Solar Control. Huge energy loss. Switch to MPPt?

[erod707]

I have 4 20 watt Monocrystalline solar panels and 1 50 watt panel. Today before I installed the 50 watt solar panel I checked my voltage. I found that I get 173.9 volts and from the solar control it goes down to 27.6. My solar control is a PWM type. So how does this work. I was told that the batteries work best of they are charged at a slow rate but what about that loss of energy that is not used? Is it possible to connect a separate cable to use to charge the batteries and another one for powering up things? or should I invest in a MPPT solar controller?


This is my solar control.

http://hqrp.com/hqrp-12v-24v-10a-solar-charge-controller-regulator-10amp-with-battery-charger-monitor.html

[Mike90250]

Whoa !

You have a PWM controller and few (none) of them are rated for over 100V

I think you are going to have to tell us more about the panels, in addition to the wattage rating , they have voltage and amps rating too, we need those numbers. Usually on a sticker on the backside, or the data sheet.

[Mike90250]

Those panels should all be wired in PARALLEL, and you should get about 5A to the batteries at 17V.

When it's all hooked up, you should see battery voltage on the battery side of the controller, and about .7V higher on the solar side of the controller.

I'm assuming a 12V battery system.