Good pwm charger ?

[Adrian R]

I want to install a solar panel of 30Vmp 400 watt on the roof of my Mercedes Vito van, and I need a good pwm charger that I can buy from AliExpress, preferably from EU warehouse, for my 24v lifepo4 battery.

One that I can set manually.

Can you please recommend such a controller? Max 20-30A charging current.

I don't want an mppt charger because I would need 2 solar panels wired in series for mppt and I only want to use one.

Thank you.

 

[HarryN]

Bogart engineering SC 2030.

Don't bother with the others.

Just as an example, today I have a friend coming over to swap out their renogy pwm controller. It came with the van she purchased and it is doing something weird and dangerous. I could almost run a business on swapping out failed chinese pwm controllers.

High Efficiency Solar Charger Controller

Compact, powerful efficient, smart solar charger controller for RV. Use with 12V & 24V solar panels. Gel, AGM, lead acid, lithium LFP. WiFi monitoring capable

www.bogartengineering.com

The Trimetric Shop

RV & Off-grid Battery Monitors, Solar Charger, WiFi Remote, Victron BMV, Renogy, AiLi, Lithium LFP, Charge Controller, shunt, smartshunt, mppt, pwm, agm, sulfation, battery monitoring, RV, off-grid, house battery, Trimetric, efficient solar charger, lithium battery, peukert, BMS

shop.bogartengineering.com

 

[Adrian R]

thank you. I live in Europe, customs tax alone would make it very expensive
i have been using Chinese mppt controllers for years and they only have a 1-2 watt consumption and they are running just fine, at a fraction of the price of the recommended controller which I am sure it is a very good one. I only need to find a pwm one. I appreciate the advice

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

thank you. I live in Europe, customs tax alone would make it very expensive
i have been using Chinese mppt controllers for years and they only have a 1-2 watt consumption and they are running just fine, at a fraction of the price of the recommended controller which I am sure it is a very good one. I only need to find a pwm one. I appreciate the advice

Edit .

Wat for panel you are using ?
Set model type and name or a picture.

A lot of pwm do not support lipo4
So far i know and i have one .
Is a victron that have custom setting so you can adjust to lipo4

For the rest you can use a mppt on a 30 volt panel with a 24 volt battery .
It will charge the battery .

VS-BN Series(10~60A) PWM Charge Controller

VS-BN is a PWM charge controller with an LCD and RS485 communication interface. It's applied to small power systems, mobile lighting, etc.

www.epever.com

This model you can Program

The victron charger pwm

BlueSolar PWM Charge Controller (DUO) LCD & USB - Victron Energy

BlueSolar PWM-LCD&USB LCD schermTwee 5 Volt USB-uitgangen Lichtregelingsfunctie, volledig programmeerbaar Drietraps acculaden (bulk, absorptie,...

www.victronenergy.nl

See attach file you see support lipo4

More info how things work explain by other forum user .
Part out of his reaction.

First, there are some misconceptions to clear up. No, you do not use a 24V solar panel to charge a 24V battery. Panels commonly "called" 24V typically put out ~30-37V. Your typical 24V battery is NOT charged at 24V, but 28-30V.

Charge controller needs more clarity

Charge controller needs more clarity I’m looking at the all-in-one 24 v charge/inverter and the 24v LifePo4 power battery unit. - (My system has to look net and clean or my wife will not let my install one) The question I have with respect to the solar panel, does the output voltage (pv) need...

diysolarforum.com

 

[mikefitz]

for my 24v lifepo4 battery.

PWM pulse current charging is possibility not good for your lithium battery. Every PWM charger I have tested had poor control of charging profile and over charged the battery.
A more ideal setup would be to consider a panel or series panel pair with max power volts at 36 volts or higher and use a MPPT controler. Victron Smart MPPT needs battery volts plus 5 volts to start up and battery volts plus 1 to stay running.
Example for a suitable panel,

https://www.bimblesolar.com/perlight-415w-solar-panel

 

[Adrian R]

Thank you for all the info. Probably I will go with Epever or Victron

 

[fratermus]

PWM pulse current charging is possibility not good for your lithium battery. Every PWM charger I have tested had poor control of charging profile and over charged the battery.

This would be a function of the implementation and not an intrinsic limitation of PWM, right?

 

[Crowz]

I use these for my pwm needs :

Amazon.com

$39 and SUPER reliable from my experience. The one charging the cars in the yard at this house is 8 years old and its the newest one I have.

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

Thank you for all the info. Probably I will go with Epever or Victron

Here is the info for the epever.
You see user can adjust
See attach files

 

[Adrian R]

I use these for my pwm needs :

Amazon.com

$39 and SUPER reliable from my experience. The one charging the cars in the yard at this house is 8 years old and its the newest one I have.

Can you set manually bulk charge voltage for this Amazon controller? I need 28v for Lifepo4, 8s configuration

 

[Crowz]

I didn't catch you were planning on using it to do lifepo4's. I use it on lead acid batteries in my vehicles.

I use epever 4215bn's which are mppt controllers for my small lifepo4 batteries. I have a sungold 48v that runs the house.

So the epever 4215bn's or a victron controller would be my recommendation. I would probably have to say a victron with bluetooth interface(allows using your phone to set it up and control it) is the way to go since you have to buy displays or use a cable and a laptop to program the 4215bn's.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

In 2024, the only good PWM charger is a dead PWM charger.

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

I didn't catch you were planning on using it to do lifepo4's. I use it on lead acid batteries in my vehicles.

I use epever 4215bn's which are mppt controllers for my small lifepo4 batteries. I have a sungold 48v that runs the house.

So the epever 4215bn's or a victron controller would be my recommendation. I would probably have to say a victron with bluetooth interface(allows using your phone to set it up and control it) is the way to go since you have to buy displays or use a cable and a laptop to program the 4215bn's.

Victron pwm do not have a bluetooth systeem.
But you can set it by menu on the controller.
I have a victron pwm dual version for my lead start battery from the boat (with a 25watt 18volt solar panel) (2 Battery)

The epever model i have select its the same way .
Only support on the display or with a mt50 controller. (No bluetooth support)

So really the best choice to go for.

 

[Crowz]

In 2024, the only good PWM charger is a dead PWM charger.

I still think pwm is the way to go for cars. Its just safer.

Mppt see's lead acid and thinks lunch

Those beast must be tamed.

 

[HarryN]

Well we swapped in the Bogart for the failing Renogy controller. Also replaced some under size wires.

Using a fairly decent quality meter, I cannot see any wiggle at all in the voltage reading unless we are talking about mv kinds of things, and it was 105 F out, inside of a van, so I am not sure how steady my hands were with the probe.

 

[zanydroid]

What about a boost/buck MPPT? That should not need Vmp headroom. Those are available on AliExpress.