One solar panel, multiple charge controllers?

[William "Bill" Kisse]

Robert:

I see no problem running three separate solar charge controllers.

I have purchased many controllers similar to this on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-20A-Solar-Charge-Controller-solar-regulator-12V-24V-battery-charger-/261428682135?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cde5d1d97


Cheap, but all have worked well for me.

Running separate controllers (may be wise to diode-isolated each from the other) will take care of your requirement and the use of three controllers will ensure that each battery's minimum/maximum voltage will be individually monitored.

Note that I have used a 250-watt 30-volt panel connected to a Mesh gel-cell to power my Amateur Radio equipment for over a year.

A great idea to have our ham equipment running on emergency power, yes?

Best of luck with you project.

73,

Bill
WA3GJD


 
William "Bill" Kisse

301-908-8279
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead, American Cultural Anthropologist  


 




>________________________________
> From: Robert Seastrom <rs at seastrom.com>
>To: Tacos <tacos at amrad.org> 
>Cc: Robert Seastrom <rs at seastrom.com> 
>Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 10:24 AM
>Subject: One solar panel, multiple charge controllers?
> 
>
>
>Hi guys,
>
>I'm trying to think through an engineering problem and would like to solicit some thoughts.
>
>Living in the country as I do, there's a tendency to accumulate vehicles.  If you want them to start when bidden (particularly the diesel trucks with two 12v lead acid batteries in parallel so they can self-discharge through each other) it's a great idea to have them on a battery tender of some sort.
>
>The current count of vehicles I'd like to support is three, and it's cost-prohibitive to run electricity over to where they're parked (at least until at some point in the distant future when I build a shop over there, at which point the whole discussion is moot).
>
>Decent size solar panels, along the lines of a CS6P, are available for reasonable prices.  I have a post hole digger and can easily set a timber with a panel mount on top at an appropriate angle facing south.  Now the question is what to do with the output of the panel.
>
>The panel in question is 37 volts open circuit and 30 volts optimal operating voltage, 250 watts.  That oughta be enough
>
>I suspect that just having one single charge controller and paralleling two trucks with lead acid batteries and a trailer with a small gel cell that runs its lights isn't the swiftest idea.  Besides, theres i2r losses to consider when running tens of feet of 12v (maybe not that big a deal at battery-tender level amperages, but still).
>
>Perhaps just fusing the panel output and running a drop to each vehicle and regulating it down with a charge controller (series type not shunt type obviously) on each vehicle would do the right thing...  but then I worry about what might be inside the regulator - here in the future with switching power supplies being the norm, several buck regulators on the output of one current source might end up fighting each other.  But maybe not a big deal if there was a decent sized cap across the solar panel?
>
>Any thoughts on the right approach (optimally one that might involve maximum application of off-the-shelf components rather than from-scratch construction) would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>-r
>
>
>
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