EAsun 80a MPPT SCC Unboxing.

[Mattb4]

Just got in my EAsun 80 amp SCC from China today. I got it off Aliexpress for $132 with $12 off. It took about 2 weeks to arrive. I am going to use it to replace a MakeSkyBlue 30a MPPT that I am using for my second PV array feeding my battery bank. I presently have 4- 200w panels in a 2S2P arrangement but will be adding another 400w in the next week or so. Since the MSB was limited to 30a it was slightly overpaneled with the 800w and would not handle going to 1200w for full production. Thus the new SCC.

Looks pretty nice from preliminary look over. I like the good solid terminals to wire PV and battery to and the overall design of the SCC. It is about twice the size of the MSB SCC. Will update the review as I get operation data and experience. For now here is some unboxing photos.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Is it actually three stage or is it two stage? I have an older version that only allows a single voltage, so you get CC/CV but no float.

 

[Mattb4]

 

[Mattb4]

Put this into service this morning with the rising sun. Have to say that I am not a big fan of the programing setup. It appears to get confused if you are not careful and requires a complete power off and change of battery types to allow reset of values. The indication for wattage is also another thing I am not a fan of because it is 0.0 kw and not watt. This means that you do not get a good readout for less 100w amounts. I also note that battery charge percentage is hopeless wrong. It indicates 100% but my batteries are around 70% this morning. Does not seem to affect charging from PV though as the amperage indication shows. Voltage indication seems spot on to my meter and my AIO indications. Amperage also seems to track with what my DC clamp on meter is indicating.

One issue with my lithium 24 vote system is understanding what the setting #6 BST_R charge* Voltage does. It is by default set to 13.2 (26.4 actual for the 24v battery). I am leaving it at this value for the moment. I also note that when operating as Li battery type in the settings it does not give the LRV or LDV charge volt (set 7 and 8). They only seem to come into play for lead acid (not Gel) batteries. The booklet does not explain what these are.

Will watch it as the day progresses to see how it does.

ETA: Reached CV at just after 12:30pm. I need to get more loads. The unit seem to do a good job of producing watts from the 800w worth of panels with a high reached of about 600w before batteries being charged up reached voltage. So far so good. My Boost settings are 28.4v which is the default value. My AIO at 28.6v setting is doing the top off. BTW the fans never ran and the temperature seem to max at around 32C

For the fun of it I turned on my 120vAC- 2000w water heater and it did better than I expected to run it even with around 200w of house loads. Sure improved the power factor. The new MPPT seem to cycle fine and output around 650w. I only ran for 15 minutes to see how it did because I am not wanting to strain the 3kw AIO. I am doing a upgraded setup once I get in my additional panels and wiring in the spare AIO for things like the water heater.

* On reading another Thread concerning SCC someone mention Boost recovery voltage. This is what the setting I was not sure of may be. The voltage that boost charging begins again after reaching absorption charge level.

 

[Mattb4]

Now that the second day of observing this SCC has reached the full battery charge point of settings (about 1pm) I can give my preliminary review of the unit and some things I figured out.

This a very basic charge controller that can make a handy second PV array supply to a common battery bank. The MPPT in it does a good job of keeping maximum PV output with changing sun, clouds and shadow. It runs cool (large well vented case) at least at the amperage I subjected it to (~30a is about what the 800w of solar panels can produce). As noted yesterday the kw reading is less than ideal and it probably would be handy to wire in a shunt and meter on the PV input. I also note that the amp output reading begins to diverge from my clamp on meter's reading as amount of PV increases. It reads lower than the clamp on by .2a at around 20a point.

It does not respond well to altering from the default battery type voltage settings for boost, recovery or float. I ended up with some strange readouts like 7v and 32v instead of multiples of 12v as per manual. This required a power down and restart, plus battery type change briefly to reset. It does allow picking the types of battery and the common voltage (12,24,36, 48v) or can auto select battery voltage. I am guessing the settings #7 LRV and #8 LDV translate to Low recovery voltage and Low disconnect voltage. These seems to be a remnant of a program for a different SCC that has load terminals that this unit does not provide. They can be ignored in my estimation.

So my conclusion? It works. But do not expect it be in same caliber as a major name SCC.