I have been experimenting with the ANSELF lead acid 12/24 volt version the end top off voltage is fully adjustable I can adjust it from 13.2V all the way to to 16V in 100 mV increments . I tested it charging an 6 cell 16V Supercapacitor 300F each cell. I used this because it would charge up and reach the final voltage quickly. What I discovered is this charger does not trickle charge at all. When it reaches what it thinks is the final voltage the pulses slow down and then it stops all together. I feel Adams Meter he was using was just not quite in sync with what voltage it was reading compared to what the charger thought the voltage was. If he had just lowered the set point down a tenth of a volt he would of seen that it stop sending charge pulses. For my test I set the voltage at 13.2V and also later at 14.7V. After the capacitors were charged I would lower the set point down on tenth of a volt and then observe the meter showed no arrow pointing to charging and the pulses stopped until the capacitors started to self drain to the new lower set point. But the charger never went higher than what was shown on the display of the meter. And the meter always showed the current voltage of the capacitors (battery) not the set point. I really don't see why one would need a special Lithium battery charger because the top off voltage is adjustable from 13.2 to 16 Or 26.4V to 32V (as long as the solar panel or power supply feeding it does not put out more amps than the battery can safely receive a charge). Regarding the wrench display on certain parameters shown. If you press on the left button and hold it will allow you to change that parameter. I believe the hour meter button it you press and hold left button for that just resets the hour meter to zero. Also by using the capacitors to confirm about not trickle charging the voltage never rose higher than the setpoint even after several hours. I did notice I had to charge the capacitors up a few volts before the charge controller would start working because at first it was 7.3 volts and not enough to operate it properly. The reason I used the supercapacitors was because a lead acid or lithium battery would take too long to reach the setpoint where I could observe and confirm the pulses stopped after setpoint was reached. Another reason this charger would seem to work well with lithium batteries is that unlike some Lead acid battery chargers this does not have a fast charge algorithm where the voltage is ever raised higher than the set point for a certain period of time during the first portion portion of the charge cycle. At no point does the charge go higher than the set point.
Thank you for these kind of videos. There are tons of these things on ebay but it always remains a gamble on what you get. The pile of devices that I have here in my house is driving the misses mad, and to be honest I can't blame here. I was looking to replace my lead acid charger with one with a display which is always handy to have but try to find a decent manual online. They always say LCD display and show the Voltage via a generic manufacturers pic, well current for me is as important for most things than Voltage. Having the same battle with a car that I might buy tomorrow that includes a gps. Neither the garage knows nor it is indicated in the docs I found online if I can see the speed limit on a certain road so you are stuck to what is in it. In my current car I velcro'ed a Nexus 7 over the standard radio that had it's time and it is just a matter of installing the software. It's just fantastic. If we could only speak to the developers instead of the sales and marketing team I think the world would be a far better place to live in for us techie guys.
+Luc Peeters There's s lot of misinformation on eBay, and sadly lots of sales people across all different kinds of products are not kept informed on all areas of a product. TH-cam for me is a place to check things before I buy them. For me, if I can't find a video I make one! Thanks for your comments. I hope you get what you want from your GPS!
Press and hold down the first button on left for 5 seconds or until the readings flash, you can then adjust the settings up or down to your liking with the two other buttons. This is the most common and usually cheapest solar charge controller on the market today. Like most all of them, made in China. Cheap as it is, it has an LCD readout which others that cost much more do not have. It is listed as a CMTD type controller (Corrected Mean Temperature Difference) as opposed to an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) type controller. The manufacturers include a very poor user manual. Supposedly the USB output is at 2.5 amps. I recently bought a Kw1220, 20 amp model of this off Ebay for about $5.00 sent from China, which looks exactly like yours but is not a CMTD type controller and could not handle my incoming panel voltage and wattage. MPPT is at least 30% more efficient than PWM i.e. with MPPT you get 30% more output of your solar power system.
The issue I have with my similar looking unit is that current measurement and regulation is carried out on the negative paths. This means that either your vehicle needs to be positive earth, or you need to keep the grounds on your panels and loads floating.
It also looked like it was doing temperature compensation. Definitely seems like a lead acid style charger. I'm currently thinking about making a modified PWM5 (from your design) to try to cut off the pwm charging when it gets to a low pwm duty cycle and then have a hysteresis where it doesn't try charging again until the voltage drops a certain amount. This could be doable with one of your Arduino prototypes, as it only requires some code changes.
I've been thinking about this myself but there aren't enough hours in the day! Perhaps in the longer winter nights I'll be able to put some thought into it. I hope you manage to pull it off and I'd love to see it when you do.
Hopefully I can get to it soon. I was also thinking of using one of those cheap, small buck converters to power the Arduino from the solar side. That way it won't pull from the battery during the night. I am hoping it won't drop the voltage too much on the solar side since it is such a small load.
I have a similar controller for lead-acid batteries. In order to change a setting, You should hold down the menu-button down for appr. 5 sek. - until the numbers starts to blink. Then you can increase or decrease the values with the up and down buttons. I really would like to know which values it is possible to choose for max. volt.
Hello from France. I suggest you set the max voltage value at about 14,4 volts. this is the maximum charge that a car alternator will usually deliver. By the way would you know what's the use or the 0 to 24 hrs setting called "load working mode"... It's set at 0 by default and I've left it as it is but I would like to know what is the use of this setting... Thanks and regards. JP/
Luckily we all use a tiny inexpensive 3S BMS that does balancing also. It is still a nice unit with a fair amount of read-out values. Normally vendors recommend using a 3S BMS with this to avoid trickle charging after 12.6v voltage has been reached. But you knew this already.
İ tried to built the cheapest Lipo charging system using 10W solar panel without using a solar charge controller. Basically, used one cheap (0.99$) 2A DC-DC buck converter module and TP4056 Lipo charger with protection circuit. Works like magic. Total cost less than 12$ (including handmade solar panel made out of cells 40)
Orkhan AmirAslan I'm going to do almost the same. :) But it's a 18v solar panel (I don't know how many Watts yet) and a small 3a buck converter. :) And I'm going to use up to 12 18650 batteries in parallel (I need to check each one's capacity and make the calculations.)
I'm using this controller to charge up my 3s pack, but disconnecting it once I get to 12.5v or so, based on your results. Thanks for making this information available.
I've used a similar model. If you set a high voltage disconnect at 13.8v or whatever it will stop charging. Then set the high voltage reconnect to 12.8v or whatever. In this way it will drift between HVD and HVR with no charging in between. Mine is sold for Pb but when I saw how it worked I immediately thought "lithium".
Adam as a electronics hobbyist, I think modifications can be made to this controller. To start, I've noticed many good questions here. Could you answer a few? We value your logic. 😊 thanks
Hi, the left-sided button is as you saw a change mode button after you change by a press the direction, ie. pv, load on, load off etc. then hold the button for 5 seconds, the flashing spanner depics an adjusting is now! In the f.ex. please mode, say plus middle button or minus right button, to 14,5 max charge, then press left button once. This is not trickel, it is all of nothing charge after how the sun on the solar is. Then is stops charging at 14 5. Load off, 5 secs, mine is 10,5, means no power given if under 10,5. So. Read the directions. It's a great little control, have used them 3 years. For 7 euros...Amazon. Cheap.
To bad it's another fail, however I do like to see the insides of these controllers. seems like the design and build quality are improving. another good video thanks.
Great video! Two questions: 1. How are you measuring the charge pulse? current to voltage converter or ?? 2. The charge controller is running off the battery power, right? Could the pulse charging be there to put power back in that the charge controller itself is draining off?? Do you see a net gain above the 12.6v+ that you were seeing?? THANKS!!
I tend to support the idea that the trickle charge is there to supply the load of the controller. If the voltage does not exceed 12.6v, IMHO the batteries are not charging. Personally I prefer the cutoff at 12.45v for 3s
Mr. Welch, thank you for taking the time to analyze this charge controller. I have the same make and model charge controller. Mine is. LI320. Not sure the difference. Perhaps this is the 20 amp version. I wonder if you had taken into account any constant load that may be present across your lithium battery? In my application, i am powering an inverter to power a garage door opener. The device draws a slight amount of current constantly to power the wireless remote control receiver and the electronics that control the up and down actions of the door. Given these slight loads, do you suppose this trickle charge action would be beneficial to offset the draw on the battery by day and to make up for the draw without PV at night. Thank you.
is that the same with the upgraded solar charge controler but for sealed gel flooded ? ? bought it for a 2 panel 24v simple standby supply for my storage and small apliances /// lights power supplies and power station backups
Great look at this charger. I have seen notes that this charger is only for flooded batteries not Lithium, so you have reach the right conclusion. NOW, since you seem to be tech savy, why do you think the instructions would tell you to put the battery on first then the PV then the load and remove in the reverse order? This concerned me, for what happens if the battery is just disconnected leaving the PV? The controller goes up in smoke? Or is it a woory about selecting the correct voltage for the system, i.e. 24V
Thanks for the kind comments. Determining the battery voltage is probably one reason why it's usually battery, solar, load, however there are probably a few other reasons for it. Most charge controllers are powered by the battery directly, not having this stable power supply is likely to cause the microcontroller (or other internal circuitry) to act abnormally. I have had controllers connected to solar when a mistake has disconnected the battery - I'm yet to kill one though!
Well, once again, spot on. The controller IS powered by the battery and since it is the default 12V, nothing seems to bung up when it is disconnected and reconnected. But you are correct that, with the battery removed, it starts to act erratically, powering from the PV input. THe voltage jumps all over (I removed the battery, what the heck, see what happens), but didn't seem to display the battery was gone. Add a load, and now I got a 'no battery' error. turn off the load and it goes back to the voltage jumping around.
The reason is this controller works on either 12v OR 24v systems. Connecting the battery first allows the controller to detect which voltage the battery is using, so it knows whether to run 12v or 24v. You wouldn't want it sending 24v load out to your 12v devices.
Excellent well made video! I likewise bought this same model of controller and I am trying to use it on my 12v AGM Duracell battery. My only problem is that I can't tell if my solar panels are charging or not. The display shows that there is a solar panel(s) hocked up but the arrow pointing from the solar panel to the battery never blinks. But I see that in you video that at one point your arrow is blinking. So what is the difference between the arrow blinking and not blinking? Currently I am using 6 small solar panels: 2 groups of three connected in series and then those 2 group connected in parallel. Yes diodes are being used. Each solar panel is 6volts but where I think my problem is with the watts. some of the panels are 1.5watts and some of them are 1watt. So I'm no where near the 50watts that you have. FYI: here are all the solar panels I own 4 x 1.5w 6v - 250mA 3 x 1w 6v - 167mA 2 x .5w 6v - 84mA 3 x 1.5w 4.5v - 334mA
Hello and thank you - I've just looked up a manual online and it suggests a constant arrow means charging and a flashing arrow means it is in float mode. It looks to me that having numerous small panels perhaps isn't bringing in enough current to fill your battery. It might be time to look at getting a panel designed for 12 volt charging with a few more watts. It may be the the energy you are collecting with your small panels is only really enough to offset the current used by the charge controller.
Adam Welch thank you Adam. No matter how much I looked for an answer to that I could not find it. Good to know that my solar panels are really working! Cheers and God Speed!
I like it. It can't be long before the Chinese market realises there is a market for lithium solar CC's. Maybe if you had a larger bank of lithium cells you could leave a 50-100ma load on constantly to negate the float charging?
+pietkaify I guess time will tell. You'd have to run this for a while and see how the cells did. Once one failed, or reduced significantly in capacity I guess you could take a cell apart and compare with one which hadn't been float charged. Like I said in the video - in my case, a lead acid solar charge controller is doing a better job at charging my li-ion cells in a cc/cv type manner. Cheers
Add a 12v 0.12A pc fan to help cool the charger and waste that extra current! You can adjust the disconnect and reconnect voltages of the load outputs to make this happen at your desired level.
I had one of these. It was supposed to be 10A but it blew up at 5A. I tried a 20A version with the same result. None of these little blue controllers are worthwhile even when they have a different name or occasionally a different coloured front.
Many Thanks Adam for the informative video. I've got a straight forward set up (small panel 12v battery, PIR and small 12v lamp) which I'm trying to set up as a light in my shed! Been playing around for a while but still struggling with the meaning of some of the settings. Can you point me to anywhere they are explained in more detail?
Hello, nice that you accept this problem. I wanted to build a 3 or 4 S 3-4P. I have a 12v water pump with about 3 watts. I would also like to connect 2 pumps. One should be able to walk for about 3 hours. I also want to charge the battery. I have a 100 watt solar panel. Do you have a solution for that? Do you have that with the charge controller in the meantime under control? Greetings Tom
+The Walking Trade Now my Anself was sold as lithium only - and I suspected that it's just a lead acid charger which has had its charging parameters changed a little. I did try for a while to find a menu where I could change the chemistry but without success. Perhaps when I get a minute I'll try again with a fresh head on. If you can send me info of a button combination press or hold that you know of that would be handy.
Mine is this clone: www.banggood.com/102030A-USB-Solar-Panel-Battery-Regulator-Charge-Intelligent-Controller-1224V-p-1143533.html?rmmds=search On this model you long press the First (as explained on the website) screen blinks and then w/ the other 2 buttons you select B01, B02 or B03. In fact the manual says there is a B00 which does not exist on my model. But it seems that what they call TX4820 and TX4830 have this option for 48V battery (electric bike ?!) By the way mine is not cutting the load on the usb ports part.
+jack419288 Thanks for the kind comments. If you want an lcd screen then the lead acid version of this charger is probably your best bet. However my favourite is probably this one... th-cam.com/video/BbIqNGHe6Xc/w-d-xo.html you might be able to buy three within your budget! I like it because it’s simple - does what it’s meant to and is very very cheap!
Gooday Adam. What a great instructional video. I've had a bit of a poke about your channel and all seem to be of the same understandable quality. I've just fitted one of these controllers to my campervan and the setup seems to be fairly simple........except........I can't alter 'battery type'. I'm using 2x100ah AGMs and can only get the default '601' showing. What is '601' and how do I select 'AGM' or is done internally by the controller itself ?
+Lance S The version I have is set for lithium ion batteries and as far as I'm aware you can't change the chemistry type in the menu. I suspect they are all fairly identical on the inside but the code on the micro controller will have different target voltages and possibly more menu items depending on the model. So sorry I'm not sure I can help all that much. Thanks for the kind comments and I hope you enjoy future videos as well!
I have a similar looking controller. It works just fine but as soon as my automated ventilation fans cut on, the software crashes and I have to reboot the thing. Mine is rated at 30A and my fans are rated at a combined 5A though they probably peak higher because they’ll blow a 5A fuse. I had to put them on 7.5A fuse. When running though they consume 4A. But that controller is one that ended up on the reject range. I had a 10A edition that served for about six months before going totally nuts. That, like the other ended up on the reject range too. The reject range.... I just put things on a berm and shoot at them until I figure they’re dead enough.
Thank you so much for your videos. They help so much. Now that this failed did you ever found a charge controller for 12v lithium batteries to stop the charge at 12.6? Please let us know. I am searching the internet like crazy, and can’t find one. Please help. Thanks so much
Should I connect my camp fridge directly to the terminal of the battery or to the load terminal!. How do I connect a AC-DC Li Ion battery charger to the Controller. What is the out put rating at the load terminal marked with a light bulb.
I wonder how well lipo and Li-ion performs in the cold compared to lead acid. Might be worth checking that before you ruin nice cells in our Northern cold type of weather if you use and store them in a garden shack. I've heard stories of people with e-bikes that their batt packs were dead after staying a winter parked outside.
+Luc Peeters Its a good question. If I destroy them I'll be sure to report back. It wouldn't be a total waste - other could learn from my mistakes. I suspect because they are receiving a charge every day they may be ok - the issue is going to be around when the charge doesn't reap as much power as my lights extract at night. Always an issue for off grid applications.
I switched off when you said "the interesting thing for me, apart from this one being set up for Lithium Iron, is that you can get a model for lithium Iron."
I wish they would just have a mppt charge controller that charges each cell at 4.2 v when it hits 4.2 volts it shuts off. During shut off phase it uses energy of higher voltage series to balance lower voltage series. Then when system gets to 3.9 volts it will restart with full amps. When the battery is in full (above 3.9 volts) it dumps power another battery/load. In a chemistry book, chemical reactions have specific volts they produce. They don't vary between 4.2 and 3.5 volts.
Hi Adam I wonder if you can help me. I am a newbie at solar. I have bought this charge controller and a 100w panel. I also bought some extender cable for the solar panel with the solar connectors. But I didn't concentrate on the fact that it changed my solar panel positive to black and negative to red. I fused the red(-) cable and after connecting the battery to the controller I connected the solar panel obviously in the wrong polarity and I didn't get the solar panel icon on the LCD display. I quickly realised my mistake and fused the black wire(+) and reconnected the solar panel in the right polarity but still no solar panel icon. Have a damaged the solar panel or the charge controller? I'm waiting for my multimeter to arrive so I can test a few things. Thanks in advance. Mick.
A Little Help Please....I have this hooked up to a 25 W Panel. I am getting 21v at the panel on a sunny day. When putting the volt meter on the battery out terminal, I get 8.5v. I get the same reading in the alligator clips. Other charge controllers that I have read 13.1v to 14v under the same configuration. Figuring I may have a defective CC, I ordered a second one to test. Same result. Am i missing something? Is there a setting that needs to be adjusted. I am afraid that the unit will only charge when the battery gets down below the 8.5v, thereby damaging the battery. Your help will be much appreciated.
+mantos1966 The model I'm using here is one setup to charge lithium cells. Firstly you need to attach the battery before the solar panel, and then you might need to look through the menu to tell it you are using a 12v lead acid battery. 8.5v may be a 2s lithium setting? If none of that helps, it may be that you are very unlucky with two faulty units.
+Rafael Dalben The load output is whatever voltage the battery is. So if the battery is under charge it's likely to go about 12.7. If you want to have a regulated output you'll need to add something suitable. You can get some charge controllers with 12v regulated outputs (I've reviewed one) but they tend to only supply omitted current - say 2 amps.
Hi have bought a 10 A controller for my lead acid battery, my question is can I connect a light into the controller and does it have a built in timer my instruction book doesn't mention anything about setting the load? Thanks Graeme
I'm not sure sbouf this, but I have the same controller. In the led screen a symbol that looks like a TV aerial has appeared in the right lower corner. 😳 I can nog find out ehy or what its meant to tell me.
hi sorry to trouble you again, I have one of these units, My panel in full sunlight outputs about 19v, but when I connect to the unit and measure the voltage at the terminals on the controller it read about 12v wich is also the batt voltage , any idea whats happening here, also unable to find the screen to select B1 or B2 for gel or normal lead acid battery, any help appreciated thanks
+pontymike56 Yeah this is typical for a PWM solar charge controller. When it's in the bulk stage of charging the panel and the cells are directly connected and therefore they hold pretty much the same voltage. When your cells get to their target voltage the controller will start backing off the current by disconnecting the panel from the cells and reconnecting it in ever decreasing pulses - Pulse Width Modulation. Your panels 19 volts is produced under no load (usually referred to as open circuit voltage) but at that voltage is does not produce any current - and therefore no power (p=iv). Your panel probably has a short circuit current specified too - but no volts will be produced, again no power. Solar panels produce their maximum power somewhere between these two states - usually a bit above the normal operating range of a battery. I can't answer your second question at the moment but I'll try and look it up for you.
I have one of these controllers that works fine for my lead acid battery. I'm changing to a 12 volt, 100ah Lithium battery. Can I still use this controller? The brief Chinese instructions only offer 3 choices, B1 sealed 14.4 V, B2 gel 14.2V, and B3 flood 14.6V. It appears max charge voltage can be adjusted.
Hello.. I did buy this unit and id do not charge the battery at al. I hear about the cable must be G10 so what is wrong. I did change the cable to the battery to G10 and still not work. Must al the cables be thicker G10 cables ? I se that you do have a thicker cable that comes from the solar penal. How can i get a thinker cable to connect the solar penal to the controller ? Who can help me out of this so i can use it as soon as possible ?
The unit is powered from its battery input. Without voltage present from the battery, the unit does not power up although I don't have a figure for th minimum voltage threshold.
Hi Adam sorry 2nd question asked on another of your great videos. Just wonder a voltage relay switch circuit board maybe a great tool to switch off PV's when batteries reach 12v maybe. Just trying to get my head around it. But your clever so maybe another great video cheers .
Hi I have just bought one of these for my caravan. I get the solar panel and battery ports but do you know how to wire the load so I know what power my caravan is using. Help would be appreciated thanks
You've probably got a pair of wires that comes straight from the leisure battery which is the main 12v feed into the caravan. You could potentially cut these wires and use the half going to the battery for the battery connection of your charge controller and the other part going off to feed your loads could connect to your load terminals of the charge controller. The thing to be aware of is you might have a battery charger in your van to power the 12v loads (and charge the battery) when you have AC power? In which case things get a bit more complicated and to be honest I'd need to see the whole circuit to work out what was the best way forward. The solar power system in my caravan is simply used to charge the battery - I don't use a charge controller with a load output on it. Simple fact of the matter it that it's just to keep the battery topped up whilst its not in use rather than be a main power supply.
Theory: 7.4V, with a trickle charge? That may not be good for li-ions, which can't take a trickle. But it sounds perfect for a 6S of NiMH cells. Could it be that the little charge controller was actually designed for NiMH, and is only falsely labeled as for li-ion? Certainly plausible to me, NiMH are still the cell of choice in emergency lighting.
+Vyl Bird This Anself trickles at 12.6 but the other PWM solar charge controller I showed does have a NiMH version at 7.2. Did I show the wrong one? There are a number of variants. 7.2 NIMH, 7.4 Lithium, 11.1 Lithium and 12 Lead acid all at 3 amp. All identical on the inside - except for the target voltage in the code.
Adam, have you found a way to change the PV off voltage setting from 12.6v to 12.5 or 12.4 v? I've tried this controller with my medical cart batteries, but when the voltage gets to 12.6v the integral BMS stops the charge and discharges the packs to 12v. I would not rather change the BMS if I don't have to...
I'm just wandering if it didn't cut out completely because it didn't reach max 12.6v . Your meter shows a bit higher voltage. I used similar controller with simillar set up but for lead acids and when it reaches certain voltage it cuts out completely solar panels . Did you try use solar panel with higher output ? What we can see on video you have only 8w output from panel. I'll like to see video with like 50w output from panel. I could bet it will cut out. I have this controller but 20A . I'll like to do the same test but I don't have oscilloscope
Thanks for your detailed video 👍 I have an issue where I don't know what to set my PV at and load on and load off. I will be running my 45w fridge and just my microwave and mobile/tablet. Would you be able to assist. I have set up my gel batteries b2 and I have 4 x 55Ah battery backup.
+pontymike56 This one will have some loses internally mainly due to the buck converter (supplying the 5v USB power) if the load is left on. However it shouldn't discharge most batteries over one night. I'd guess either you have a load which is drawing too much overnight, your battery is very small or it is damaged and unable to hold any charge.
hello my friend and thanks for the videos the are great help. i want to make a small off grid system with one 60watt panel @ 12 volts and a small pack of 18650, what charger@ 20A or setup would you recommend for a 3s opr 4s packs on 12 volts? Thanks in advance.
For me 3 or 4s doesn't really work that well on most solar charge controllers. The cheapest ones tend to charge up to 12.6 or 16.8 volts (the absolute maximum for lithium ion) and keep them there using a float charge. I've done a series of videos on this and found it works a lot better with a 7s pack. th-cam.com/video/YoH7V56RtkM/w-d-xo.html Now I was quite pleased with the Wincong SX01-3A ( th-cam.com/video/vqnf6Msy9No/w-d-xo.html ) because the voltage limits were a little more on the conservative side. Trouble is it is only 3 amp so you're perhaps a little over it's limit using a 60w panel. Plus the load output is a funny one - but that might not be an issue for you. I was looking at the specs on the recent EPEver LPLI range of solar charge controllers. They come in Tracer models (MPPT) and Landstar models (PWM) and seem to have fairly sensible charging parameters for 3s lithium packs. Sadly though another funny load output specifically deigned for LEDs on top of a street light. But I'm told something else may be coming from EPEver very soon.
Adam Welch thanks for the response. yes i have see the 7s but i must put second panel to make it to 24, volts and thats a yoo much for me .i was ok with 100watt panel @12volt and a 150ah battery fmin order to have lights (leds) and charge phones small tv etc. with a 150watt inverter. but i was thinking to skip the battery and go to li-ion .do you think there is . this anself unit your only concern is that trickle charge will eventually destroy the batteries? if i add a balancer will be better or not?
Good one,, thumbs up like your vids clear and well presented , I'm new to all this ,, what solar panel would you advise some one to buy that's just starting up cheers Shane uk
Hi Adam another great video as always. I have a couple questions I wanted to ask. 1) What do you recommend as the most optimum solar charger for lithium 18650 batteries? Also If per say I wanted to scale up in the future and if I did and I continued to add to my battery bank maintaining all of the proper volts with the solar panel and with the solar charger etc. Would a large solar charger like an Outback Mppt be ok to use in say a 18650 battery pack with say 12 volts and something like 1,000 AH? Does the system in your opinion become more unstable with the greater the size of the battery bank? And 2) What gauge wire would you say would be the best to use for the wire leads from the battery bank to the solar charger? The larger the wire size the greater the current flow which could make the system unstable and so basically I want to use battery holders as you use in your videos and use the same gauge wires that come stock with the battery holders and run them in the appropriate series and parallel to add up to the needed voltage and Ah for the desired battery bank. So would you say that this could be done efficiently or when a battery bank gets the size and scale of say 12 volts and 1,000 AH or greater that it would be unstable to do something in this fashion? And that it would be better to use sodering and using nickel strips and using fuses are more appropriate because using the battery holders in a system that size would be too unstable? Please let me know your thoughts. Again great video thank you for putting them out two thumbs up and what is your best recommendation for a cheap starter solar charger for 18650 lithium battery bank with a budget range of $20 dollars to $80( just for starters) With a small bank of say one hundred Amp hours to three hundred Amp Hours for starters before scaling up to one thousand Amp hours bank ? Also one other quick side question has anyone explored Ni-cd battery bank or Lithium Polymer banks with solar? I haven't seen any video on it on youtube or the idea addressed anywhere on the internet. Much thanks Adam God Bless
hi Adam im looking to make a power bank and looking for a cheap lithium charge controller like this but as you said it trickle charges so is there a charge controller that you recommend thats great for lithium? i found this one but dunno if its any good its a wincong SL02B for Li battery any help would be great and great videos.. keep up the good work.
Have a look at my series on charging lithium cells with a lead acid solar charge controller - which starts here... th-cam.com/video/YoH7V56RtkM/w-d-xo.html All of the manufacturers of cheap lithium solar products see to adapt a lead acid charge controller and mess with the voltage settings, but not the charging profiles. I've found that using a lead acid charge controller has benefits over a 'lithium' charge controller. That said - if you want the best charging profile you're even better buying a lead acid charge controller where you can adjust all the charging parameters. That way you can customize the charge exactly to where you are comfortable. Or you could back the latest ElectroDacus kickstarter - but that's quite a jump in price.
Okay thanks a lot also I have watched that video of you using a lead acid charge controller to charge lithium battery's lol iv watch most of your videos and only just found your channel about a week ago but thanks again for your help much appreciated
Hi, Thanks for the video, very informative. I have a similar version of this controller and a 13w@17.5v panel running it, however it's switching into 24v mode - do you know if there is a way to force it to remain in 12v mode? I don't have a battery connected yet, so it that going to allow it to switch to 24v mode. I didn't want to plug a 12v battery in and end up killing it! Thanks in advance.
That's precisely the entire point! First thing to be connected is the battery, always! ;-) The range will then automatically set to 12V or 24V. According to the battery bank connected. Quite simple indeed, no need to complicate!
+Horia Faliboga I can't say for definite as I haven't got a 30a model but generally series of controller have the same feature list, they've just had some components upgraded or placed in parallel to accommodate the higher currents.
Good video, thanks, I subbed. I am looking to find a CC for some 18650's in a 12v system as well. I will check out your other videos, but can you tell me if you found a solution? I actually bought a Victron 100/30 mppt CC that has a lithium setting. I bought that for a big lifepo4 pack, but It is also fully configurable through bluetooth with a dongle. I found it on sale for about $150, but I want something cheaper for some small 18650 packs.
12 volt lithium systems are trickier I think than 24 volt or 7s. I charge my 7s pack from a lead acid charge controller with (so far) great results. The best dedicated lithium solar charge controller I've used (that will do 12v) is probably the small CN3702 modules... th-cam.com/video/liYZ5pYOZDE/w-d-xo.html The trouble is they can only support fairly small panels out of the box.
Interesting ... I always wonder what might TECHNICALLY make a PWM charger(?), into a MPPT ... is it just a case of lying, or is there some little difference that justifies calling some cheap solar chargers "MPPT".
these are not very good solar chargers, they won't go to float charge just sits on 14.4 volts from sun up till sunset, I have tested at least 3 of them and they all do the same thing. To change the mode you need to hold the left button for 5 seconds but none of the parameters seem to do much, still charges to 14.4 .
This controller can be programmed to set to your specific parameters. It's in the instructions. I have one of these and for the price it works very well. See this video on how to program. th-cam.com/video/EDl4cN1JREo/w-d-xo.html
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If you long press the input selector key you can adjust the solar cut off value
I have been experimenting with the ANSELF lead acid 12/24 volt version the end top off voltage is fully adjustable I can adjust it from 13.2V all the way to to 16V in 100 mV increments . I tested it charging an 6 cell 16V Supercapacitor 300F each cell. I used this because it would charge up and reach the final voltage quickly. What I discovered is this charger does not trickle charge at all. When it reaches what it thinks is the final voltage the pulses slow down and then it stops all together. I feel Adams Meter he was using was just not quite in sync with what voltage it was reading compared to what the charger thought the voltage was. If he had just lowered the set point down a tenth of a volt he would of seen that it stop sending charge pulses. For my test I set the voltage at 13.2V and also later at 14.7V. After the capacitors were charged I would lower the set point down on tenth of a volt and then observe the meter showed no arrow pointing to charging and the pulses stopped until the capacitors started to self drain to the new lower set point. But the charger never went higher than what was shown on the display of the meter. And the meter always showed the current voltage of the capacitors (battery) not the set point. I really don't see why one would need a special Lithium battery charger because the top off voltage is adjustable from 13.2 to 16 Or 26.4V to 32V (as long as the solar panel or power supply feeding it does not put out more amps than the battery can safely receive a charge). Regarding the wrench display on certain parameters shown. If you press on the left button and hold it will allow you to change that parameter. I believe the hour meter button it you press and hold left button for that just resets the hour meter to zero. Also by using the capacitors to confirm about not trickle charging the voltage never rose higher than the setpoint even after several hours. I did notice I had to charge the capacitors up a few volts before the charge controller would start working because at first it was 7.3 volts and not enough to operate it properly. The reason I used the supercapacitors was because a lead acid or lithium battery would take too long to reach the setpoint where I could observe and confirm the pulses stopped after setpoint was reached. Another reason this charger would seem to work well with lithium batteries is that unlike some Lead acid battery chargers this does not have a fast charge algorithm where the voltage is ever raised higher than the set point for a certain period of time during the first portion portion of the charge cycle. At no point does the charge go higher than the set point.
Thank you for these kind of videos. There are tons of these things on ebay but it always remains a gamble on what you get. The pile of devices that I have here in my house is driving the misses mad, and to be honest I can't blame here.
I was looking to replace my lead acid charger with one with a display which is always handy to have but try to find a decent manual online. They always say LCD display and show the Voltage via a generic manufacturers pic, well current for me is as important for most things than Voltage.
Having the same battle with a car that I might buy tomorrow that includes a gps. Neither the garage knows nor it is indicated in the docs I found online if I can see the speed limit on a certain road so you are stuck to what is in it. In my current car I velcro'ed a Nexus 7 over the standard radio that had it's time and it is just a matter of installing the software. It's just fantastic.
If we could only speak to the developers instead of the sales and marketing team I think the world would be a far better place to live in for us techie guys.
+Luc Peeters There's s lot of misinformation on eBay, and sadly lots of sales people across all different kinds of products are not kept informed on all areas of a product.
TH-cam for me is a place to check things before I buy them. For me, if I can't find a video I make one!
Thanks for your comments. I hope you get what you want from your GPS!
Luc Peeters I
Press and hold down the first button on left for 5 seconds or until the readings flash, you can then adjust the settings up or down to your liking with the two other buttons. This is the most common and usually cheapest solar charge controller on the market today. Like most all of them, made in China. Cheap as it is, it has an LCD readout which others that cost much more do not have. It is listed as a CMTD type controller (Corrected Mean Temperature Difference) as opposed to an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) type controller. The manufacturers include a very poor user manual. Supposedly the USB output is at 2.5 amps. I recently bought a Kw1220, 20 amp model of this off Ebay for about $5.00 sent from China, which looks exactly like yours but is not a CMTD type controller and could not handle my incoming panel voltage and wattage. MPPT is at least 30% more efficient than PWM i.e. with MPPT you get 30% more output of your solar power system.
The issue I have with my similar looking unit is that current measurement and regulation is carried out on the negative paths.
This means that either your vehicle needs to be positive earth, or you need to keep the grounds on your panels and loads floating.
It also looked like it was doing temperature compensation. Definitely seems like a lead acid style charger. I'm currently thinking about making a modified PWM5 (from your design) to try to cut off the pwm charging when it gets to a low pwm duty cycle and then have a hysteresis where it doesn't try charging again until the voltage drops a certain amount. This could be doable with one of your Arduino prototypes, as it only requires some code changes.
I've been thinking about this myself but there aren't enough hours in the day! Perhaps in the longer winter nights I'll be able to put some thought into it. I hope you manage to pull it off and I'd love to see it when you do.
Hopefully I can get to it soon. I was also thinking of using one of those cheap, small buck converters to power the Arduino from the solar side. That way it won't pull from the battery during the night. I am hoping it won't drop the voltage too much on the solar side since it is such a small load.
I have a similar controller for lead-acid batteries. In order to change a setting, You should hold down the menu-button down for appr. 5 sek. - until the numbers starts to blink. Then you can increase or decrease the values with the up and down buttons.
I really would like to know which values it is possible to choose for max. volt.
Hello from France. I suggest you set the max voltage value at about 14,4 volts. this is the maximum charge that a car alternator will usually deliver. By the way would you know what's the use or the 0 to 24 hrs setting called "load working mode"... It's set at 0 by default and I've left it as it is but I would like to know what is the use of this setting... Thanks and regards. JP/
Luckily we all use a tiny inexpensive 3S BMS that does balancing also. It is still a nice unit with a fair amount of read-out values. Normally vendors recommend using a 3S BMS with this to avoid trickle charging after 12.6v voltage has been reached. But you knew this already.
İ tried to built the cheapest Lipo charging system using 10W solar panel without using a solar charge controller. Basically, used one cheap (0.99$) 2A DC-DC buck converter module and TP4056 Lipo charger with protection circuit. Works like magic. Total cost less than 12$ (including handmade solar panel made out of cells 40)
Excellent. I like the ideas. Thanks
Orkhan AmirAslan I'm going to do almost the same. :) But it's a 18v solar panel (I don't know how many Watts yet) and a small 3a buck converter. :) And I'm going to use up to 12 18650 batteries in parallel (I need to check each one's capacity and make the calculations.)
Keep is updated.
Orkhan AmirAslan Sure. As soon as I make it I'm going to publish in my channel. Then I find this comment and put the link here. :)
Orkhan AmirAslan
Do you have any schematic?
I'm using this controller to charge up my 3s pack, but disconnecting it once I get to 12.5v or so, based on your results. Thanks for making this information available.
I've used a similar model. If you set a high voltage disconnect at 13.8v or whatever it will stop charging. Then set the high voltage reconnect to 12.8v or whatever. In this way it will drift between HVD and HVR with no charging in between.
Mine is sold for Pb but when I saw how it worked I immediately thought "lithium".
Adam as a electronics hobbyist, I think modifications can be made to this controller. To start, I've noticed many good questions here. Could you answer a few? We value your logic. 😊 thanks
Hi, the left-sided button is as you saw a change mode button after you change by a press the direction, ie. pv, load on, load off etc. then hold the button for 5 seconds, the flashing spanner depics an adjusting is now! In the f.ex. please mode, say plus middle button or minus right button, to 14,5 max charge, then press left button once. This is not trickel, it is all of nothing charge after how the sun on the solar is. Then is stops charging at 14 5.
Load off, 5 secs, mine is 10,5, means no power given if under 10,5. So. Read the directions. It's a great little control, have used them 3 years. For 7 euros...Amazon. Cheap.
To bad it's another fail, however I do like to see the insides of these controllers. seems like the design and build quality are improving. another good video thanks.
Great video! Two questions:
1. How are you measuring the charge pulse? current to voltage converter or ??
2. The charge controller is running off the battery power, right? Could the pulse charging be there to put power back in that the charge controller itself is draining off?? Do you see a net gain above the 12.6v+ that you were seeing??
THANKS!!
I tend to support the idea that the trickle charge is there to supply the load of the controller. If the voltage does not exceed 12.6v, IMHO the batteries are not charging. Personally I prefer the cutoff at 12.45v for 3s
Mr. Welch, thank you for taking the time to analyze this charge controller. I have the same make and model charge controller. Mine is. LI320. Not sure the difference. Perhaps this is the 20 amp version. I wonder if you had taken into account any constant load that may be present across your lithium battery? In my application, i am powering an inverter to power a garage door opener. The device draws a slight amount of current constantly to power the wireless remote control receiver and the electronics that control the up and down actions of the door. Given these slight loads, do you suppose this trickle charge action would be beneficial to offset the draw on the battery by day and to make up for the draw without PV at night. Thank you.
is that the same with the upgraded solar charge controler but for sealed gel flooded ? ? bought it for a 2 panel 24v simple standby supply for my storage and small apliances /// lights power supplies and power station backups
Great look at this charger. I have seen notes that this charger is only for flooded batteries not Lithium, so you have reach the right conclusion. NOW, since you seem to be tech savy, why do you think the instructions would tell you to put the battery on first then the PV then the load and remove in the reverse order? This concerned me, for what happens if the battery is just disconnected leaving the PV? The controller goes up in smoke? Or is it a woory about selecting the correct voltage for the system, i.e. 24V
Thanks for the kind comments. Determining the battery voltage is probably one reason why it's usually battery, solar, load, however there are probably a few other reasons for it. Most charge controllers are powered by the battery directly, not having this stable power supply is likely to cause the microcontroller (or other internal circuitry) to act abnormally. I have had controllers connected to solar when a mistake has disconnected the battery - I'm yet to kill one though!
Well, once again, spot on. The controller IS powered by the battery and since it is the default 12V, nothing seems to bung up when it is disconnected and reconnected. But you are correct that, with the battery removed, it starts to act erratically, powering from the PV input. THe voltage jumps all over (I removed the battery, what the heck, see what happens), but didn't seem to display the battery was gone. Add a load, and now I got a 'no battery' error. turn off the load and it goes back to the voltage jumping around.
The reason is this controller works on either 12v OR 24v systems. Connecting the battery first allows the controller to detect which voltage the battery is using, so it knows whether to run 12v or 24v. You wouldn't want it sending 24v load out to your 12v devices.
Does the low voltage disconnect, disconnect the USB ports? I know the green fronted ones don't.
Excellent well made video! I likewise bought this same model of controller and I am trying to use it on my 12v AGM Duracell battery. My only problem is that I can't tell if my solar panels are charging or not. The display shows that there is a solar panel(s) hocked up but the arrow pointing from the solar panel to the battery never blinks. But I see that in you video that at one point your arrow is blinking. So what is the difference between the arrow blinking and not blinking? Currently I am using 6 small solar panels: 2 groups of three connected in series and then those 2 group connected in parallel. Yes diodes are being used. Each solar panel is 6volts but where I think my problem is with the watts. some of the panels are 1.5watts and some of them are 1watt. So I'm no where near the 50watts that you have.
FYI: here are all the solar panels I own
4 x 1.5w 6v - 250mA
3 x 1w 6v - 167mA
2 x .5w 6v - 84mA
3 x 1.5w 4.5v - 334mA
Hello and thank you - I've just looked up a manual online and it suggests a constant arrow means charging and a flashing arrow means it is in float mode. It looks to me that having numerous small panels perhaps isn't bringing in enough current to fill your battery. It might be time to look at getting a panel designed for 12 volt charging with a few more watts. It may be the the energy you are collecting with your small panels is only really enough to offset the current used by the charge controller.
Adam Welch thank you Adam. No matter how much I looked for an answer to that I could not find it. Good to know that my solar panels are really working! Cheers and God Speed!
No problem. Here's a link to the manual I found... felis-net.com/manuals/F0550-B.pdf
I like it. It can't be long before the Chinese market realises there is a market for lithium solar CC's. Maybe if you had a larger bank of lithium cells you could leave a 50-100ma load on constantly to negate the float charging?
+pietkaify I guess time will tell. You'd have to run this for a while and see how the cells did. Once one failed, or reduced significantly in capacity I guess you could take a cell apart and compare with one which hadn't been float charged. Like I said in the video - in my case, a lead acid solar charge controller is doing a better job at charging my li-ion cells in a cc/cv type manner. Cheers
Add a 12v 0.12A pc fan to help cool the charger and waste that extra current! You can adjust the disconnect and reconnect voltages of the load outputs to make this happen at your desired level.
Would the charge controller behave differently at full charge if a load was connected ? I thought that was the point of the load output
I had one of these. It was supposed to be 10A but it blew up at 5A. I tried a 20A version with the same result. None of these little blue controllers are worthwhile even when they have a different name or occasionally a different coloured front.
Many Thanks Adam for the informative video. I've got a straight forward set up (small panel 12v battery, PIR and small 12v lamp) which I'm trying to set up as a light in my shed! Been playing around for a while but still struggling with the meaning of some of the settings. Can you point me to anywhere they are explained in more detail?
Hello, nice that you accept this problem. I wanted to build a 3 or 4 S 3-4P.
I have a 12v water pump with about 3 watts. I would also like to connect 2 pumps. One should be able to walk for about 3 hours.
I also want to charge the battery.
I have a 100 watt solar panel.
Do you have a solution for that?
Do you have that with the charge controller in the meantime under control?
Greetings Tom
Did you choose the correct battery chemistry. Usually there are B00(LI-ION), B01(lead acid), B02(gel), B03(flood)
+The Walking Trade Now my Anself was sold as lithium only - and I suspected that it's just a lead acid charger which has had its charging parameters changed a little. I did try for a while to find a menu where I could change the chemistry but without success. Perhaps when I get a minute I'll try again with a fresh head on. If you can send me info of a button combination press or hold that you know of that would be handy.
Mine is this clone: www.banggood.com/102030A-USB-Solar-Panel-Battery-Regulator-Charge-Intelligent-Controller-1224V-p-1143533.html?rmmds=search
On this model you long press the First (as explained on the website) screen blinks and then w/ the other 2 buttons you select B01, B02 or B03.
In fact the manual says there is a B00 which does not exist on my model. But it seems that what they call TX4820 and TX4830 have this option for 48V battery (electric bike ?!)
By the way mine is not cutting the load on the usb ports part.
+The Walking Trade Thanks for the info - I'll give it a try but I'm not holding my breath.
The instructions with mine suggested that the battery chemistry item was in the settings menu, whereas it is in fact absent
The Walking Trade excuse me?
Can these lead acid-type solar controllers be used to charge Vtoman or Jackery power stations with internal lithium phosphate (LiFePO4) cells?
This channel is great. Came here after spending an hour comparing the 5/6 common
+jack419288 Thanks for the kind comments. If you want an lcd screen then the lead acid version of this charger is probably your best bet. However my favourite is probably this one... th-cam.com/video/BbIqNGHe6Xc/w-d-xo.html you might be able to buy three within your budget! I like it because it’s simple - does what it’s meant to and is very very cheap!
I have the lead acid version of this to charge my 24 v batteries for my solar tracker works great
Gooday Adam. What a great instructional video. I've had a bit of a poke about your channel and all seem to be of the same understandable quality.
I've just fitted one of these controllers to my campervan and the setup seems to be fairly simple........except........I can't alter 'battery type'.
I'm using 2x100ah AGMs and can only get the default '601' showing. What is '601' and how do I select 'AGM' or is done internally by the controller itself ?
+Lance S The version I have is set for lithium ion batteries and as far as I'm aware you can't change the chemistry type in the menu. I suspect they are all fairly identical on the inside but the code on the micro controller will have different target voltages and possibly more menu items depending on the model. So sorry I'm not sure I can help all that much.
Thanks for the kind comments and I hope you enjoy future videos as well!
I have a similar looking controller. It works just fine but as soon as my automated ventilation fans cut on, the software crashes and I have to reboot the thing. Mine is rated at 30A and my fans are rated at a combined 5A though they probably peak higher because they’ll blow a 5A fuse. I had to put them on 7.5A fuse. When running though they consume 4A.
But that controller is one that ended up on the reject range. I had a 10A edition that served for about six months before going totally nuts. That, like the other ended up on the reject range too.
The reject range.... I just put things on a berm and shoot at them until I figure they’re dead enough.
Thank you so much for your videos. They help so much. Now that this failed did you ever found a charge controller for 12v lithium batteries to stop the charge at 12.6? Please let us know. I am searching the internet like crazy, and can’t find one. Please help. Thanks so much
Did you know that you can change the settings by holding the far left button for 12 seconds then hold for another 12 seconds to accept custom settings
Should I connect my camp fridge directly to the terminal of the battery or to the load terminal!.
How do I connect a AC-DC Li Ion battery charger to the Controller.
What is the out put rating at the load terminal marked with a light bulb.
Nice video, really informative. i couldn't see the link to the video of the lead acid charge controller for lipo. can you link me it please? thanks.
Thanks Kris - I've added a link to the description, but to save clicks... th-cam.com/video/YoH7V56RtkM/w-d-xo.html
I wonder how well lipo and Li-ion performs in the cold compared to lead acid. Might be worth checking that before you ruin nice cells in our Northern cold type of weather if you use and store them in a garden shack.
I've heard stories of people with e-bikes that their batt packs were dead after staying a winter parked outside.
+Luc Peeters Its a good question. If I destroy them I'll be sure to report back. It wouldn't be a total waste - other could learn from my mistakes. I suspect because they are receiving a charge every day they may be ok - the issue is going to be around when the charge doesn't reap as much power as my lights extract at night. Always an issue for off grid applications.
You can switch the battery type in the settings
I switched off when you said "the interesting thing for me, apart from this one being set up for Lithium Iron, is that you can get a model for lithium Iron."
How do you set the battery type?
With .044ma draw could that be what the controller is pulling to run itself?
+rvprepperwayne The 44ma was a gain into the battery not a draw. It was showing negative because of the way I had wired the meter round.
I wish they would just have a mppt charge controller that charges each cell at 4.2 v when it hits 4.2 volts it shuts off. During shut off phase it uses energy of higher voltage series to balance lower voltage series. Then when system gets to 3.9 volts it will restart with full amps. When the battery is in full (above 3.9 volts) it dumps power another battery/load.
In a chemistry book, chemical reactions have specific volts they produce. They don't vary between 4.2 and 3.5 volts.
Hi Adam I wonder if you can help me. I am a newbie at solar. I have bought this charge controller and a 100w panel. I also bought some extender cable for the solar panel with the solar connectors. But I didn't concentrate on the fact that it changed my solar panel positive to black and negative to red. I fused the red(-) cable and after connecting the battery to the controller I connected the solar panel obviously in the wrong polarity and I didn't get the solar panel icon on the LCD display. I quickly realised my mistake and fused the black wire(+) and reconnected the solar panel in the right polarity but still no solar panel icon. Have a damaged the solar panel or the charge controller? I'm waiting for my multimeter to arrive so I can test a few things. Thanks in advance. Mick.
A Little Help Please....I have this hooked up to a 25 W Panel. I am getting 21v at the panel on a sunny day. When putting the volt meter on the battery out terminal, I get 8.5v. I get the same reading in the alligator clips. Other charge controllers that I have read 13.1v to 14v under the same configuration. Figuring I may have a defective CC, I ordered a second one to test. Same result. Am i missing something? Is there a setting that needs to be adjusted. I am afraid that the unit will only charge when the battery gets down below the 8.5v, thereby damaging the battery. Your help will be much appreciated.
+mantos1966 The model I'm using here is one setup to charge lithium cells. Firstly you need to attach the battery before the solar panel, and then you might need to look through the menu to tell it you are using a 12v lead acid battery. 8.5v may be a 2s lithium setting? If none of that helps, it may be that you are very unlucky with two faulty units.
Do you think if you put a battery monitor with overvoltage cutoff would save the batteries from the float charge? Or is that a fools errand?
is it possible to regulate the output voltage to be constant at 12.1 to 12.7, regardless if the input is 14v ?
+Rafael Dalben The load output is whatever voltage the battery is. So if the battery is under charge it's likely to go about 12.7. If you want to have a regulated output you'll need to add something suitable. You can get some charge controllers with 12v regulated outputs (I've reviewed one) but they tend to only supply omitted current - say 2 amps.
Hi have bought a 10 A controller for my lead acid battery, my question is can I connect a light into the controller and does it have a built in timer my instruction book doesn't mention anything about setting the load?
Thanks Graeme
My solar is 36v 200w and my battery is 12v lipo. Will this works or the 36v solar will burn the 12v battery?
I'm not sure sbouf this, but I have the same controller. In the led screen a symbol that looks like a TV aerial has appeared in the right lower corner. 😳 I can nog find out ehy or what its meant to tell me.
i was just about to pull the trigger on ebay......
Thankyou heaps for the info, i think you have a new subscriber :)
hi sorry to trouble you again,
I have one of these units, My panel in full sunlight outputs about 19v, but when I connect to the unit and measure the voltage at the terminals on the controller it read about 12v wich is also the batt voltage , any idea whats happening here,
also unable to find the screen to select B1 or B2 for gel or normal lead acid battery, any help appreciated thanks
+pontymike56 Yeah this is typical for a PWM solar charge controller. When it's in the bulk stage of charging the panel and the cells are directly connected and therefore they hold pretty much the same voltage.
When your cells get to their target voltage the controller will start backing off the current by disconnecting the panel from the cells and reconnecting it in ever decreasing pulses - Pulse Width Modulation.
Your panels 19 volts is produced under no load (usually referred to as open circuit voltage) but at that voltage is does not produce any current - and therefore no power (p=iv). Your panel probably has a short circuit current specified too - but no volts will be produced, again no power.
Solar panels produce their maximum power somewhere between these two states - usually a bit above the normal operating range of a battery.
I can't answer your second question at the moment but I'll try and look it up for you.
thanks, I should have realised about the open circuit voltage, many thanks again
Which controller do you suggest 3S Lithium? Important is also that it goes down to min. 10V
I have one of these controllers that works fine for my lead acid battery. I'm changing to a 12 volt, 100ah Lithium battery. Can I still use this controller? The brief Chinese instructions only offer 3 choices, B1 sealed 14.4 V, B2 gel 14.2V, and B3 flood 14.6V. It appears max charge voltage can be adjusted.
Hello..
I did buy this unit and id do not charge the battery at al.
I hear about the cable must be G10 so what is wrong.
I did change the cable to the battery to G10 and still not work.
Must al the cables be thicker G10 cables ?
I se that you do have a thicker cable that comes from the solar penal.
How can i get a thinker cable to connect the solar penal to the controller ?
Who can help me out of this so i can use it as soon as possible ?
do you know if this unit will charge a battery from dead flat ( i have the other version ) or does it need some voltage in the battery to operate
+pontymike56 I believe it does need some voltage to operate but I haven't tested this myself.
The unit is powered from its battery input. Without voltage present from the battery, the unit does not power up although I don't have a figure for th minimum voltage threshold.
Hi Adam sorry 2nd question asked on another of your great videos. Just wonder a voltage relay switch circuit board maybe a great tool to switch off PV's when batteries reach 12v maybe. Just trying to get my head around it. But your clever so maybe another great video cheers .
I liked your review.
What is the DC output voltage and amp?
Could Solar charge LCD amp draw cause the charge to continue to trickle charge?
Well i have already this solar charger at home.... it can be somehow the charge voltage changed from 12,6 to 12,5?
Hi I have just bought one of these for my caravan. I get the solar panel and battery ports but do you know how to wire the load so I know what power my caravan is using. Help would be appreciated thanks
You've probably got a pair of wires that comes straight from the leisure battery which is the main 12v feed into the caravan. You could potentially cut these wires and use the half going to the battery for the battery connection of your charge controller and the other part going off to feed your loads could connect to your load terminals of the charge controller.
The thing to be aware of is you might have a battery charger in your van to power the 12v loads (and charge the battery) when you have AC power? In which case things get a bit more complicated and to be honest I'd need to see the whole circuit to work out what was the best way forward.
The solar power system in my caravan is simply used to charge the battery - I don't use a charge controller with a load output on it. Simple fact of the matter it that it's just to keep the battery topped up whilst its not in use rather than be a main power supply.
Adam Welch cheers I was thinking the same but not sure regarding 240v side of things so will just leave it as is. Cheers for reply
Hello sir can you advise me for buy a 12v lithium battery solar charger controller which one is the best for as you like ??thank you
any idea what the switches are used for i have the 10 a version
Theory: 7.4V, with a trickle charge? That may not be good for li-ions, which can't take a trickle. But it sounds perfect for a 6S of NiMH cells. Could it be that the little charge controller was actually designed for NiMH, and is only falsely labeled as for li-ion? Certainly plausible to me, NiMH are still the cell of choice in emergency lighting.
+Vyl Bird This Anself trickles at 12.6 but the other PWM solar charge controller I showed does have a NiMH version at 7.2. Did I show the wrong one? There are a number of variants. 7.2 NIMH, 7.4 Lithium, 11.1 Lithium and 12 Lead acid all at 3 amp. All identical on the inside - except for the target voltage in the code.
Adam, have you found a way to change the PV off voltage setting from 12.6v to 12.5 or 12.4 v? I've tried this controller with my medical cart batteries, but when the voltage gets to 12.6v the integral BMS stops the charge and discharges the packs to 12v. I would not rather change the BMS if I don't have to...
I'm afraid I don't. I think some other comments on this video have suggested extra menus are available though.
I'm just wandering if it didn't cut out completely because it didn't reach max 12.6v . Your meter shows a bit higher voltage. I used similar controller with simillar set up but for lead acids and when it reaches certain voltage it cuts out completely solar panels . Did you try use solar panel with higher output ? What we can see on video you have only 8w output from panel. I'll like to see video with like 50w output from panel. I could bet it will cut out. I have this controller but 20A . I'll like to do the same test but I don't have oscilloscope
Thanks for your detailed video 👍 I have an issue where I don't know what to set my PV at and load on and load off. I will be running my 45w fridge and just my microwave and mobile/tablet.
Would you be able to assist. I have set up my gel batteries b2 and I have 4 x 55Ah battery backup.
hi I have one of thses ,just experimenting with solar power,seems to work ok but the battery is discharging overnight any ideas
+pontymike56 This one will have some loses internally mainly due to the buck converter (supplying the 5v USB power) if the load is left on. However it shouldn't discharge most batteries over one night. I'd guess either you have a load which is drawing too much overnight, your battery is very small or it is damaged and unable to hold any charge.
thanks, very helpfull again
Im planning to have 3s2p 18650 battery with bms and solar charge controller, is it safe? Thanks! Nice video btw
This device is suitable for Pressure control 14.4 v. 18650. 4s lifepo4 to Pure Sine Wave Inverter 12 - 15 v. To. Ac.
did you try 12.5v input
Excellent video
Ta.
Hello! Could you wire this up to a 4s1p set of 18650 batteries, to power up a TV and playstation 4? Or would you need a power inverter... :)
Thanks for IDing the cpu, that's what I was after
Hi. Does anyone know if I can use this controller (CMTD-Li310) to charge a 12V Lead-Acid batery??
Hello sir.
Is this solar regulator used for li ion battery 3s 12v?
Do you have to use it to charge lithium ion batteries or can you use lead acid batteries?
hello my friend and thanks for the videos the are great help. i want to make a small off grid system with one 60watt panel @ 12 volts and a small pack of 18650, what charger@ 20A or setup would you recommend for a 3s opr 4s packs on 12 volts? Thanks in advance.
For me 3 or 4s doesn't really work that well on most solar charge controllers. The cheapest ones tend to charge up to 12.6 or 16.8 volts (the absolute maximum for lithium ion) and keep them there using a float charge. I've done a series of videos on this and found it works a lot better with a 7s pack. th-cam.com/video/YoH7V56RtkM/w-d-xo.html
Now I was quite pleased with the Wincong SX01-3A ( th-cam.com/video/vqnf6Msy9No/w-d-xo.html ) because the voltage limits were a little more on the conservative side. Trouble is it is only 3 amp so you're perhaps a little over it's limit using a 60w panel. Plus the load output is a funny one - but that might not be an issue for you.
I was looking at the specs on the recent EPEver LPLI range of solar charge controllers. They come in Tracer models (MPPT) and Landstar models (PWM) and seem to have fairly sensible charging parameters for 3s lithium packs. Sadly though another funny load output specifically deigned for LEDs on top of a street light. But I'm told something else may be coming from EPEver very soon.
Adam Welch thanks for the response. yes i have see the 7s but i must put second panel to make it to 24, volts and thats a yoo much for me .i was ok with 100watt panel @12volt and a 150ah battery fmin order to have lights (leds) and charge phones small tv etc. with a 150watt inverter. but i was thinking to skip the battery and go to li-ion .do you think there is . this anself unit your only concern is that trickle charge will eventually destroy the batteries? if i add a balancer will be better or not?
i am interested on your oscilloscope which model is it? can it be used to check if the ac signal its modified or pure sine ? thx
+Serviciosymas I've put a link in the description. It's not a great oscilloscope but with a 10x probe it should be able to display those voltages.
thank you!
You dont test the auto swits for street lights settings
Your battery pack is great which one this
Good one,, thumbs up like your vids clear and well presented , I'm new to all this ,, what solar panel would you advise some one to buy that's just starting up cheers Shane uk
If you had put a load on the controller would it have been different
Why trickle charging is bad?
Hi Adam another great video as always. I have a couple questions I wanted to ask. 1) What do you recommend as the most optimum solar charger for lithium 18650 batteries? Also If per say I wanted to scale up in the future and if I did and I continued to add to my battery bank maintaining all of the proper volts with the solar panel and with the solar charger etc. Would a large solar charger like an Outback Mppt be ok to use in say a 18650 battery pack with say 12 volts and something like 1,000 AH? Does the system in your opinion become more unstable with the greater the size of the battery bank? And 2) What gauge wire would you say would be the best to use for the wire leads from the battery bank to the solar charger? The larger the wire size the greater the current flow which could make the system unstable and so basically I want to use battery holders as you use in your videos and use the same gauge wires that come stock with the battery holders and run them in the appropriate series and parallel to add up to the needed voltage and Ah for the desired battery bank. So would you say that this could be done efficiently or when a battery bank gets the size and scale of say 12 volts and 1,000 AH or greater that it would be unstable to do something in this fashion? And that it would be better to use sodering and using nickel strips and using fuses are more appropriate because using the battery holders in a system that size would be too unstable? Please let me know your thoughts. Again great video thank you for putting them out two thumbs up and what is your best recommendation for a cheap starter solar charger for 18650 lithium battery bank with a budget range of $20 dollars to $80( just for starters) With a small bank of say one hundred Amp hours to three hundred Amp Hours for starters before scaling up to one thousand Amp hours bank ? Also one other quick side question has anyone explored Ni-cd battery bank or Lithium Polymer banks with solar? I haven't seen any video on it on youtube or the idea addressed anywhere on the internet. Much thanks Adam God Bless
pitty it keeps trickle charging. Now that you filmed opening it up I presume you can't return it to the shop :(
+Maico I bought it wanting to open it up. It shows others what's inside and saves them opening theirs.
***** thats nice !
Can i put 48v in that kind of charge controller?
+Romeo Baltunado No. it's basically a 12/24 volt solar charge controller.
hi Adam im looking to make a power bank and looking for a cheap lithium charge controller like this but as you said it trickle charges so is there a charge controller that you recommend thats great for lithium? i found this one but dunno if its any good its a wincong SL02B for Li battery any help would be great and great videos.. keep up the good work.
Have a look at my series on charging lithium cells with a lead acid solar charge controller - which starts here... th-cam.com/video/YoH7V56RtkM/w-d-xo.html
All of the manufacturers of cheap lithium solar products see to adapt a lead acid charge controller and mess with the voltage settings, but not the charging profiles. I've found that using a lead acid charge controller has benefits over a 'lithium' charge controller.
That said - if you want the best charging profile you're even better buying a lead acid charge controller where you can adjust all the charging parameters. That way you can customize the charge exactly to where you are comfortable. Or you could back the latest ElectroDacus kickstarter - but that's quite a jump in price.
Okay thanks a lot also I have watched that video of you using a lead acid charge controller to charge lithium battery's lol iv watch most of your videos and only just found your channel about a week ago but thanks again for your help much appreciated
Hi, Thanks for the video, very informative. I have a similar version of this controller and a 13w@17.5v panel running it, however it's switching into 24v mode - do you know if there is a way to force it to remain in 12v mode? I don't have a battery connected yet, so it that going to allow it to switch to 24v mode. I didn't want to plug a 12v battery in and end up killing it! Thanks in advance.
That's precisely the entire point! First thing to be connected is the battery, always! ;-)
The range will then automatically set to 12V or 24V. According to the battery bank connected. Quite simple indeed, no need to complicate!
Are 30Amps PWM model like these one? Thx for interesting vid.
+Horia Faliboga In what way?
This PWM model is 10/20A model. Are 30A PWMs with the same 2 USBs and LCD?
+Horia Faliboga I can't say for definite as I haven't got a 30a model but generally series of controller have the same feature list, they've just had some components upgraded or placed in parallel to accommodate the higher currents.
Good video, thanks, I subbed. I am looking to find a CC for some 18650's in a 12v system as well. I will check out your other videos, but can you tell me if you found a solution? I actually bought a Victron 100/30 mppt CC that has a lithium setting. I bought that for a big lifepo4 pack, but It is also fully configurable through bluetooth with a dongle. I found it on sale for about $150, but I want something cheaper for some small 18650 packs.
12 volt lithium systems are trickier I think than 24 volt or 7s. I charge my 7s pack from a lead acid charge controller with (so far) great results.
The best dedicated lithium solar charge controller I've used (that will do 12v) is probably the small CN3702 modules... th-cam.com/video/liYZ5pYOZDE/w-d-xo.html The trouble is they can only support fairly small panels out of the box.
Is it 1
10A or 20A or 30A
What about with NO sun?
Why its bad to charge like that?
Interesting ... I always wonder what might TECHNICALLY make a PWM charger(?), into a MPPT ... is it just a case of lying, or is there some little difference that justifies calling some cheap solar chargers "MPPT".
U have to change charge mode
Guess I'll keep my TP4056s
these are not very good solar chargers, they won't go to float charge just sits on 14.4 volts from sun up till sunset, I have tested at least 3 of them and they all do the same thing. To change the mode you need to hold the left button for 5 seconds but none of the parameters seem to do much, still charges to 14.4 .
The load runs on a timer, maybe you could connect to the load and have a timed charge.
This controller can be programmed to set to your specific parameters. It's in the instructions. I have one of these and for the price it works very well. See this video on how to program. th-cam.com/video/EDl4cN1JREo/w-d-xo.html
Maybe you should read the instruction! Also maybe you could read your own equipment properly because 0.044 is not the same as 0.44. Doh
Sorry did I make a mistake? It happens to the best of us :-)
Excuse me?
😴