Morningstar Sunguard vs Sunsaver cc for AGM

[PNjunction]

One of my simple projects involves charging a 12v AGM battery using a Morningstar Sunguard controller - a 15w panel to a 5ah agm to be exact.

The fixed PWM setpoint for the Sunguard is 14.1 volts, whereas with the Sunsaver SS-6, I can UNjumper it to get to 14.4v for the pwm setpoint. (using the "flooded" voltage setting). I'll leave the "sealed" jumper for gells, which I never really plan to use.

Is there any advantage to upgrading from the sunguard to the sunsaver with such a small project? Admittedly, the battery is small, but I want to do things right, unless it really makes no difference with with such a small setup.

I have both CC's right now, but I'd like to treat the agm's I have as nicely as possible.

[Sunking]

No a 200 to 300 watt panel is crossover point for economic justification.

[PNjunction]

Ah, my sunsavers are the older SS-6 and SS-10 pwm-only types - not the mppt version. I think this is the crossover you mean.

If so, no mppt for me. I don't have any long dc transmission lines, and only 18v panels. Plus I monitor almost everything from dc to daylight with an Icom R75 and a variety of scanners. Anything that is a dc-switcher is out, so I'll have to spend my money on big copper if it comes to long distribution loops. However, I would be interested in seeing how noisy the mppt version of the sunsaver is on the HF bands as a later project.

Russ tipped me off to watching out for the EQ charge on these morningstars:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?7514-Lurker-speaks-up-to-say-hello&p=49717#post49717

Apparently the newer "Gen3" models of the Sunsaver pwm's have this monthly eq, which I don't want for my agm's. My older Gen-2 styles don't have EQ, so I can get away with using the flooded setting to run up to 14.4v instead of the lower 14.1v for the sealed jumper. Kind of a moot point for me to upgrade the smaller projects from the 4.5a pwm Sunguards (14.1v fixed) to a pwm sunsaver, since I don't want EQ with my agm's, and can't be sure which Sunsaver version a vendor might sell me. Although the Gen3 pwm-only version of the sunsaver has a lot of cool features, the only way to avoid the EQ charge is to run sealed at 14.1v, but I want to run up to 14.4 since the manufacturer specs says that's ok for cyclic use. (although temp conversion will change this in normal use...)

Thanks for the scoop on the mppt's - I got a lot of pressure early on to get one, and according to you guys, and even in Morningstar's documentation, it would be pointless in my low current situation.

[PNjunction]

I think I'm overthinking this - I think.

The pwm of the morningstar is a duty-cycle switch. At 14.1 volts, it will just take a little longer to fully charge my agm than it would at 14.4 volts. And, since the 5ah battery is not remotely located, or landing a moon-based vehicle - I have the time, especially with my insolation hours in the summer. Just don't use the flooded setting with the gen3 model for agm's, unless called for by the battery manufacturer since the gen3 will do EQ while set to flooded on a monthly basis. So either setting seems fine for the gen2 models for agm. Too much coffee on the previous post...