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.
Do i need a regulator for solar panel.
It does this by using a transistor to shunt the pv charging circuit.
A solar regulator is a small box consisting of solid state circuitry that is placed between a solar panel and a battery.
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.
You will probably have heard of the two types pwm and mppt pulse width modulation or maximum power point tracking.
Put simply solar voltage regulators do this by basically disconnecting the solar panels from the battery.
A charge controller or charge regulator is basically a voltage and or current regulator to keep batteries from overcharging.
Solar charge controller functions.
Why do you need a solar charge controller.
The solar charge regulator features three led indicators high voltage low voltage charging and three connections for the solar panel keyed two pin connector battery keyed two pin connector and 12v output 3 in.
If you are connecting a large number of panels in series creating a high voltage take special care to ensure that this is within the mppt s maximum input voltage window.
The charge process is performed in a smart or intelligent way.
Its function is to regulate the amount of charge coming from the panel that flows into the deep cycle battery bank in order to avoid the batteries being overcharged.
It regulates the voltage and current coming from the solar panels going to the battery.
This solar charge regulator protects and regulates the charge of a 12 volt storage battery using solar panels.
Most 12 volt panels put out about 16 to 20 volts so if there is no regulation the batteries will be damaged from overcharging.
See all solar charge controllers.
Choosing the right solar charge controller regulator.
This means if your battery is full it stops the charging and if your battery is reaching an unhealthy.
This involves varying charge stages voltages and current depending on the type of battery and other factors.
The charger is set for 14 4v and the batteries were allowed to become chock full once chock full like an unregulated solar panel can do all this bank needed in order to not over shoot 14 4v was just 0 1a of charge current.
It regulates the current flowing from the solar panel into the battery bank to avoid overcharging the batteries.
400ah bank just 0 1a to maintain 14 4v.
In this photo i have two trojan l16 6v batteries wired in series for a 12v 400ah bank.
Every solar panel needs a regulator to make sure we don t overcharge the battery when it s full and to give it everything the solar has got when the battery is low.