Do I Need A Charge Controller For Solar Panel

If a panel puts out 2 watts or less for each 50 battery amp hours you probably don t need a charge controller.

Do i need a charge controller for solar panel. Many of the solar charge controllers we offer have additional features including the ability to automatically turn dc powered. How to select a solar charge controller what size of solar charge controller do i need. Do i always need a solar charge controller. Optimize the charging of your deep cycle batteries by the solar panels and prevent electricity stored in the batteries from going through the solar panels when there is no sun.

It regulates the voltage and current coming from the solar panels going to the battery. This means if your battery is full it stops the charging and if your battery is reaching an unhealthy. Solar charge controllers are designed to do two main things within a solar power system. I get asked this question quite often and the answer is almost always a resounding yes.

If you have an mmpt solar charge controller you have the room to get higher wattage solar panels at 24v or 48v without loosing to much power. Anything beyond that and you do. A charge controller or charge regulator is basically a voltage and or current regulator to keep batteries from overcharging. However before you can get started you ll need to install a charge controller which regulates the voltage from the solar panel as it s transferred to the battery.

A solar charge controller is designed to receive power from a solar panel or array of panels and use it to charge a battery or bank of batteries. For further reading mppt pdf. Charge controllers prevent this from happening by acting as a valve. Charging your batteries with a solar panel is a great way to use clean renewable energy.

It does this by using a transistor to shunt the pv charging circuit. In general you do not require a charge controller that usually requires the minimum maintenance or drop charge panels including but never limited to the one to five watt panels. There are always caveats to everything however. Most 12 volt panels put out about 16 to 20 volts so if there is no regulation the batteries will be damaged from overcharging.

The function of a charge controller is to regulate the charge going into your battery bank from your solar panel array and prevent overcharging and reverse current flow at night. Since this is less than 200 you need a charge controller. Since this is larger than 200 you do not need a charge controller. If you have a five watt panel in the above example you take 100 divided by 3 300ma and you come up with 333 3.

Do i need a solar charge controller. Keep in mind that you don t need one when the panel releases less than or equal to two watts for every fifty battery amp hours. You don t need a charge controller with small 1 to 5 watt panels. Solar charge controller functions.