Decent 60-80A MPPT? PowMr is certainly out......lol

[fastline]

I still have a "make sky blue" 40A unit running and it't been reasonable other than it hunts around too much and voltage is not accurate. I told the guy in OK about the issues and he got all 'ass hurt' and flipped into an AH.... Probably why he is not selling for them anymore.

FF to current and I had a need for more power and wanted to test. Have Vitrons around to test against. The PowMr was haled as a POS and it did not disappoint!!! Settings are ridiculous, next to no manual, pretty much nothing works right. On top of that, no fan, but it does have a bigt heat sink that the MSB unit did not have. I have pushed that MSB unit to over it's KW capacity, over input voltage, etc. Has taken it all.

I recently backed it up to a single panel and it was doing 390w from a 370w panel, and confirmed with other meters. That means it's ratings are close to accurate. As for the PowMr, I will find out soon, but nearly certain it will get punted quickly.

So what others should be considered in this price point? I am also testing a Renogy inverter and it has been nothing but flawless. They prices have pushed ahead though.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

IMHO, if you're shopping lower tier, these are the best value:

Charge Controllers – Watts247 Wholesale

watts247.com

 

[Darren67-72]

I bought a growatt scc4880 (80 amp and 120 amp respectively) and they make a 48120. They come with something like a 35 year warranty (I'd have to check to be sure) but they are cheap and seem to work quite well and have a cooling fan that is very quiet.

 

[fastline]

I bought a growatt scc4880 (80 amp and 120 amp respectively) and they make a 48120. They come with something like a 35 year warranty (I'd have to check to be sure) but they are cheap and seem to work quite well and have a cooling fan that is very quiet.

might as well put a 100y warranty on it since the company likely won't be in business in a few yrs. I guess I don't really buy based on a warranty. Been bit with that scam too many times.

 

[time2roll]

My Morningstar MPPT-60 has been flawless running 10+ years.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

might as well put a 100y warranty on it since the company likely won't be in business in a few yrs. I guess I don't really buy based on a warranty. Been bit with that scam too many times.

MPP Solar/Growatt are going on 10+ years, so you might be off. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan, but if I needed a lot of charge current for a non-critical project, I'd likely go this route.

Additionally, Watts247 is regarded as supplying very good support and taking care of customers.

 

[fastline]

MPP Solar/Growatt are going on 10+ years, so you might be off. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan, but if I needed a lot of charge current for a non-critical project, I'd likely go this route.

Additionally, Watts247 is regarded as supplying very good support and taking care of customers.

MPP has been on my radar quite a while. I am just mentioning the warranty thing as it has been the target for scammers for a long time, in many industries like roofing. Shoddy goods/services, and every plan to simply "go out of business" when comes time to honor that warranty.

I have a less critical project going right now and was hoping someone has finally offered a quality charger, but seems not much has changed in a couple years. MSB did get my attention as something that has taken all the abuse I can give it within reason. Subjected to -10F, +110F, over voltage on PV, over current battery side, etc. IE, they seemed to get a few things right. Where they just suck is no real heat sink, anemic input header, poor wire separation, MPPT hunts around way too much, etc.

But wow, you want to talk about junk. That PowMr is a complete POS. Once I finally figured out how to set it up, I realized there is not one setting you can BS in that thing to get it to charge! It will go to float almost immediately. On top of that, the voltage shunt in it is crap and I caught it trying to run charge voltage up high. Do I want to trust it with expensive batteries? Nope!

I have read threads here and other places that PowMr are just rip off artists and I would say that is 100% factual because if you look at their designs, you will see how similar they are to many other products. I nearly laughed when I took this POS PowMr apart and they had scrubbed the part numbers on the IC inside it....lol

But I found it more funny that MSB was whining that others are ripping off their tech! LIKE LMFAO!!!!!!! This is ALL CHINA DOES!!!! They have not innovated a single thing and I would slide a tall stack of cash on a bet that MSB ripped off 'their' tech from some other real player. I think this is why they fought with their own software issues because they have no clue what they are doing.

MPP has had my interest for years, though I never bought their gear for a few different reasons. Coming from industrial mfg, I can say with some confidence that I believe Taiwan tries to hold their quality and designs a but higher than China. They are certainly not USA/German/Swiss/etc, but they seem to do decent. I was really looking forward to grabbing one of their toys so I can see how good they are.

 

[Darren67-72]

Growatt has been around sence 2010, but agreed, we can't count on warranties. They make a good working unit. I depend on them for my everyday whole house power BUT, keep spare around. Haha, can't trust anybody these days.
The saying; one is none and two is one. And I always use 80% advertised max as 100% real world max.