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Hi I’m new to all this solar stuff I have a 300 watt flexible monocrystalline solar panel Max 18volt, max power 16.6A & open circuit 22.4volt and want to purchase a Victron MPPT charge controller to go with this to charge 3 batteries on my boat 1x 160amp hr & 2 x 97 amp hr batteries what charge controller would you recommend. Any help appreciated. Thanks Richo
hi, 300w divided by 12v give 25amp to the battery bank.. if you don’t think to expend your solar, a 30-35amp controller is enough for your system!
Hi Marc-de-montreal thanks for your quick reply so I don't really have any room to expand solar panels so will probably just go with this 300watt panel. So are you saying a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 12 volts would be ok for the batteries I have? Thanks Rico
A 100/20 smartsolar would also be a decent choice. Realistically the controller will rarely ever limit the output. You also get a load output and save some money but there isn't that much in it.
Got to say I really don't get how your battery bank is connected.
with around 350ah (near 4000wh) of battery bank, and 300w PV input, you think that saving few pennies with a 100/20 is a good idea? ..each watt in this configuration is to take with enjoy!!
Wow, thats aggressive. Having a bad day are we?
I stand by my comment, I don't say its a better option than your suggestion but I really don't think there is much in it in terms of what you will actually get out of the system.
The days you really want extra power are not the sunny days but the overcast ones.
Peace
They are not connected to anything at the moment I’m still new to all of this hence I’m trying to get some assistance. As you know I have 3 batteries One is for my house supply (160 Ah) and the other two (97Ah) are my start batteries. So I’m wanting to keep all of these topped up with Solar. Hope that makes sense. Appreciate all the help I can get.
OK, that makes sense but I am afraid that what you ask is not simple. Victron don't really have an offering for managing to charge house and starter batteries from one panel/controller. My suggestion would be that you add a second small panel and simple controller for the start battery.
Hi dazey77, thanks for that I thought you could link all batteries together and trickle charge all from the one panel. You’re saying that’s not possible?
Correct, thats not possible. If you join them all together then you they won't get drained evenly and you will be able to drain the starter battery from the leisure side, which defeats the aim.
Normally you would join the two through a intelligent switch like the Cyrix or a DC-DC converter to allow the engine to charge the leisure battery side when its running, but these are only one way.
There is a good victron wiring guide (free ebook) called wiring unlimited that discusses a lot of the issues with joining batteries.
Which flexible panel do you have. I also want to install one on my boat. Do you have datasheet?
