Eco-Worthy 20A MPPT Charge Controller

[antobag]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any experience with the Eco-Worthy 20A MPPT charge controller? I'm going to be receiving one soon in the post but I'm very new to this so I'm looking for advice. I'll be using it with a 200W panel and a 100Ah 12v AGM deep-cycle battery.

• The description states that it "functions as a power meter" - does this mean that I will be able to work out how much charge my battery is currently holding (eg. as a percentage)? If so, how would I go about working this out? (Unfortunately I'm not sure if the battery includes an amp-hour meter - any information from anyone who knows about this controller is very welcome!)
• I also know that you can set the bulk, absorption and float charge stages on the charge controller. What would you recommend as suitable levels for my set-up (a 100Ah 12V AGM battery)?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[jony101]

thats the controller I have. I dont know about the power meter part, but as long as its connected to the battery it gives you the voltage of the battery. 12.7 is about full charge, when you get to 12.1 its about 50 percent.

The lcd screen does tell you how much amps/watts that are going into your battery. Very useful info to have so you can tell if your panel is efficient.

I got mine connected to a 240 watt panel and 145 ah agm battery. Lying flat on my roof at high noon the most I seen is about 12 amps, if you point the panel at the sun you can improve the output. For agm I have the absorb set at 14.4 and float set to 13.7. but I got that from the charging specs for my battery. Going on the internet I found thats acceptable for agms but you can check your battery it might have different specs.

some things I learn about this controller is that I rarely see it in absorb mode. It usually is in bulk, might spend a few seconds in absorb and then straight to float. I tried it with different batteries and it behaves similar, there is no adjustment to set a set time for absorb like on the more expensive mppt controllers. I also notice it gets very hot when its charging, I placed a 120mm cooling fan blowing on it all the time during the day.

I would recommend not to use the load outs on the controller, I use to have a fan connected to them but everytime it was cloudy then the sun suddenly came out behind the clouds the voltage spiked and shutoff the load out, it doesnt reset automatically.

Overall I had it almost 2 years and it's been connected 24/7 to my panel and has been extremely reliable. Its a decent mppt controller for the price. And seems to be safe to use on different size batteries, I have use it to charge my 17 ah jump pack with no problems.

[antobag]

Thanks jony. I'll have another look online and probably use similar settings for my battery - unfortunately it didn't come with any charging specs and I can't find any for it online. That's what I get for buying a cheaper battery I guess!

[antobag]

I've been testing out the controller with my AGM battery for the last couple of days and everything seems to be running smoothly. I just have a couple of questions regarding its settings.

I currently have the absorb set to 14.4V and the float set to 13.7V. From jony's advice above and from looking at guidelines on the internet, this seems appropriate. However, I estimate that my battery will eventually be set up in a room temperature of around 15 degrees Celsius (59 in Fahrenheit), reaching a maximum of 20C (68F) at times. It could even drop to 12C at night (about 54F) but I assume this won't matter as I won't be drawing energy at that time anyway. Could I afford to raise my controller settings at all? I'm thinking around 13.8V or 13.9V for float and (judging by the charge voltage table found here http://support.rollsbattery.com/supp...5-agm-charging) could I raise the absorb to 14.9?

Another question - there are two more settings on the controller under the heading "Discharge". They are called "Over" and "Restart", and are currently set at 11.2V and and 12.2V respectively. I assume these are settings to prevent over-discharging the battery. If I'm right, what settings would be appropriate to avoid anything over 50% depth of discharge at around 15 degrees Celsius? I may also try to avoid going over 30% D.O.D. In this case, how would I alter the settings? I can't seem to find any guidelines online about this - perhaps I'm not searching for the right thing.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Sunking]

II currently have the absorb set to 14.4V and the float set to 13.7V. From jony's advice above and from looking at guidelines on the internet, this seems appropriate. However, I estimate that my battery will eventually be set up in a room temperature of around 15 degrees Celsius (59 in Fahrenheit), reaching a maximum of 20C (68F) at times. It could even drop to 12C at night (about 54F) but I assume this won't matter as I won't be drawing energy at that time anyway. Could I afford to raise my controller settings at all? I'm thinking around 13.8V or 13.9V for float and (judging by the charge voltage table found here http://support.rollsbattery.com/supp...5-agm-charging) could I raise the absorb to 14.9?

Is your battery a Rolls? If so use the manufacture recommended Tempurture Compensation. If not a Rolls, same answer use the manufacture TC.

Another question - there are two more settings on the controller under the heading "Discharge". They are called "Over" and "Restart", and are currently set at 11.2V and and 12.2V respectively. I assume these are settings to prevent over-discharging the battery. If I'm right, what settings would be appropriate to avoid anything over 50% depth of discharge at around 15 degrees Celsius? I may also try to avoid going over 30% D.O.D. In this case, how would I alter the settings? I can't seem to find any guidelines online about this - perhaps I'm not searching for the right thing.

Unless you are using the LOAD PORT on the controller, makes no difference what you set the LVD or LVR at because you are not, or should not be using it. The Load Port is a low power fused output that is routed through a relay.