BZ Products Charge Controller MPPT500

[Mountainwaves]

Is anyone familiar with the MPPT500 charge controller from BZ Products? I have 2 and one died after about 12 years use. The company seems to be nolonger in business, no service at phone number and website nolonger up. The one that died was nolonger charging the battery bank. I had a spare and replaced it. The spare works but it "clicks" every second, a relay I assume, and is driving me mad. Any help fixing the first one and adjusting the second one to stop clicking is appreciated. thx

 

[snoobler]

Welcome to the forum.

While they may have been a good product at the time, IMHO, they are kinda turds compared to the cheaper options available. Personally, I would replace it.

They are limited to 500W at 48V and lower for lower voltages.

Depending on your available solar and your battery voltage, most of the SCC Will recommends on this page would likely be a superior product:

DIY Off Grid Solar Charge Controllers

Building a vehicle mounted solar power system? Let me help.

www.mobile-solarpower.com

Not the answer you're looking for, but probably the best answer. Based on those specs, MPPT have improved dramatically since 2008.

 

[Mountainwaves]

Nope, that's a good answer. Already been looking at Renogy. I'll order through your page.

Oh yes, I've got 500 Watts input from the 4 panels and charging 6- 6 volt golf cart batteries in series (12V)/parallel. Probably the 40 Amp will do the trick. I'm in Canada though. Pricing and shipping is always a bitch.

thx Dwight

 

[Mountainwaves]

$169 for 40 amp unit and $200 shipping!!!

gotta look elsewhere.

 

[snoobler]

Glad you were already tuned into it.

Will also recommends the EPEVER units. Those are available on amazon.ca and may be more tolerable from a shipping perspective.

Amazon.ca

 

[Mountainwaves]

Thx! Description says "Gel Flooded Sealed Lithium Battery" but bullet point says compatible with lead acid batteries so I assume it's good for that. 6 AWG wire connectors. I assume they are screw down connectors? $189 Cdn and free delivery to Amazon Prime customers! I would prefer to order Canadian or USA product but hey ...

I'm ordering now.
Many thanks Dwight

 

[snoobler]

Gel, flooded and sealed are all types of lead acid.

Are your panels in a 2S2P array?

 

[Mountainwaves]

They are 4 in series but I could reconfigure if you advise. Two are Mitsubishi 110W and two are bp solar 125W.

 

[snoobler]

Can you send a picture of the labels or the model numbers?

Those panels in 4S are likely sabotaging the 125W panels and making them perform like the 110W panels.

4S may also be dangerously close to the 100V PV input limit on the controller especially considering you're in the frozen tundra. The BZ units might have been more tolerant.

I suspect a 2S2P with the like panels in series:



Might enable you to snag most of the 30W.

If you send me Voc, Vmp, Isc and Imp on the panels, I can be sure.

 

[Mountainwaves]

You could be right about the 4S voltage limit. Perhaps that is what killed the first controller although it had been working fine for 10+ years

Pics sent

 

[snoobler]

Extreme cold can cause substantial voltage increase. Repeatedly tickling or going over the limit is probably not the best idea. It could just be that it's 12 years old, and it was just its time.

 

[Mountainwaves]

Pics didn't go.

Mitsubshi
VOC: 21.2V
VMP: 17.1V
Isc: 7.16A
Imp: 6.43A

bp solar
VOC: 22.0V
Vmp: 17.4
Isc: 8.1
Imp: 7.2A

2 of each

 

[snoobler]

Hmm. Those are pretty close, but you can see the difference in the Imp.

The BP were being forced to output no more current than the Mitsubishi @ 6.43A. That's a 0.77A difference, or 10.8%. That means the 125W panels were running closer to 125W * (1 - 10.8%) = 111.5W. Not a huge deal, but that 30 extra watts might mean you could run a laptop for a couple hours longer.

Their Vmp are very close, so it's unlikely you'd experience more than about 1% penalty (less than 5W) in the 2S2P config I sketched above.

It's like a free 25W of panel power.

 

[Mountainwaves]

And given that we only get a coupe of hours on the panels in the dead of winter and battery output is so low in -25C I could use all those extra watts! So, 2S2P is the way to go.

Many thanks Much appreciated.

Here is the cabin: www.lonewolfforest.com

You can see the panels in the view from the log sauna. They used to be up on the pole until a big wind started whipping them about. I got them down safely and they haven't moved since

 

[snoobler]

Very nice place.



Yeah, I can see that's not an ideal spot. Nice angle though. Can you move them to more favorable exposure?

I'm spoiled because I have 3kW on top of a shipping container in AZ with essentially no potential for shading.

 

[lew]

Is anyone familiar with the MPPT500 charge controller from BZ Products? I have 2 and one died after about 12 years use. The company seems to be nolonger in business, no service at phone number and website nolonger up. The one that died was nolonger charging the battery bank. I had a spare and replaced it. The spare works but it "clicks" every second, a relay I assume, and is driving me mad. Any help fixing the first one and adjusting the second one to stop clicking is appreciated. thx

Good news: just bought (amazon) Renogy Rover 60A charge controller.Its a beast, good contacts, huge heat sink. Bt works great.

bad news: auto detect 48v and charges ok i think, but displayed parameters are 12v WTF. How can I get the parameters to sync
with the bank voltage? Waiting on Renogy for help.

Thanks, Lew

 

[lew]

Good news: just bought (amazon) Renogy Rover 60A charge controller.Its a beast, good contacts, huge heat sink. Bt works great.

bad news: auto detect 48v and charges ok i think, but displayed parameters are 12v WTF. How can I get the parameters to sync
with the bank voltage? Waiting on Renogy for help.

Thanks, Lew

Just in!
The parameters are based on 12V system settings. Parameters are multiplied by 2 for 24V systems, multiplied by 3 for 36V systems, and multiplied by 4 for 48V systems.

For example:

The boost voltage for flooded will show 14.6V. But, in reality, it is 58.4V as long as your charge controller is set up to 48V.

I don't know about this. LiFePO4 on the way. Can I trust X4 if I change from FLA to Li?

Lew (I may have to rename myself!)

 

[Mountainwaves]

Very nice place.

View attachment 36750

Yeah, I can see that's not an ideal spot. Nice angle though. Can you move them to more favorable exposure?

I'm spoiled because I have 3kW on top of a shipping container in AZ with essentially no potential for shading.

Unfortunately we are in a valley. The best place is on the lake. I thought of skidding them out on the ice in the winter lol. Might do that yet. Lots of power in the summer. Alternately I will put them in a verticle stack and raise them again in the same spot.
used to visit Arizona a lot many years ago. Hiking and rock climbing up mount Lemon was great! Enjoy and thanks for the help