SanTan Solar T Series 250W & Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT

[SDovey]

I currently have 8 flooded batteries in a 12 volt (Marine) system and I'm thinking of purchasing 4 of the SanTan Solar T Series 250W panels (1kw system) for a left and right array and want to know if 2 of the Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT would work with them or if I need more powerful controlers. This will be my first solar system and any help would be appreciated.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

How are those 8 flooded batteries configured? 12V?

 

[SDovey]

Yes 12V

 

[MichaelK]

Epever makes Tracers in different amperages, don't they. I know the AN series does, but I found this one in the BN series.

40A MPPT Solar Charge Controller 12/24V SolarRegulator Tracer4215BN Lithium Cell | eBay

Tracer4215BN 40A. Max Solar Panel 1560W, multiple load mode allow you set the load on/off in different situation. 1000W MPPT Grid Tie Inverter DC24V to AC110V 50Hz/60Hz Pure Sine Wave Inverter. MPPT 1300W Grid Tie Inverter DC24V to AC220V Pure Sine Wave Inverter 50/60Hz CE.

www.ebay.com

With a 12V system, you'd need two of the controllers I identified above.
500W/13V charging = 38A.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Yep, 2X Epever Tracer-BN Series in 40A, one for each 500W array will suffice.

 

[SDovey]

That's what I was thinking, thanks. What about circuit breakers, any suggestions? Or are they only needed between the battery and load? Which is already being used. I already have a battery charger connected.

Should I install a positve and negative bus and just connect the battery charger and 2 controllers to them?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

2S arrays do not require over-current protection. The panels are essentially self-fusing.

If you want a fuse or breaker between the panels and the MPPT. Most panels specify a maximum fuse size. If that info isn't available, select one that is at least 1.25X higher than the Isc value of the panel.

You'll need a 50A fuse or breaker between the MPPT and the battery.

Size all wires in accordance with awg specs and use a voltage drop calculator (select "Estimated resistance" tab) to confirm your wire gauge/length/current scenario is acceptable.

 

[fafrd]

I currently have 8 flooded batteries in a 12 volt (Marine) system and I'm thinking of purchasing 4 of the SanTan Solar T Series 250W panels (1kw system) for a left and right array and want to know if 2 of the Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT would work with them or if I need more powerful controlers. This will be my first solar system and any help would be appreciated.

Your 1kW of Santan panels are ~10 years old, so you probably shouldn’t expect them to put out more than 900W of new panels would.

You’r unlikely to ever generate peak output exceeding 85-90% of that rating, so figure 765-810W is probably a realistic estimate of peak output levels you’ll be dealing with.

Charging a12V battery, that means you’ll need to plan for peak current levels of 64 to 68A.

A single Tracer 8420AN or 8415AN would handle your peak current without clipping or if you could accept 6% - 9% clipping losses over the highest-production ~hour of the day and get away with a single Tracer 6420AN or 6415AN.

I have a Tracer 6420AN and love it. I’ve got it connected to 1.14kW of new 380W half-cut panels and I rarely get past 30A when charging my 24V LiFePO4 battery.

Of course, if you want 2 MPPTs because you have two distinct array orientations, you have a good reason to go for 2 40A Tracer SCCs…

The AN Series supports communication between multiple SCCs to assure they are always in sync/agreement as to charge cycle, so I’d suggest you consider the newer AN Series over the older BN Series if you do decide to go with two SCCs.

 

[fafrd]

I currently have 8 flooded batteries in a 12 volt (Marine) system and I'm thinking of purchasing 4 of the SanTan Solar T Series 250W panels (1kw system) for a left and right array and want to know if 2 of the Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT would work with them or if I need more powerful controlers. This will be my first solar system and any help would be appreciated.

Even if your two ‘arrays’ are in differering orientations, it’s current that’s going to vary between them much more than voltage.

So even of 2 SCCs each connected to a 2S1P arrray may be optimal, combining the two differently-oriented 2S strings into a 2S2P input to a single 80A or 60A SCC will probably net you over 95% of the same output for lower cost and significant simplification…

 

[SDovey]

I currently have 8 flooded batteries in a 12 volt (Marine) system and I'm thinking of purchasing 4 of the SanTan Solar T Series 250W panels (1kw system) for a left and right array and want to know if 2 of the Epever Tracer-BN Series MPPT would work with them or if I need more powerful controlers. This will be my first solar system and any help would be appreciated.

Looks like they are out of stock on these panels, anyone know where else I could get them?

 

[SDovey]

Your 1kW of Santan panels are ~10 years old, so you probably shouldn’t expect them to put out more than 900W of new panels would.

You’r unlikely to ever generate peak output exceeding 85-90% of that rating, so figure 765-810W is probably a realistic estimate of peak output levels you’ll be dealing with.

Charging a12V battery, that means you’ll need to plan for peak current levels of 64 to 68A.

A single Tracer 8420AN or 8415AN would handle your peak current without clipping or if you could accept 6% - 9% clipping losses over the highest-production ~hour of the day and get away with a single Tracer 6420AN or 6415AN.

I have a Tracer 6420AN and love it. I’ve got it connected to 1.14kW of new 380W half-cut panels and I rarely get past 30A when charging my 24V LiFePO4 battery.

Of course, if you want 2 MPPTs because you have two distinct array orientations, you have a good reason to go for 2 40A Tracer SCCs…

The AN Series supports communication between multiple SCCs to assure they are always in sync/agreement as to charge cycle, so I’d suggest you consider the newer AN Series over the older BN Series if you do decide to go with two SCCs.

Thanks! Do you have a link to these AN series devices? I'd like to check them out.

 

[SDovey]

Even if your two ‘arrays’ are in differering orientations, it’s current that’s going to vary between them much more than voltage.

So even of 2 SCCs each connected to a 2S1P arrray may be optimal, combining the two differently-oriented 2S strings into a 2S2P input to a single 80A or 60A SCC will probably net you over 95% of the same output for lower cost and significant simplification…

Sorry I don't know what a 2S1P or 2S2P means...

 

[SDovey]

Your 1kW of Santan panels are ~10 years old, so you probably shouldn’t expect them to put out more than 900W of new panels would.

You’r unlikely to ever generate peak output exceeding 85-90% of that rating, so figure 765-810W is probably a realistic estimate of peak output levels you’ll be dealing with.

Charging a12V battery, that means you’ll need to plan for peak current levels of 64 to 68A.

A single Tracer 8420AN or 8415AN would handle your peak current without clipping or if you could accept 6% - 9% clipping losses over the highest-production ~hour of the day and get away with a single Tracer 6420AN or 6415AN.

I have a Tracer 6420AN and love it. I’ve got it connected to 1.14kW of new 380W half-cut panels and I rarely get past 30A when charging my 24V LiFePO4 battery.

Of course, if you want 2 MPPTs because you have two distinct array orientations, you have a good reason to go for 2 40A Tracer SCCs…

The AN Series supports communication between multiple SCCs to assure they are always in sync/agreement as to charge cycle, so I’d suggest you consider the newer AN Series over the older BN Series if you do decide to go with two SCCs.

1.14kw sounds good to me and I am not able to locate these "SanTan Solar T Series 250W" panels. Are you happy with your panels? What does half-cut mean? Are they expensive? Can you provide a link to them?

 

[rickst29]

Sorry I don't know what a 2S1P or 2S2P means...

What he meant is: attaching two panels in series with each other to each of two different Solar Controllers (Tracer BNs @ up to 40 amps each) would be roughly the same as wiring those panels pairs "2S" in Parallel before going into ONE controller, a Tracer AN @ up to 80 Amps. The slight advantage for the much-more-costly "dual-BN configuration" would only occur when the pairs are pointed in different directions, and generating power at slightly different voltages when the sunlight is more direct on one pair than the other.

fafrd's two posts are right on the money, except for one thing: Two Tracer BN4215s would cost a bit less than $400, while a single AN8415 costs almost the same amount of money. The AN models have all kinds of messages and threads with problems here at diysolar.com, such as this one: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/epever-8420an-almost-blew-up-my-batteries.10445/ while the BNs have virtually zero complaints. (My own BN has been totally reliable in accepting tuning parameters and behaving correctly, even though I subject it to sudden PV Voltage changes very frequently.) The all-aluminum cooling fins are another advantage of the 'BN' design.

If the panels will be split as two separate pairs, and the AN controller costs nearly as much money as BOTH BN controllers, why configure with a single point of failure when you can have dual controllers - maybe working even better?

 

[SDovey]

What he meant is: attaching two panels in series with each other to each of two different Solar Controllers (Tracer BNs @ up to 40 amps each) would be roughly the same as wiring those panels pairs "2S" in Parallel before going into ONE controller, a Tracer AN @ up to 80 Amps. The slight advantage for the much-more-costly "dual-BN configuration" would only occur when the pairs are pointed in different directions, and generating power at slightly different voltages when the sunlight is more direct on one pair than the other.

fafrd's two posts are right on the money, except for one thing: Two Tracer BN4215s would cost a bit less than $400, while a single AN8415 costs almost the same amount of money. The AN models have all kinds of messages and threads with problems here at diysolar.com, such as this one: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/epever-8420an-almost-blew-up-my-batteries.10445/ while the BNs have virtually zero complaints. (My own BN has been totally reliable in accepting tuning parameters and behaving correctly, even though I subject it to sudden PV Voltage changes very frequently.) The all-aluminum cooling fins are another advantage of the 'BN' design.

If the panels will be split as two separate pairs, and the AN controller costs nearly as much money as BOTH BN controllers, why configure with a single point of failure when you can have dual controllers - maybe working even better?

Yes, this would be going on a sailboat and one side will likely be shaded by the boom/sail sometimes and the other side should have full sun. That was the idea behind having two separate controllers. Thanks for the clairification.

 

[fafrd]

Thanks! Do you have a link to these AN series devices? I'd like to check them out.

This is the 80A model but they a full lineup. The 200V models like this one are newer, the 150V models are older and a bit less expensive (but are pretty much limited to 2S strings with newer high-voltage panels):

Amazon.com

 

[fafrd]

Yes, this would be going on a sailboat and one side will likely be shaded by the boom/sail sometimes and the other side should have full sun. That was the idea behind having two separate controllers. Thanks for the clairification.

Don’t go with separate controller, go with a paralllel string (ideally of half-cut panels).

Using a parallel string, all unshaded panels output their full energy when unshaded - only the shaded panels are choked-off.

Half cut panels are essentially 2 half-panels in parallel on each panel, so they will provide 50% output anytime shade is not impacting a full half panel.

I have major shade issues and am using a 1S3P string of half-cut panels to maximize output…

 

[SDovey]

Don’t go with separate controller, go with a paralllel string (ideally of half-cut panels).

Using a parallel string, all unshaded panels output their full energy when unshaded - only the shaded panels are choked-off.

Half cut panels are essentially 2 half-panels in parallel on each panel, so they will provide 50% output anytime shade is not impacting a full half panel.

I have major shade issues and am using a 1S3P string of half-cut panels to maximize output…

How would I connect 4 panels in parallel to one controller? What does "1S3P" mean?

 

[SDovey]

Don’t go with separate controller, go with a paralllel string (ideally of half-cut panels).

Using a parallel string, all unshaded panels output their full energy when unshaded - only the shaded panels are choked-off.

Half cut panels are essentially 2 half-panels in parallel on each panel, so they will provide 50% output anytime shade is not impacting a full half panel.

I have major shade issues and am using a 1S3P string of half-cut panels to maximize output…

4 250W panels @ 12V would be 83.333 amps and I would need a 100a controller, no?

 

[fafrd]

How would I connect 4 panels in parallel to one controller? What does "1S3P" mean?

1S3P means a 1 Series 3 Parallel array configuration (3 panels in parallel with each string only 1 panel long).

For 1S4P you’ll probably need two 1S2P home runs combined just before the charge controller (and with fuses on each panel) or you may be able to use a single home run of 4AWG or 6AWG depending on currents, temperatures, and wire lengths (combining the two 10AWG PV strings to a single 4AWG home run in conduit wirhin a junction box near the panels),