BZ Charge Controller

[chicken fried]

I have an off grid cabin in West Texas and was thinking about getting the Bz Charge Controller 500. Does anyone have any experience with these charge controllers. I am hooking it up to 2-Sharp 240 watt panels. Thanks for the help.

[Mike90250]

I've not heard good things about BZ. Blue Sky is an OK mfg, as is Rogue, and the other regular name brands. I tend to seer folks to the 30A Rogue http://www.roguepowertech.com/products/mpt3024.htm as long as you do not exceed the 60V max input .

Whats the planned battery bank voltage, and what's the PV max power voltage (Vmp) ?

[chicken fried]

Correction on my panels (2) 230w sharp. VPM-29.3 volts. I am going with 12 volts. My battery bank will be (4) 12 volt gel cell with 110 amp hour. I havent bought the batteries, but they are priced reasonably. My charge controller will be a MPPT this will allow me to use these panels.

I want to use 12 volts for the lights and use a inverter for a jet pump i have hooked up to my water source. The pump uses 10 amps. I will some day want to add a small LED t.v. and satelite to this system.

I believe this will give me the power I need. I only use lights at most 3hrs a day and shouldnt drain the batteries too much.

Will a 30amp Rogue be a enough for this system? Thats why I was looking at the BZ 500 it looked like it would handle the power. I also like the Morningstar 45 MPPT, but shyed away cause of the price. I know you get what you pay for, but trying to stay in my budget.

By the way I'm not a electrician.

[Naptown]

A couple of things
DO NOT get Gel batteries. Get either flooded or AGM batteries. Gel's and RE don't get along the charge rate is too low.
If you insist on going 12 volt. What kind of pump do you need is this for a well and how deep is the well.
A 10 amp pump at 120V = 100A from 12V. Granted it only runs for a couple minutes at a time the cabling is going to be huge to the inverter and the inverter will need to be able to handle a surge of 4-5 times the run current.

[Mike90250]

With 29V panels, you will need an MPPT style controller to charge 12V batteries. 29V is NOT enough to charge a 24V battery bank - abut 35V panels are needed for that.

3, 230W panels will provide about 55A at 12V. That is about the limit of some of the best controllers @ 60A. Beyond the liit of the BZ 500. If you are going that route, I'd suggest the Midnight Classic controller, best in class. shop around, you can get much better than MSRP.

[Naptown]

No the Rogue will not work
The advantages to the Morningstar and Midnight is they allow 100-150V input voltage. This would allow you to wire your 2 panels in series and reduce voltage drop and wire size from the panels to the controller. These will also allow some more room for expansion in the future. You could add maybe one more matching panel to the Rogue
The morningstar MPPT45 @ 12V max panel wattage is 540W
The rogue is 360W you have 460W of panels.

[chicken fried]

My other choice is 4-6 volt T105 batteries for a 12 volts. I didn't plan to go any bigger for the panels. Keeping the lights on 12volts. How big of wire do I need for the inverter from the batteries for the jet pump? The water source is from a tank near the pump so I don't have to lift it to the house. I may change that to a 12 volt pump one day.

I bought the pump before I decide to go solar and was using a genarator.

Appreciate the advice.

[Naptown]

If you stay at 12V and you can place a presssure pump (I'm thinking positive displacement marine pressure pump with a pressure tank. These pumps will have a lift range of 5-10') near the batteries this may be a less exxpensive option the inverter.

[xxx]

BZ controller

I have an off grid cabin in West Texas and was thinking about getting the Bz Charge Controller 500. Does anyone have any experience with these charge controllers. I am hooking it up to 2-Sharp 240 watt panels. Thanks for the help.

I have owned 3 BZ controllers ... ALL FAILED. Since then I have used Xantrex, Trace and Morningstar ... ALL are still working.

[chicken fried]

Thanks for the reply. Since then I have completed my system and opted for the Outback 60. So far so good. My system is doing well. I have 12 volt demand pump and it's doing good except for well I use my demand hit water heater and then it wants to surge which causes it to cut off and not get hit water. I think I need to adjust the pressure on the heater.