Maximum Controller Capacity

[NewbySolarGuy]

Hey guys, new to the forum and new to solar in general. Thanks in advance for any assistance! I feel like I've research this a ton, but haven't been confident in my understandings of it. I'm probably over-analyzing it, but wanted to ask the masters (you guys) for some help.

I have a 30 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller: https://fsi-sales.com/products/mc-series-30-amp-controller

Here are the specs:


I'm wanting to hook up 3 solar panels to it: 175W, 150W, 150W for a total of 475W

These are the specs of the panels:
175W:


2 x 150W:




Am I going to burn up the controller? If so, what Victron controller should I get that would be fine to carry the load from these panels?

Thanks so much, apologies for the newby question.

 

[yodamota]

looks good to me. panels can be hooked up in parallell or series. the 175w panel will basically be a 150w panel. Controller looks good for what you want to do.

 

[Mattb4]

The 3 panels in series will give you a Voc of 64.8vDC. You will lose some wattage since the 150w panels amperage will limit the 175w panel to Imp of 8.34a which at the Vmp of ~53vDC = ~442w for the array. Likely won't notice it that much over a days period though since the MPPT controller will try to maximize production.

If your battery is 12vDC nom. you will be very slightly over paneled. (400w/30= 13.33v) 24vDC battery you have margin to spare.

 

[NewbySolarGuy]

Awesome, thanks guys! The main thing that worried me was the controller saying: "Max PV Input Power = 400W", and the sum of my panels is 475W.

It sounds like that's not something that should be a concern?

I also read in another thread that someone said a rule of thumb is that "a charge controller should be ~10A per 100W of solar so that the controller isn't limiting the amount of charge the batteries can receive".

Looking at my case, that would mean that I should have a 50Amp controller (475w of solar).

Is that valid? Is my controller going to be a bottleneck in the amount of charge that could be flowing to the batteries?

 

[NewbySolarGuy]

If your battery is 12vDC nom. you will be very slightly over paneled. (400w/30= 13.33v) 24vDC battery you have margin to spare.

Newby question again - is being "slightly over paneled" a problem for the batteries? (You're correct that I'll be 12V batteries with ~400 AH capacity) Or is that where the controller steps in.