diy solar

diy solar

Tracer4215BN ok with 660 watts of PVs

NotToFast

NotToFast

New Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2023
Messages
17
Location
NorthCarolina
Okay, I carefully planned out my solar set up. Removing and relocating some items on top of the roof. I have three 220watt solar panels. I bought Will's favorite CC (EPEVER Tracer 4215bn) and figured I was all set running the panels in serial with a VOC of 22volts and Short Circuit current at 13.41. The CC it a 40amp and 150 volts, but then it says the rated watts is 540 or 600 (different in different places). So will this thing self destruct if I hook it up to 660 watts of PVs? How does a 40 amp 150volt CC have a 600watt limit?? It's not easy being stupid !!
 
Read the manual. It specifically addresses putting more solar on it than the rated output.

40A is the output. 40A * 15V = 600W

40A is a limit
150V is a limit

They aren't related to each other.
 
The 4215bn is 20 amps at 12 volts and 40 amps at 24 volts. So to get 40 amps you have to have a 24 volt battery bank hooked to it. I ran a dual 4215bn setup at 24 volts for years. Good controllers.

I also had over a kilowatt of solar panels attached to each of them :)
Over paneled to say the least but it never bothered them. Just keep the total panel voltage down low enough and they do fine.

Having the so far over paneled meant they charged great on rainy days.
 
Crowz said:
The 4215bn is 20 amps at 12 volts and 40 amps at 24 volts. So to get 40 amps you have to have a 24 volt battery bank hooked to it. I ran a dual 4215bn setup at 24 volts for years. Good controllers.

I also had over a kilowatt of solar panels attached to each of them :)
Over paneled to say the least but it never bothered them. Just keep the total panel voltage down low enough and they do fine.

Having the so far over paneled meant they charged great on rainy days.
Click to expand...

The manual does not agree with your statement.


1693814035972.png
 
That only applies if you screw up and hook the pv up backwards. If you use it correctly you can over panel til the cows come home.
 
Well, I read it that you can over panel to 1560 watts. Not sure how much the cows would add coming home. But it is certainly a 40 amp controller in 12 volts. The "load" terminals are rated at 20amps. I would think more than 1500watts would be hard with one set of equal panels on an RV. But ten again, I'm just getting into the deep hole of mobile solar!
 
Crowz said:
That only applies if you screw up and hook the pv up backwards. If you use it correctly you can over panel til the cows come home.
Click to expand...

So nothing about your claim of a 20A limit for 12V? But then you claim more unsupported specs?

What do they mean by:

1693846578354.png

1.5X 520W reverse polarity limit.
3X 520W limit provided you don't reverse polarity.

3X overpaneling is not generally reasonable, and I would assert that running the unit at 100% output for several hours a day will shorten its life.
 
NotToFast said:
So will this thing self destruct if I hook it up to 660 watts of PVs?
Click to expand...

I ran mine with 750w.

NotToFast said:
How does a 40 amp 150volt CC have a 600watt limit?
Click to expand...
As our eggy friend explained, it is a calculated output limit, not a a limit on the panel wattage.

* 40A x 12.0v charging voltage = 480w
* 40A x 13.0v charging voltage = 520w
* etc

You can overpanel the controller but it will not put out more than 40A.

NotToFast said:
ning the panels in serial
Click to expand...

Heads up: the 150v limit is at a pretty cold temp. Check the manual for the voltage limit at high temps.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
So nothing about your claim of a 20A limit for 12V? But then you claim more unsupported specs?

What do they mean by:

View attachment 165963

1.5X 520W reverse polarity limit.
3X 520W limit provided you don't reverse polarity.

3X overpaneling is not generally reasonable, and I would assert that running the unit at 100% output for several hours a day will shorten its life.
Click to expand...
The reason I say 20 amps is thats all mine put out at 12 volt setup wise. When I ran them at 24 volts key made 40 amps no problem. No clue why its just how they behaved.

I'm going by the shunts and the digital display attached to the 4215bn's themselves. Others luck may be different but mine do 20 amps at 12volts and 40 amps at 24 volts is how mine work.

As for over paneling the things I have had 2 kw of panels attached to one of them at one point and it didn't bother it any. I kept the two units with over 1kw of panels all the time and no issues. They just used what they could from the panels up to max. I did make sure to keep the volts down low enough. The reason I over paneled them so much was from having the panels and not having anything else use them with at the time and I wanted them to charge on cloudy/rainy days and during the winter. Worked great.
 
Oh and on the shortening its life they are 8 years old now and still work great. I personally don't like running inverters near max output for long periods but my chargers never seem to mind. The heat sinks on these things are huge compared to other controllers in their weight class.
 
NotToFast said:
Well, I read it that you can over panel to 1560 watts. Not sure how much the cows would add coming home. But it is certainly a 40 amp controller in 12 volts. The "load" terminals are rated at 20amps. I would think more than 1500watts would be hard with one set of equal panels on an RV. But ten again, I'm just getting into the deep hole of mobile solar!
Click to expand...
I've seen 1700 watts on a sprinter. A large RV could have a lot more solar!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top