Tri Star 45amp NON MPPT

[ggoodguy]

Hoping that someone can help me here. Building a small solar system (2x230w sharp panels with a Tristar 45amp charge controller), and while setting up the charge controller dip slides it gives me seven options for battery type. I intend on using Kirkland deep cycle batteries (start with 2 and expand to four if required). I have searched for ever with no success in trying to locate the charge voltage with no success.

Here are my options (all flooded):

PWM Absorp Voltage Float Voltage Equal Voltage
14.4 13.4 15.1
14.6 13.4 15.3
14.8 13.4 15.3

Any suggestions would help.

I should have added this is to power a new 35' trailer off the grid.

[Sunking]

Hoping that someone can help me here. Building a small solar system (2x230w sharp panels with a Tristar 45amp charge controller), and while setting up the charge controller dip slides it gives me seven options for battery type. I intend on using Kirkland deep cycle batteries (start with 2 and expand to four if required). I have searched for ever with no success in trying to locate the charge voltage with no success.

Here are my options (all flooded):

PWM Absorp Voltage Float Voltage Equal Voltage
14.4 13.4 15.1
14.6 13.4 15.3
14.8 13.4 15.3

Any suggestions would help.

I should have added this is to power a new 35' trailer off the grid.

You are not going to like this one little bit, but that is Tuff Titty said The Kitty.

It was very foolish to use a PWM controller period especially above 200 panel watts. Even more foolish to use GT panels with PWM controller. You just turned your two 230 watt (460 total) Sharp panels into 204 watts total on a 12 volt battery. Congratulations!

If you throw one panel away and get a 15 MPPT controller you get 230 watts, more than you get now. Get a 40 amp MPPT controller and you can have the full 460 watts you cheated yourself out of with PWM.

Or you could just buy 2 more panels at get at least 412 watts out of 920 watts. But smart money and less money throws that controller you have in the garbage where it belongs and get a good MPPT 40 amp Controller.

Told you would not like it.

[ggoodguy]

Tri Star 45amp NON MPPT

The charge controller is rated for 125vdc input, so the intention is to run them in a series so my understanding is 230w/37.1v = 460w/74.2v - controller has option to run at 48/24/12v. Because I am using it for an RV i was going to run at 12v to avoid a step down dc transformer.

And any idea what battery setting I should be using?

[Sunking]

The charge controller is rated for 125vdc input,

So what about about it? Here is what you do not know.

PWM Output Current = Input Current.

Wire you panels in parallel and you have 17 amps coming out at 12 volts. Do the math 12 volts x 17 amps = what watt = 204 Watts

Wire them in series like you have done and you have 8.5 amps x 12 volts = 102 watts.


With MPPT Output Current = Panel Wattage / Battery Voltage

With your panels and battery voltage you can wire them in either series of parallel with an MPPT and you get 460 watt / 12 volts = 38.3 amps

With PWM, what you bought, you are forced to use 36 cell very expensive 18 volt battery panels. You bought inexpensive GT panels of 60 cells with a voltage of 30 volts. You must use a MPPT controller on GT panels. MPPT can be used on both battery and grid tied panels. But PWM must use battery panels.

Sharp 230 Watt Panel Specs

What is the Model number of the controller?

TS-45 or TS-MPPT-45?

[ggoodguy]

TriStar-45:
Rated for maximum 45 amps continuous current
(solar, load or diversion load)
Rated for 12, 24, 48 Vdc systems PWM

To comply with the National Electric Code (NEC), the current rating of the
controller for solar charging must be equal or greater than 125% of the solar
array’s short circuit current output (Isc). Therefore, the maximum allowable
solar array input to the TriStar controller for compliance with the NEC is:
TS-45: 36 amps Isc

I get it i should upgrade to a MPPT. Having said that this is going to take some time. In the short term I have a 70w Coleman panel that I picked up in hopes that it would charge the batteries while I am away during the week and use on the weekend. This did not happen, and had to start the generator a couple of times last weekend (with Saturday morning waking up to 10 Celsius in the trailer, not fun). This weekend, I was hoping to set up one panel with the charge controller, and two additional deep cycle batteries that I will charge at home. Back to my original post, what voltage should I set up my current charge controller to?

Thanks in advance,

Ggoodguy

[ggoodguy]

manual

have attached manual

[Sunking]

I am familiar with both TS-45 and TS-MPPT-45. You bought the wrong model. NEC has nothing to do with what you are talking about.

Set you voltage as high as possible.

[Mike90250]

set your dip switches for

14.8 13.4 15.3

You have already bought the wrong panels, controller, and batteries.
What are the trailer appliances, are any 12VDC, or are they 120VAC Don;t buy an inverter yet.

If your panels are flat on the roof, you will need to get racks to aim them at the sun, or buy a lot more panels.

You most likely will need to get 4, 6V 200 ah golf cart batteries, take up about the same space as 4 groupsize 27 batteries, but you wire them in a Series/Parallel arrangement

BUT THE FIRST thing to do, is create a load analysis spread sheet,

Lights, 60 watts 7 hours
Blender 300w .1 hr (.1 hour = 6 minutes)
heater blower 200w 6 hours
Fridge 150w 14 hours
coffee maker 600w .2 hrs

Watts x hours == watt hours.

[ggoodguy]

set your dip switches for

14.8 13.4 15.3

You have already bought the wrong panels, controller, and batteries.
What are the trailer appliances, are any 12VDC, or are they 120VAC Don;t buy an inverter yet.

If your panels are flat on the roof, you will need to get racks to aim them at the sun, or buy a lot more panels.

You most likely will need to get 4, 6V 200 ah golf cart batteries, take up about the same space as 4 groupsize 27 batteries, but you wire them in a Series/Parallel arrangement

BUT THE FIRST thing to do, is create a load analysis spread sheet,

Lights, 60 watts 7 hours
Blender 300w .1 hr (.1 hour = 6 minutes)
heater blower 200w 6 hours
Fridge 150w 14 hours
coffee maker 600w .2 hrs

Watts x hours == watt hours.

The trailer is all 12v with the exception of a couple 120v appliances (microwave, central vac, central air, TV) of those we only intend on using the TV, and my computer/receiver. The fridge, hot water, stove, furnance are all propane, with the exception of the 12v blower on the furnace (the most important load). The existing lighting has 15w bulbs but I will be changing them to LED (1w).

The panels are going on the roof of a shed I need to build and it was recommended to me that I am them at 30degrees, because I would like to use them in the winter - I live in Northern ON.

If I upgrade to a 40a MPPT controller, will i get the full potential of the panels as the post above suggests? I am thinking that if I build two separate systems - one for 12v and one for 120v, using the panels I have for 120v, and smaller panels to cover the essential power requirements.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

[ggoodguy]

24v to 12v transformer

Just a thought but if I get a 20a MPPT charge controller with a 24v 12v transformer (460w / 24 = 19.16) and arrange my batteries in a 24v configuration would I get the full potential of my panels? I know that I cannot expand cutting this close, but I can get a stackable controller.

[Sunking]

Just a thought but if I get a 20a MPPT charge controller with a 24v 12v transformer (460w / 24 = 19.16) and arrange my batteries in a 24v configuration would I get the full potential of my panels? I know that I cannot expand cutting this close, but I can get a stackable controller.

Thinking has gotten you into trouble already, You have the wrong batteries and controller.

You need to get the MPPT controller to get full power from the panels. If you put your panels in series and use your controller, you have a 100 watt system. If you use your panels wired in parallel with your controller you have a 200 watt system.

Replace your controller, wire the panels in series (preferred method) or even parallel, you will have the full 460 watt system. You need two 6 volt Golf Cart Batteries as large as you can fit in the space, not two 12 volt unknown SLI batteries.

You do not want to use a 24 to 12 volt converter, that just robs you of power in the conversion and more money for you to loose from another bad mistake. Use the batteries you have for now, just expect to replace them in a year. Get the right batteries and they sould last 3 to 5 years assuming you can keep them charged.

For now get the right controller and you will be OK, except for the batteries which you can use for now.

[ggoodguy]

so a 40a mppt and im good to go? for the record i didn't buy the wrong batteries, the trailer came with 2 deepcycle rv batteries.

[Sunking]

so a 40a mppt and im good to go? for the record i didn't buy the wrong batteries, the trailer came with 2 deepcycle rv batteries.

Yes sir, it fixes your compatibility problems. Have no idea if it will work though for your application as you have not defined any watt hour usages. Keep the batteries until they go flat.

[Mike90250]

If you shop around, you can get some LED lights that have built-in wide voltage range driver circuits that will accept 24V.
Or you can use a small miserly 12V inverter for the few loads that need 120V.

But to get the full power from your batteries, you need to get a true MPPT controller. Many ebay and amazon $50 mppt controllers are fakes - just a PWM with a MPPT sticker over the old sticker.

[jimindenver]

With two 230w panels you could get away with a 30a MPPT. Occasionally the controller would have to clip amps not not often. There are also more quality 30a MPPT controllers than 40a to choose from. Another thing is not only are there fake MPPT controllers, some of the lessor brands that do MPPT have interesting quirks in how they work. (Who ever wrote the programming for the cheap 20a MPPT controllers I have used really had no idea what the absorb stage was for.)