PowMr are still ripoff, beware.

[DestroyFX]

It came to my attention that many people still buy PowMr SCC products.
The Charge controllers they make are ripoff of MakeSkyBlue brand.

PowMr old charge controller (just PowMr 60A on aliexpress, does look like the makeskyblue except it have a green label instead of orange):
Dangerous, can catch on fire. Also sport the old makeskyblue V113 firmware. (it have issue on which it stop charging sometime, kind of reset issue. That issue has been corrected on most recent makeskyblue firmware that PowMr could not copy)

PowMr new charge controller. PowMr M60-Pro. That unit look almost identical to the makeskyblue on the inside but does have a new more modern look on the outside. I think it still feature a old makeskyblue firmware as it seam to still experience that issue of stopping charging. Need more research (and if someone have a M60 unit that is not being used, I would like to get a dump of the firmware to confirm what it is exactly)

Here an actual MakeSkyBlue 60A (Mine actually)


Here is PowMr new (left) and old (right) ripoff of the MakeSkyBlue charge controller

 

[FLD]

I have the MakeSkyBlue 60A V118 scc and I can't say a single bad thing about it. Before buying it I did some research on the PowMr and I wasn't impressed by the reviews. The MakeSkyBlue unit, by and large, had good reviews on it's performance but people noted that the screw terminals were a bit on the cheap side, which I'd agree with.
I wanted the MakeSkyBlue 60A V119 but Amazon had a smoking deal on the 60A V118 unit. Being a bit of a cheapskate, and as this was my first MPPT controller, I jumped at the $98 V118 unit.
I've seriously abused it (requiring a couple of solder repairs at the screw terminals) and it just keeps doing an admirable job. I should have bought two controllers instead of just one as they have a max 720 watt input each and I'll have 760 watts soon.
FYI, it's part of my camper's 500ah (one 300ah, two 100ah) lifepo4 battery/SunGoldPower 12-volt 3000 watt inverter-charger/twin 190-watt solar panel system. I have two more 190-watt panels to be installed soon, for a total of 760 watts on the roof in 2S2P configuration. With the panels all being flat mounted, hopefully the over-panelled charge controller will keep on chugging away.
I couldn't be happier with this system, especially the MakeSkyBlue 60A controller.

 

[BradCagle]

Yup!

I did a video on their new offering, which clearly looks like a current model MakeSkyBlue on the inside. Except the interface sucks, and I could not even figure out how to configure anything.

 

[DestroyFX]

I do have two V119, 60A, 48V unit.
I have nothing bad to say about these, especially for the price I paid.

Using only one for now but well, I paid 80$ for both on discount on Aliexpress.
For MakeSkyBlue unit, always buy them on the official aliexpress store (there are so many fake).

To know if you have a legit unit, you can look inside the right side vent to look for the "MakeSkyBlue" silkscreen on the PCB. Fakes don't have that.

 

[BradCagle]

I do have two V119, 60A, 48V unit.
I have nothing bad to say about these, especially for the price I paid.

Using only one for now but well, I paid 80$ for both on discount on Aliexpress.
For MakeSkyBlue unit, always buy them on the official aliexpress store (there are so many fake).

To know if you have a legit unit, you can look inside the right side vent to look for the "MakeSkyBlue" silkscreen on the PCB. Fakes don't have that.

On the legit MSB unit, can you set the battery voltage, therefor not relying on the autodetect function?
Also does it really do 60A?

 

[DestroyFX]

On the legit MSB unit, can you set the battery voltage, therefor not relying on the autodetect function?
Also does it really do 60A?

Yes, they don't have "autodetect" AFAIK
And yes, I did set the voltage myself

If I plug my 48v unit on 24V, it have a small "fault" with a battery icon flashing on the screen

 

[BradCagle]

Yes, they don't have "autodetect" AFAIK
And yes, I did set the voltage myself

If I plug my 48v unit on 24V, it have a small "fault" with a battery icon flashing on the screen

Thanks. Have you actually charged a battery at 60A with it?

 

[DestroyFX]

Thanks. Have you actually charged a battery at 60A with it?

So far I go at 39-40A when I get sun and good ray scattering clouds (with is most of the days now as we are approaching the monsoon.
On clear skies, I stay at about 33A from noon-ish to 4pm

 

[DestroyFX]

I don't plan to go to 60A, at that point if I add panels I will begin to load the second unit I have, I don't want to run them to the floor to stay on the safe side. I might add a little extra load to maybe stay at 40A for normal clear sky and keep the extra 20A for ray scattering.

 

[DestroyFX]

Thanks. Have you actually charged a battery at 60A with it?

Would you mind dumping you're PowMr M60-PRO EEPROM?
As I know you got one and I don't think you are going to be using it. I'd like to know what they use for firmware.
Could be the top right, 8 legged chip. Can't see from the pictures

 

[BradCagle]

So far I go at 39-40A when I get sun and good ray scattering clouds (with is most of the days now as we are approaching the monsoon.
On clear skies, I stay at about 33A from noon-ish to 4pm

Got ya. I've seen a lot of videos showing these to really only hit 40a (verified by clamp meter), while the display lies, and says higher. Now granted those were old videos, the newer version may work correctly. Also I guess there's the chance those were fake knockoff controllers.

 

[BradCagle]

Would you mind dumping you're PowMr M60-PRO EEPROM?
As I know you got one and I don't think you are going to be using it. I'd like to know what they use for firmware.
Could be the top right, 8 legged chip. Can't see from the pictures

I would dump it, however I sent that crap back. Amazon prime!

 

[dddsolar]

I recently got the powmr 60A unit. It seems to be well built and I like the large heatsink fanless design. The problem was the user manual. While the English sentence structure is OK ( thanks to Google I'm sure ) the content is lacking. They don't make it clear that the voltages you can set are all based on multiples of 12 . I am using Lithium Ion cells so the auto setting it does is no good and maybe dangerous as well. I finally figured out that the 'USR' setting is where I need to be, and under that there are 4 voltages to set. Mixed in there are some wet lead acid terminology but I managed to set thing up using a 4X multiplier for target voltages. I am using 13s and want to keep the max volts at 4.1 per cell. The next thing I want to determine is if it does proper MPPT searching. I'm also finding that it over reports the wattage by maybe 20%.
Does anyone know what the "Cxx.x" reading is? It is user settable but it changes to other numbers by itself. Seems to show the pack voltage but not exactly and there is already a pack voltage readout. Again not explained in user manual.

 

[oskare2345]

Does anyone know what the "Cxx.x" reading is?

It is battery voltage calibration - connect stabilised power supply to battery input and set Cxx.x value same as supply voltage.

 

[bigbank]

Yup!

I did a video on their new offering, which clearly looks like a current model MakeSkyBlue on the inside. Except the interface sucks, and I could not even figure out how to configure anything.

Excellent youtube video you made Brad. My PowMr controller just stopped charging today. I'm in France and experiencing a heatwave but lots of sunshine and yesterday was producing 175Watts which is a record. The controller was getting warm and my Studer AJ 275/12 inverter switched on its internal fan at 35 degrees c. So I turned on an external fan to cool the machines down and that was done in a few minutes during which I turned off an electric fridge which consumes about 50 Watts.
This PowMr has a useless manual as they don't say how to work through the settings, nor any info about what the symbols mean. I came across this site in my attempt to find out how to reset this PowMr so that it charges again. Everything on it seems to be "working" if that is what you call the various numbers that come up on the screen. What they mean is unclear. For 3 months I have just been using the first two buttons, well the left one lets us know the PV voltage and then how many watts are being consumed. The next button seems to indicate battery state but perhaps it is not being explained in the manual so that they can claim that you made the wrong settings. I wrote to them immediately after getting this to ask why they advised NOT to connect to an inverter when this is the purpose of getting this in the first place, but after three months I have still nto got a reply.

I am using a lawnmower battery of 5kg 12V as I just need it to keep the system running and do not use ANY stored power but reply simply on the sunshine alone.

If someone has any idea how to reset this I would be glad to hear - is there an internal fuse? Or should I just send this back as it is not more than 3 months old bought through ebay?

 

[bigbank]

The PowMr 6oA is working again. I disconnected the panels, the load (to which we are advised NOT to connect to a load) has been disconnected since this problem arose. Then I disconnected the battery and tried pushing buttons. Eventually randomly and holding the set button etc and all I could achieve was to change a value of 24hr down through the numbers to even zero, but that did nothing. I left the controller unpowered for several seconds and noticed on the screen that the moon was lit. I traced the fault to a 12v power socket connected to the battery with "Koss" plugs or "standard" rubbish car plugs which have annoyed people for decades since they are fastened only by using a pressure pliers which sometimes breaks the plug into two or it does not fasten properly and the wires come out randomly. With a "professional" pressure pliers I thought I had solved this problem, but today found that the power socket giving my phone energy was on the blink. Depending on what angle it was set the phone got power. So the auto industry with their rubbish connectors were to blame. The cables seemed to be tight enough but something internally in the 12v power adapter to USB may be the source of the fault.
So to recap - the "problem" was perhaps an intermittent battery - connected to the phone. I set this in a position in which the blue light of the double USB socket was illuminated - disconnected the power drain (my phone - through which I connect to internet) and then since the PowMr had a "stable" battery power, on reconnecting the solar panels to the controller the "moon" icon was gone and a sunshine icon was in its place and this PowMr is again working - at least charging the battery.
With a microscope it is easy to read the label on one of the screen indicators and it had been 72 for some time when not operating correctly. Then it was 3 for some time and now it is 4.0 "work mode". How these numbers appear seems little more than random and how to make the moon symbol change to sunshine I have no idea. Fiddle around for two or three hours seems to be the best solution and you can be happy you saved yourself 100 euros or dollars but had to invest time and get frustration because these makers simply did not care if users were not informed how to use the four buttons on this nasty piece of equipment.
The battery is charging but my next test will be to get some power out of the setup so that everything in the fridge does not go bad. Beer takes a while to go off but the meat and dairy products are difficult since with an ambient temperature of 31˚c (option+k for the degree sign on a German keyboard but set to American characters and no one in the world uses Farrenshite except those still stuck in the 19th century) they do suffer. So I'll go search for a cathedral where I can cool down now and take some weed to calm me down then later come back and maybe have a cool beer.
No one responded to this but I appreciate that it (DIY solar forum.com) actually exists and that there are some of you out there who DO make an attempt to get round the nasty barriers which are set up to stop us getting independence from the nasty establishment which surrounds us.
I probably won't be back here unless something else goes wrong and then will be glad to answer questions now that I am an expert on repairing solar panel set ups ;-)

 

[bigbank]

So I am back as after thinking it was working fine I left it with no load to fully charge the battery and came back to see it is back in the original not charging mode. I have made out a large chart to try to work out all the different modes in which this controller may be found.
The display shows in this no charging situation the warning symbol and the number 71 where it reverts to 3.0 when no PV is attached and when the PV is attached back to 71 and the moon symbol.
There is a 24 hour setting in almost all modes which can be brought down to 0 but that is not helpful since there is no internal clock to be found against which this would have relevance. Uploading now is an image of the present no charging situation. Perhaps someone here is wiser and can suggest what to do besides throw this in the bin!

 

[bigbank]

Can't believe it. After disconnecting the PV about ten times today I then just touched one wire to the controller to see exactly what came on and off as I did it. Suddenly it was operating! It went to charging and in work mode 4.0 I have 36V from the PV and 16 Watts going into the battery. I'll enclose yet another image as the first one I uploaded showing the error state did not appear here. (using an macbookair and in "preview" I can export the image reducing its size from 5MB to 2MB. I did this three times and each time it remains at 5MB so uploading will take ten minutes (French internet access remains 1990 style although I have ordered glass fibre for next week - apparently it is no better but more expensive......).
Is there someone else out there who does not accept this trash that we pay money for?

 

[bigbank]

Well it charged for ten minutes and on checking I see it is back to failure state. Trash, nothing to be done with this crap. Return to maker and enclose the pitiful "manual" which we all agree is almost worthless. Expose these people from Shenzehn HEHEJIN industrial Co., Ltd CHINA, they have failed us all and deserve no more time wasted on their nasty products. Ebay, come and sort this out, I want my money back!

 

[JRH]

To each his own in life , BUT……I am amazed reading the countless problems , over and over and over people seem to have dealing with these offshore companys , getting scammed , getting poor products and poor customer service , ( if any at all) . Why do people keep doing this..? In this age of online Amazon prime, Walmart , Costco and many others right here in America and in their city, why.?
With all the ease of return ,customer benefits ,price match guaranty’s and everything else we have right here ,why would anyone put them selves through this self induced product anxiety.

One can’t make new money ,if one is chasing old money…

buy good , buy once , live happy.
jus saying,
jim..