solar charge controller best seller vendors

[amit5674]

Hi everyone,
I'm doing some market research of best seller\most popular solar charge controller for residential usage.
can you please suggest the top 3 vendors or non-brand products which you think are the holding the biggest market share?
also can you name some website of solar market research.
thanks

 

[Rocketman]

Right now the market is split in two.

You have a dedicated mppt’s and the all-in-ones.(AIO). The AIO’s are fairly new - just a few years old.

The dedicated mppt’s have been around for a while. My opinion- Victron is A top brand (both in quality and sales) I have no idea if it is THE top brand. I don’t know any other brands well enough to comment.

Their are tier 1 brands - these are high quality with good reputations, good warranty, have been around for a while.

The tier 2 are a step down, and may have issues in an area - or just have not been around long enough…

Tier 3 is the “Chinese” ones that are often very inexpensive, may work for a bit or may last for a long time.

 

[amit5674]

can you list some Chinese vendors?

 

[pollenface]

I love my Chinese built products

 

[DIYrich]

can you list some Chinese vendors?

No because they are not top 3 vendors

I suggest you research products available in your area. Narrow down to 3 based upon your criteria (price vs quality vs features), and then ask comments on those.

 

[Rednecktek]

A lot of it comes down to budget and capacity. If money is no object and you just want the best it's hard to beat Victron (my mouth feels dirty saying that) or Midnight for top end stuff, but you're gonna pay for the privelidge. Once you have to start paying the bills and feeding the cats however you get down into the Tier-2 stuff which is still pretty well regarded but can still have oddities that make them a little more finicky. Brands like EPEver, HQST, and Rich Solar are good Tier-2 brands.

If your budget is REALLY tight you're going for Tier-3 brands like Renogy, PowMr, and various rebadged clones. Not a lot of fancy bells and whistles and you wouldn't want to push them to their limits all day long, but they'll turn Solar DC into Battery DC just fine and are usually cheap enough that getting a spare is still cheaper than getting the Tier-1 stuff.

As for where to go to research these options, there's this really cool site I found a while ago that can help a lot if you're willing to put in a little time in the search function and ask questions. ?

 

[Woody]

Rednecktek, your statements are spot on!

I’m in the tier 2-3 products. That’s why I have spares of everything. If they blow, well I have replacement parts available. I typically can purchase a tier 2 product and a spare for less than one tier 1 product. But I do love the high end tier 1 products but can’t afford them. Champagne tastes but beer on sale budget.