What is MPPT?
Video: MPPT Explained
Solar charge controllers are used in battery based photovoltaic / solar electric, wind and micro-hydro renewable energy systems. Charge controllers protect the batteries from overcharge and/or excessive discharge. The minimum function of the charge controller is to disconnect the solar electric array when the battery is fully discharged and to keep the battery fully charged without damage. Charge controllers are critical components in stand-alone PV systems because a controller failure can damage the batteries.
There are several types of charge controllers: Series and Shunt. Series charge controllers stop the flow of current by opening the circuit between the battery and the PV array. Shunt charge controllers divert the PV array current from the battery to some other load. The shunt controllers are also known as diversion load controllers. Both types use solid state battery voltage measurement devices and shunt controllers are 100% solid state.
A more modern and sophisticate type of charge controller is a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) charge controllers. These type of controller maximize the amount of energy your solar array can produce by increasing the voltage that the panel operates at. A MPPT controller can increase your array output by 25-30%. Another feature allows the charge controller to take a higher input voltage from the PV array and then drops the voltage down to the battery bank voltage. This allows for high-voltage array strings. This gives flexibilty to the array location by increasing the allowable distance that the array can be from the battery bank.
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