Charge Controllers

Now that you know a solar charge controller is an important gadget that affects the overall production of the solar system, you must be careful while choosing the brand for it. Spending a few minutes reading this article, you will get to the answer to the most frequently asked question– which is the best solar charge controller?

Please keep in mind that solar charge controllers are only required with existing or standard inverters. It is not necessary with a complete solar system. So, if you want to convert your existing or non-solar inverter into a solar inverter, install a high-quality charge controller.

Why To Use Solar Controller

If you have an existing inverter- battery installed at your home and you want to connect it directly to your solar panel, you need to hold on. Connecting the two devices directly is not the right way. They can be overcharged and may get damaged before time.

If you directly connect the solar power panel with the solar power battery, there will be no barrier to the inflow and outflow of current. Many times a solar power panel starts to produce extra power due to more sunlight in summer. So your battery can be overheated by it.

Charge controller is a small but important device. It connects the solar panels with your existing inverter and batteries while keeping the connection well regulated. Let’s know why to install a charge controller along with the solar power system.

• Prevent the battery from being overcharged.
• Prevent the battery from discharge at night.

If the current constantly passes into the battery, the internal temperature of the battery will increase. It may burst or damage before the maturity period. Similarly in nights, the current started to flow reversely i.e. from battery to solar panels. Because energy always travels from higher potential to low potential.

Technologies of Charge Controller

Solar charge controllers come in two different types. Both the charge controllers do the same work to control the passing current but with different methods. Hence, we can say, there are two different technologies on which the charge controllers are based. These technologies are namely,

• MPPT Charge Controller (Maximum Power Point Tracker)
• PWM Charge Controller (Pulse Width Modulation)

Let’s understand their working methods and the difference between the two.

MPPT Solar Charge Controller

Maximum power point tracker charge controller converts the passing voltage into battery voltage. It also increases the current when voltage drops.

This power controller extracts maximum power from the solar panel and charges the battery effectively. The MPPT charge controller can give us 96W power out of 100W of solar panels. Which means its efficiency is 96-97%.

PWM Solar Charge Controller

Pulse width modulation charge controllers only utilize the power generated from solar panels and charge the battery. In this charge controller, current is passed into the battery in the form of solar pulses.

A PWM technology based solar panel is known as the standard type of solar charge controller. It is traditional, simple and cheaper. It can provide up to 70W of power out of a 100W solar power panel.

MPPT V/s PWM Charge Controller

Both the technologies are popular in their specific fields though there are certain clear cut differences between them. While comparing the two types of solar charge controllers, you will find that the main points of difference between the two are as mentioned in the table.