Solar controller is a device that regulates the current and or voltage that you can put into your battery or batteries. It will not allow you to over charge and ruin your battery or batteries by controlling the voltage at the battery level. Once your battery or batteries are charged the controller kicks in and opens, diverts, or shunts the generator circuit.
Why you cannot use a Solar or PV Charge Controller for Wind? For the sake of ease we are going to talk about a 12 volt system for this next section.
As I am sure you have noticed Solar and PV Charge Controllers come in 12, 24, 36, and 48-volt ranges, and you must match the range with your battery bank. Most Solar and PV controllers have circuits that will only work within a certain range of voltage and current/amperage.
For example: Lets say you have a 12v solar panel. It will put out between 0-18 volts DC and up to 3.5 amps (or 50 watts). Most 12 volt Solar charge controllers are designed to handle up to 20 volts and 50 watts, or 3.5 amps of input power. Most Solar controllers cannot comprehend voltages outside their range of input power, meaning if they get more than 20 volts of input they go nuts, crazy, wacko, screwball, etc.
A wind Generator can (easily) have a range from 0 to more than 100 volts, and amperage of 0 to 50 amps (on average 2 to 30). Now if your Solar controller is designed to handle 0-18 volts what do you think it would say (if it could talk) when it gets hit with 25 to 100 volts of DC power from your Wind Generator with amperages up to 50 amps?
Here's my guess at what it would be saying.
1. What in the heck is this?
2. What am I supposed to do with this?
3. And last but not least,,, OUCH!
One other factor to look at on Solar charge controllers is most of them shunt when the battery is charged and that may not be the right solution for your generator. Others open the circuit and let your generator run wild.
You still have to get a wind generator charge controller for the correct battery voltage. And a wind generator charge controller will be designed to handle the wide range of input voltage and amperage from your generator.
An exception to the above are charge controllers such as the Morningstar TriStar 45, which are designed to be used with either wind or solar systems.
What are the "Sense" terminals on my controller?
Some charge controllers have a pair of "sense" terminals. Sense terminals carry very low current, around 1/10th of a milliamp at most, so there is no voltage drop. What it does is "look" at the battery voltage and compares it to what the controller is putting out. If there is a voltage drop between the charge controller and the battery, it will raise the controller output slightly to compensate.
These are only used when you have a long wire run between the controller and the battery. These wires carry no current, and can be pretty small - #20 to #16 AWG. We prefer to use #16 because it is not easily cut or squished accidentally. They attach to the SENSE terminals on the controller, and onto the same terminals as the two charging wires at the battery end.
What is a "Battery System Monitor"?
Battery system monitors, such as the Bogart Engineering TriMetric 2025 are not controllers. Instead, they monitor your battery system and give you a pretty good idea of your battery condition, and what you are using and generating. They keep track of the total amp-hours into and out of the batteries, and the battery state of charge, and other information. They can be very useful for medium to large systems for tracking exactly what your system is doing with various charging sources. They are somewhat overkill for small systems, but are kind of a fun toy if you want to see what every amp is doing :-). TriMetric's new PentaMetric model also has a computer interface and many other features.
For a complete list of all our charge controllers, to check pricing, or to order online, see our Charge Controller page on our web store. For battery monitors, meters, and shunts see our Meters & Monitors page there.
LED Solar panel charge regulator is a battery charger that serves the function of controlling the amount of voltage that gets in your battery. The battery might soil if you overcharge it for a long period. This charge regulator can handle quite a considerable collection of current in the solar panel.
It has three LED indicators that will show you the state of the charge in the battery. They include the over discharge, over charge and charging. They also have slots where you can cut in or cut out the voltage in the solar panel. LED Solar panel charge regulator protects the storage battery from overcharging when you are charging it using the solar panel.
This device also protects your battery from discharging in the times of darkness. You can connect it using its three sets of connection, which are input, battery and the output. However, it usually has an optimum input power. Therefore, when choosing the best solar panel charge regulator you should look for the one that suits you best.
This solar charge controller will charge your battery using the power from the solar panels. It utilizes very high tech software that makes it very efficient when it comes to charging batteries. This makes it to prolong the battery life since it follows very specific steps when charging.
When you put the battery in the charge controller, the first thing that it does is to read the voltage in the battery. What follows is for it to diagnose on how to charge the battery. LED Solar panel charge regulator has high quality protection mechanisms. It protects both itself and the battery.
Problems like overload, short circuit, and reverse connection, over charging and over discharging cannot be a menace. It has a wonderful layout and has a cover that protects the inner parts. It indicates the time remaining for the charger to complete the charging process.
You can purchase this LED solar panel charge regulator either at wholesale prices or at retail prices depending on your quantity. You can purchase it online or in the electrical shops. If you purchase it online, the companies have the policy of cash on delivery.
This means that they only ask for the money when they deliver the product. The shipping fee is usually according to the rats of the individual company. You can search through the internet so that you can get the best designs available.