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Hi,
I have a bluesolar MPPT 150/85-MC4, which has 3 pair of MC4 inputs.
Now I was wondering, has each MC4 pair its own 'Maximum Power Point Tracking'?
Or is it just one bus with multiple connections for easier connection?
I ask this because I have different solar 'clusters', each with their own alignment, on a RV.
If they would have their own tracking, I guess would make it more interesting in my case.
Cheers,
Tom
Hi Tom,
It's just one bus with multiple connections, identical to the 150/85-Tr except for the connectors. If you wanted individual tracking for your different "clusters", I'd suggest getting multiple units; of course, that would be perhaps prohibitively expensive in the 150/85 size, but if you were using multiple units they could all be smaller and cheaper units. Without knowing your exact setup I couldn't make a recommendation as to the precise models you'd need, but that's fairly easily calculated on your end... of course, in going with a smaller size you'd lose the MC4 connectors at the MPPT, but it's easy enough to just buy MC4 connectors and a bit of 8 or 6 AWG cable and wire pigtails into the terminals.
Pretty much :-P If you ever get to a point of re-designing your system, I'd definitely recommend using several (one per cluster) smaller controllers to maximize your harvest throughout the day.
Even as it is, though, the controller scans for the sweet spot of the harvest frequently enough that as the sun moves across your various clusters, the MPPT will be adjusting itself accordingly and you shouldn't be losing too much potential capture overall; would be interesting to see the difference in yield throughout the day, however, between your single unit and multiple smaller units.
If you ever *do* redo the system, make sure to get some comparative screenshots of your yield before and after, just for curiosity's sake :)
