the controller to confirm the firmware version of the TracerBN, I just sent that tonight and now waiting a reply.

 

[AlpineJoe]

Crowz/AlpineJoe, appreciate the info. I've worked with Fred for months and he never offered that solution? I asked the issue to be escalated to his management and now working with Bianca Chen. The first thing she asked was a pic of the label on the controller to confirm the firmware version of the TracerBN, I just sent that tonight and now waiting a reply.

Any update? Does the serial number sticker on your 4215BM say Li-Ion on it?