The EPSolar EPEver Tracer A Series after Nine Months of Use - 12v Solar Shed
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- After nine months of using the EPEver Tracer A Series MPPT Solar Charge Controller I've a few frequently asked questions and niggles which need to be mentioned.
Original Review Video: • MPPT Charge Controller...
MT50 Review Video: • EPSolar MT50 Remote Me...
eBox Wifi Review Part 1: • EPEver eBox-Wifi-01 RS...
eBox Wifi Review Part 2: • Hacked EPEver Wifi to ...
Make your own communication cable for £1: • EPSolar Solar Station ...
Items used in this video:
❗️These links are affiliated and I may earn a small commission if you purchase❗️
EPEver Tracer A Series MPPT SCC: ebay.us/JmMI0W
EPEver MT50 Remote Meter: ebay.us/ABIEMq
EPEver eBox-Wifi-01: ebay.us/tdT1Qo
EPEver Solar Station Monitor Software (Rar File): admw.uk/jB
Or support me on Patreon! / adamwelch
Wire your panels in series you will get much more from them. They will start charging sooner and the MPPT charger will start doing it's magic sooner! But it looks like it is filling your batteries fast enough.
Hi Adam
I purchased a 30A version of this unit after seeing your original video. I have running a 250W 24v panel on the roof of my 7M motorhome (horizontal) across a 100ah agm deep cycle battery.This has proved adequate to power the Waeco 136L compressor fridg even when parked for several days with no engine charge. I observed the problem with the indicator early on but it does not worry me. My main criticism is that it interferes with the FM radio of the vehicle, proved by disabling the solar at the appropriate time. Incidentally I have seen a charge of 14A (on a low battery) in mid march in Tasmania just recently. Very happy! Thanks for the 2xgreat videos Rob
+Rob Bance Your welcome Rob and thanks for the feedback. I guess the mosfets are switching at a similar frequency to the FM bands you're listening to. Perhaps you could try some ferrite rings on the inputs and outputs to see if this improves things?
How’s the charge controller holding up?
your 1st video encourage me to buy this product. after using it for 2 months, i have the same observation on the battery status at the LCD display. thank you for the update. now i know that there is nothing wrong in my unit.
I have look at the Epever spec. Its Mppt min Vbatt +2 Volt and Mppt max 72 V. And Voc max is 100v. Meaning if your have 12v batt connected to charger, The charger mppt window is 14 to 72 Volt. Than you have to look at your PV module specification, make sure your PV Vmax output voltage dont fall below 14V. Mppt min. Most PV module design has Vmax around 12-13volt and Voc around 18Volt For this particular PV module. The maximum number of modules connected in series per string is 4, giving the room for voltage variation due to the highest and lowest ambient at site that affecting PV cell working efficiency. Temperature inversely correlated with voltage. By doing this, the PV output voltage will never go below minimum MPPT even the temp go higher.
Excellent information...thank you for sharing this. Yes, I have noticed the same thing with these EPEver Tracers. In the AM (or on cloudy days)...it really holds the panel volts down. Compared to my Midnite Solar Classics...their MPPT PV volts stay high during similar light conditions. Not complaining tho...when the MPPT function does kick in on these Tracers, it does a great job. I need to buy one of those blue WIFI dongle deals.
Hi Adam, I just subscribed to your channel and would like to congratulate you and thank you for your great videos. I have been watching them for the last six months and have learnt a lot about solar panels, charging 18650s and many other tips and tricks. I have even gone ahead and built your battery pack and set up the solar charging system. It works like a treat.
Thanks, again keep up the great work. I am looking forward to many more videos to come.
+Peter Keppie That is great to hear, thank you Peter. Really glad you've found them useful.
Nice follow-up video Adam, thanks!
+Javier Palla Lorden Glad you liked it. Not easy doing solar videos in February :-)
G,day mate! your review of this unit sold me on the extra control unit the info the MT50 provides ,is a must have as we are totally solar powered onboard our yacht we can see our power demand just by turning on the equipment ie radar 18amps TV 2.5amps fridge 4.5amps etc etc can't blame the kids anymore for watching to much TV thanks Simon SV Elcho Australia
+Simon simple Great to hear its working well for you. Thanks for letting me know. Cheers.
I realize this is an old post but just wanted to comment that the EPEVER brand (that also made the Outback model) used to compare was a lesser model? The Outback used an EPEVER Tracer 4215BN 150 VOC model & the EPEVER used a Tracer 4210AN 100 VOC model. So basically you were comparing a Tracer 4215BN vs a Tracer 4210AN, two different models. Had you used the same models for comparison you'd fine the EPEVER a much better performer & value. I'm very happy with the EPEVER products having used 6 of them for various projects now and the Customer support was responsive to my email requests. Aside from that appreciate the your tests and look forward to watching others. :-)
You need to rewire your panels to get higher voltage to the controller! The best part about the MPPT controller is that it will take the higher voltage. Most of them will take 100 volts in. You have a MPPT controller but you are wiring it like a PWM! Rewire your panels to get 30 something volts at peek and on bad days you should still have enough volts to charge the battery some!
hi adam am a fellow englishman in perth Australia. I have been recently. .bigging you up ...as it were ...on a caravaning forum downunder ... so you will no doubt be inundated with questions from camping mad aussies.
i have got the tracer a2210 and epever wifi in the van...keeping the wifi off the home network is a bonus for using it in the field...so far ....cheers from a lancastrian
actully the best youtube tester on this EPEver!
Adam, thank you so much for this video and even more for your initial introduction to this solar charger. I bought it shortly after seeing the first video of it and I am liking it very much. I am quite sure that it is the best bang for the buck within solar chargers in this price range.
The only thing I need now is for it being able to upload all the data available to an mqtt-service or the like - preferably via an arduino/esp8266 wifi solution.
So if anyone out there know of such a solution, please come forward! 😃
I don't know much about MQTT - I'll have to read up. Cheers.
Wonderfully put together and very understandable for a beginner like me who bought this controller. Thank you!
This confirms my suspicion that many MPPT controllers suck. I see a lot of strange things happen at low light levels. I had to build a circuit that disconnects the panel when the voltage drops way down. After this automatic circuit reconnects the panel, the panel voltage goes up to a normal MPPT value and watts increase 40%. With a scope, I don't see any attempts to track. Everyone has their sunny day videos and they don't (or can't) show what happens going in and out of clouds. I suspect the actual efficiency of MPPT controllers is far worse than people imagine.
Thank you for such a detailed and considered series of videos on this (plus the one on hacking the wifi unit!). As a result of your efforts here, I too have decided that the price-to-performance/features ratio makes it a good buy and have just ordered the 40A model after watching your videos. I think your approach is excellent and gave me the confidence to buy blind. Thanks.
Glad to hear it. I hope you read the description on the wifi unit video? The units being sold now aren't able to be modified. I'm a bit disappointed with EPSolar for changing that - the wifi unit seems so much less useful without that mod.
I do plan to create a video soon however about alternatives.
Adam Welch actually, I didn't read that bit before and have consequently received one that won't allow station mode to be enabled. I'm sure it is possible to root the unit as I'm guessing it's an embedded Linux system. No idea how to get in and open the necessary ports though... My biggest issue is how to configure the unit for my setup. I have 10 Alcad Nickel Cadmium cells in series and a panel that produces 35v. Each cell's charging voltage should be 1.5 - 1.6v/cell. So, 15 - 16v in total. Also, I really don't understand the Load output! Am I supposed to connect all loads to it, including inverter or doesn't it matter? At the moment, I'm just using the connections off the battery and the unit as a charger. If anyone can point me in the direction of where I can find all this out, I'd really appreciate it. X
+Ariel Oxford sorry to hear you didn’t know that before purchasing. Hopefully further down the line you can find a back door.
You probably want to set your absorb voltage (which EPEver refer to as boost voltage) to 16v then your float to 15. Or you could try to be more conservative. And cut half a volt or more off those.
As for the load no you aren’t forced to connect everything to it and when talking about inverters I’d say definitely don’t connect it. The load output is most often used for Lights - the output can be controlled by times after dusk and before dawn. There is also the advantage that you can set undervolt thresholds to prevent your battery from being discharged too much. But as long as you manage your battery well that shouldn’t be an issue.
Am just getting started & amazed at how overwhelming all the details can get. I JUST got the 60A model... the “load” ports are gone ! Best info I can find is that you put the load directly on the battery... I have several home projects going on, so this is a low priority... i.e. I can glean others experience & hints on using the new 60A model to be cautious in hooking all up. Thanx for your vids !
You are the only one i found that explained the battery indicator. I thought mine was broken. Glad to hear its ok! Good vid. Cheers
It's a bit funny isn't it. Glad to have been of help.
Utter thanks Adam for the great & informative reviews. I'm going to order the 40 amp's version. I live in Kuwait and sunlight is abandoned here year round.
Thanks - it's great to see the actual data.
Hi Adam. Thanks for the great videos you fim. I enjoy your channel immensely. I've just bought this same controller thanks to your reviews and i'm going to run it with a 24v 250watt single panel on my motorhome.
Cheers - I hope it serves you well.
Just recently fitted one with an MT50 controller which came as standard. Hooked it up to new Chin's lithium batteries and I keep the MT50 permanently hooked to the main controller. My big beef is that the solar panel and battery terminals on the MPPT are too small and limit considerably the wire size I would like to use to the feed the batteries. The new MP50 comes with a lithium pre-set into the system which makes the farce of digging through the USER setting unnecessary. I am a sailor and so I set-up and forget my solar system which is frankly the way it should work. Nice video for nerds though
I see the same at my side with the 40A tracer A, The panels has to provide more than 10W or so before the tracking starts.
I find it interesting that your 2210 (shipped in 2016) and my 3210 (shipped in April 2017) handle low power inputs differently. Mine runs in MPPT mode down to the last few milliamps. I'm using a 32 volt power supply set for a max of 3.1 amps (100 watts,, as my solar panels don't work after dark ;-) and I had discharged the 540AH battery bank enough for the 3210 to charge at a rate that drew 100 watts from the "solar". As the batteries charged, the "solar" power kept falling and is now at 1.5 watts (32 v @ 50ma) but the charge current is 110 ma so the controller is still in MPPT mode at 1.5 watts input. I'll try this again with the voltage gradually decreasing (more like real solar panels) and see if there's a difference. I've purchased a second 3210 in anticipation of adding to the existing 400 watts of solar. Found someone local with new grade B 255 watt mono panels for $155US each or about $0.61 per watt. Now where did I leave that spare $310? ;-)
Have you try doing this the the other way by slowly increasing the voltage? To simulate sun rise
martdaymo It follows the slowly increasing light, including doing a disconnect and reconnect to the solar panels every 45 minutes or so when the output voltage and current are stable (checking for a better match as conditions change). Yesterday was cloudy and rainy but the single 100 watt panel got up to 3 watts during the brightest of the cloudy day, with its output at the near-open-circuit voltage of 20 volts and 0.15 amps so it does MPPT at very low power levels. I'm very pleased with the performance of the 3210A controllers (now have two of them).
think I'm going to buy one of these have a PWM cheap China controller on 3 damaged 255watt solar panels so be nice to see what this can make out of it. compared to other ones the price these sell at you can't expect perfection, and the battery icon seems to be a common thing maybe it gets confused on a full 14.4v charging current if it was only set up to show 13.3v as full
I've been using the 40A unit all winter, It's connected to 600W of panels wired in series for 90V+ for transmission. I've found it's worked really well. It does take some time to "settle down" when if first gets sun in the morning. On cold winter days with snow on the ground, i'm hitting well over 90% efficiency of the panel max rating. Very very impressed.
My only gripe is when I apply a large load say (1500W electric heater), It hunts like crazy and then voltage drops to near nothing and it reboots. This may be my lead acid's on the way out though.
Are you pulling that load directly from the battery? I had one comment in the past suggesting they were having issues with an inverter connected straight to the load output of the epever. For me, the load output is for 'light' loads - in both senses of the word. My tracer has definitely not rebooted once. If you know it's quirks it works well. Cheers
I have used the Tracer RN, A and BN series and all of the tracer do the crazy hunt and reboot when sudden huge load is applied on the battery. The A tracer seem handle it better though. In all I find the tracer to be a bit slow when it comes to tracking MPPT especially at early morn
Charge controller is wired to the batteries. The inverter is wired "straight" from the battery to the AC panel. Have a maxwell super caps set (16V nominal) wired in parallel to the battery to help with startup load. Inverter is an xantrex 3000Watt unit. I've found with loads at 300W or under, it's completely fine.
It's just odd as my old pwm setup never behaved this way with the same loads.
hello adam. thx for he video. its good to know more about his product.
i have a 4210a also for more than six months now and can confirm that below 0.4A from the panels side the controller stays at 15V in mppt ... never saw pwm, even i have tryied to test. i assume a firmware bug or pwm is not even there.
when i turn off the panels and back on the voltage goes up to arround 60V and conversion is more effecient therefore more current to the batteries -- if current is constant it will stay on, if not it will go back down to 15V.
i have to mention that my panels are in shadow so getting power only from reflection .. during day i get almost 1A from 2x 240w mono. soon i have to move them.
i too can say its not bad value for the money.
im using the web interface and added more parameterrs like temperatures - this way its easy to troubleshoot.
i hope this helps anyone. i can provide some trending also if necessary.
Cheers.
Another terrific, informative and entertaining review. Thanks for the update.
The tracer 2212r and all others in that series have the exact same issue with the battery capacity icon on the meter. it does not match the battery voltage. Other than that it's a descent mppt charge controller. by the way, very nice video...
Thank you.
It is possible to set the SOC voltages using the config app
12.9v after the sun's gone down isn't necessarily fully charged because there may be quite a bit of surface charge on the battery plates (assuming they're not gel, AGM, etc). If you put a small load on the batteries after charging for 5 mins and then switch the load off you'll get a better idea of SoC from the voltage
Very informative, thank you (bought after watching your videos)
+Tom S Glad to be of help, cheers
Hmm. If I understand right, MPPT not mean only DC/DC converter. But also Maximum Power Point Tracking.
What is my point, is when there is only few Wats to use, controller still try found maximum power point. But if that point is below battery voltage (and then there is just only few Wats), Controller should allow voltage raise to above battery voltage because without that, there is not any charge at all. So, voltage keeps just above battery voltage that much than maximum power point moves better area.
That might be the reason why voltage keeps about same and amperes change only little when we have terrible weather, if you ask my opinion. =) As you may know, panels with open circuit rises voltage pretty fast, but you cannot get much current.
So I think MPPT works also that case, but little different, it seek best combination to charge at least little. I'm, a pretty sure, if you disconnect your panels and follow voltage, it not keeps that still. Even if you put some resistor to load.
When panels are series and Voc is near maximum allowed, then you can get more voltage earlier, but as you know solar panels loss power really dramatically when sun not shining and clouds are dark. But if your one panel give example 2W power at the maximum power point point, and that hapens example 11V and 0,18A. Then controller should allow voltage rise example 14,7V and then power is not anymore maximum point, so maybe there is 0,1A. But at least controller charge. But If you put two to serial, then you get 22V and 0,18A (4W) instead parallel 14,7V and 0,2A (3W) (and DC/DC converter can convert that 4W to 14,7V and 0,27A).
Another thing why I prefer serial connection is then amperes keeps low and wire gauge can be lighter.
I mean if I have example six 180W panels and Voc = 44V and Vmp 36V. Then Imp = 5A.
So, If my controller allow 150V Voc, then I can put 3 panels at series (44V x 3 = 132V)
And two that kind of groups at parallel.
So I have then max. 10A current and I can use 1,5mm2 (AWG16) wire.
If I put all six at parallel, then there is max. 30A, so I must use at least 6mm2 (AWG10) wire.
Power still keeps the same.
36V x 30A = 1080W = 3 x 36V x 10A
And DC/DC converter adjust voltage just right.
And how I think that works is:
When we have 1080W, converter "takes" that power and put it to battery. Ofcourse there is losses, but if calculate example 95% efficiency then we have 1026W to use. And if battery is empty, then battery get more amps and need it. So charging is faster when it most needed.
1026W / 10V = 102,6A (if controller can handle that much ;) )
1026W / 12V = 85,8A
1026W / 14V = 73,3A
or
1026W / 20V = 51,3A
1026W / 24V = 42,8A
1026W / 28V = 21,4A
I know there is another way to calculate that too, with DC/DC ratio. But I like more that my way ;)
Example if there is 3x36V = 108V and it must convert to 24V then we get 4,5 ratio.
So if we have that 10A from panels 4,5 x 10A = 45A so, then power must be that 1080W (24Vx45A. But there is not losses).
Sorry about that offtopic and long post
in those Epever regulators I have noticed that the battery stripes indicator doesn´t show the real state of it.
it is good to know that it is an issue of this gear and not a problem with my batteries :)
Awesome thank you, you answered my question I am going to go ahead and buy one.
I have the rebranded version of this MPPT controller sold thru Jaycar as Powertech brand. I have had it for about 3 weeks and have found it to be excellent. Also wondered about the lower PV output charge rates. But under 10W wont harm me as I have a 230W array. A note that I think newer versions of the screen (or Australian version) are backlit. Though I find the display a little hard to read when looking from above the screen. But a great review and now Im going to order the WiFi controller. Thanks
After watching your first review I just bought the 20 amp version although mine is called "Photonic Universe 20A MPPT solar charge controller" Just sticker change.
My concern is the buzz from the first video saying how good the guts of this unit is and claiming it's a true MTTP, to now comparing it at times to a PWM makes me wonder have I wasted 100 pound?? it will arrive tomorrow and I was planning to put it on my boat and take a cheap china MTTP 30 amp controller off the boat and use that in my camper van project that I am working on now.
Is this a decent MTTP unit or not?
I'd like to thank you for the videos! Very informative
the battery icon info: its just about voltages confs you can do with the data cable wifi btooth cable... if you set its as low voltage as 10.5 or 11, recover ar 12.5 12.8 12.5 it changes it.. at least on mine... ( if you set maximum at 15v.. then it will have this issues)
The only benefit you can enjoy from the tracer is if you put your panels in series so at the the first crack of dawn, there will be enough voltage to start a charge. Your tracer A series MPPT can take an input voltage of up to 100v open circuit so if you are using 12v (18v) panels (36 cell) you can see the difference in the charge cycle where there will be enough volts to start the conversion the earliest possible time of day.
My experience suggests that having a higher voltage string of panels doesn't help the 'slow to get out of bed' behavior. In that first example (the awful winters day) I had two 100w mono's in series. They are capable of an open voltage of about 42-43 volts.
I did get results on another bad day where the panels were wired in parallel. Now no two days are exactly the same but the tracer showed the same behavior - connecting the panels directly to the batteries all day. Now obviously there was more current coming in even though the panels were being held at that low voltage. Again the whole day was spent under ten watts.
I'm fairly convinced after watching the data for these last few months that there is a 10w or there about's (perhaps it's 500mA or some other threshold?) point at which the DC2DC converter is allowed to kick in and the tracer can do it's stuff. In fact watching my graph now the sun has broken through the clouds for a short period and DC2DC conversion kicked in and I got 30 watts. A minute or two later (it's pretty much 100% cloud cover here this morning) the panels have been dragged back down to the battery voltage and I'm at 7 watts.
For me none of this is really an issue - I'm out all day and when I need the power my battery bank is generally well charged except when we have three or four days of awful sun. All in all I really like the tracer but do want to feedback on my previous video because some of these things only come out after you've used them for a while.
Thanks for your comments Billy!
Maybe it's the location. I am in Malta and we have sunny days practically from early morning. Remember that dew on the panels and dust do cause a difference...as is bird poo shading part of a panel. My only difference is that I have the tracer 40A since I have 1000w of 24v panels. In winter I never manage to see more than 500w on a sunny day because the sun rises from an oblique angle. Can't say the same in summer. I'm using an off grid 24v inverter which charges a 200ah 24v bank of deep cycle batteries. I have equipment switched on 24/7 including a refrigirator. Even in winter, by 10am batteries are fully charged so as soon as that happens, i dump 300w of energy in a tank of water with a 24v 300w immersion heater to be used as a hot shower which is thermostatically controlled.
Ah you see you're living the life - Malta, decent sized array, heating your bath from the sun. Love it.
My panels may well need a clean - once the rain stops I'll go over them with a cloth. Cheers
I have the BN series charge controller which seems to be pretty much the same, except in a different case.
I too notice the issue mentioned. The BN has some LED lights on the front of it though, one of which is to indicate if the battery is "charging". When it is early in the morning the indicator in not flashing, indicating that the battery is not charging (not doing MPPT I think it means), however if I look at my MT50 I can see that there is clearly power coming from the panels and going into the battery; the current is often around 0.5A and power at 15 Watts which seems to agree with what you see.
I too tried putting more panels in series but I just seemed to lose the additional current I would have had when they were in parallel without the gain from the additional voltage. (Although partial shading may have played a factor, I'll check if I do it again)
I'll try to keep a closer eye on when the light flashes and doesn't flash to see if I can gleam more too.
On a side note, given you have those graphs I'm guessing you don't have much of an issue with signal from the WIFI dongle? Even if I have it quite close to the router the Ping is hit and miss and the web GUI slow to load. (When connected to my router as a client that is)
Cheers,
Marc
billywhizzy preferred max Voc not more than 90V to avoid burning Mosfets.
Hi Adam, thanks for the video!
I'm considering the 40a model to use in a PV water heater set up in my flat, with a 24v 900w element attached to the load terminals, in line with a thermostat to heat the water to around 65c during the day. It seems the only way to get 24v output from the load terminals is to attach a 24v battery set up to the system.
I like the idea of being able to set the load to power on an hour or two before and after sunlight, and the charge controller should prevent the batteries from discharging to low levels.
Your thoughts?
PS: With regards to the pwm/mppt switching, I noticed on the datasheet that the mppt range is from +2v vbat on the panels to ~90v. I think that would explain why the different models appear to switch to mppt at different wattage's.
Kind regards
It has backlight. I have the same model.
double thumb up ! , excellent review . great way to monitor the efficiency of the whole setup
I LIKE THAT THE BATTERY WILL SHOW AS DISCHARGED ONCE IT GETS TO 12V SINCE I DONT WANT TO DISCHARGE MY BATTERIES PAST 50% ANYWAY
+DAMON STAHL Yeah, I can see that advantage. As I said it doesn't bother me but I know it does annoy many.
Can you run these in parallel?
+DAMON STAHL You can put more than one on the same battery bank but they don't communicate between themselves to ensure they are doing the same thing at the same time I'm afraid.
+DAMON STAHL You can put more than one on the same battery bank but they don't communicate between themselves to ensure they are doing the same thing at the same time I'm afraid.
Adam Welch well that's dumb
Interesting as always. I did see another video in which a guy complained his epever went up in flames.
Great video Adam....very well explained.I really like the monitoring software that you get for these.
www.epsolarpv.com/en/index.php/Technical/download
Agreed, the state of charge is rubbish, I contacted the agents and they agree.
Great video!!!! As I understand you it is a very good controller for the money and with your displayed analysis if you were going to recommend a LITTLE BETTER VALUE what controller would you recommend?
Thanks! I got a HQST version of this charge controller, looks the same, even acts the SAME way, even tho, my 100 amp hour AGM was fully charged, after an evening of not even using the battery, the charge controller would drop all the way down to 2 bars (out of 5 bars) and even tho, confirmed that the battery was 13.x volts... So, weird.... I thought maybe something was wrong with the battery or controller. Glad, it's not just me. I however have not taken it apart to see the innards, I guess I'll do that at a later date... to see if it has a massive coil like yours has. I'm thinking it will. Since I also notice at lower voltages it acts like a PPW controller, but as you point out, I think it's normal since .... at 10~15 volts, it's not gonna be pushing out any HUGE amps. So... Kinda a sigh of relief that my controller is working like it should... Cheers mate...from Hawaii. Also, I should point out that this thing measures wattage in kilowatt ... with such a small unit, you'd think that they would measure in watts. I was wondering if there was a way to change that value with a laptop or a t50... I however plan to get a T50 because......... I want to mount this controller as close to the battery and would use less wire to the panels, and then I can just mount the T50 closer and can see the data better instead of waiting around for the info to cycle though...
Glad to have been of assistance. I visited Hawaii five years ago and the houses were covered with solar - so much so I was told that people were being delayed getting grid tied due to too much generation! Not sure of the situation now though?
Be careful - I’m not sure if the MT50 works with the HQST clones. I haven’t tried one myself.
Cheers.
@@AdamWelchUK Well, there is a device that does NOT put out amps to the meter. I can't remember what's called... but Say your home is consuming 5Amps, and your producing 3 amps, the device will throw all of the power to the home. If the consumption drops then it throws the power to the battery bank. Anyway, yes, MT-50 works well with HQST Clones, just like the EPEAVER Clone. I did open mine up and it's identical, looks the same inside as it does outside. Leads me to believe that they are all made on the same factory line in China. The MT50 is probably wired differently or has an updated firmware so, some flavors are not compatible with other flavors of this model. Weather you have Epeaver, HQST, ACOPOWER, etc...etc... but this is the mt50 I got.. www.amazon.com/Renogy-Tracer-Commander-Controller-Display/dp/B00SW1ZP2W/ What's really funny, only "REAL" tracer controllers will work with HQST and Tracer, but they won't work with the cheaper knockoff EPEAVER... Go figure! Pretty sure it's firmware.... Wich I may add, that ONLY renogy is licensed to use Tracer branded technology. All the rest are illegal cloned devices....
Love your videos Adam... Thank you
+digitalizations Thank you.
I agree that doing MPPT under 10W is not all that important. The DC/DC conversion has its losses, PWM has almost no loss. When load and panel voltages are very close it means very close to ideal impedance match and very litle to gain by firing up a big DC/DC converter.
What I think is funny is I’ve been running one of these for a few months now and I always check battery voltage but I never noticed the ‘battery full’ meter LOL
I got the 40amp unit. Into 24 volts. Input is just over 70 volts. 4 panels 310 watts 2 groups.
It charges for a bit then stops. Sometimes it comes back working sometimes not. Having it replaced with different unit
Does the rated current apply to the load terminal as well, or just the PV/battery terminals
Awesome video I do have one question though Does the EPSolar mppt have firmware updates through the cat 5 cable or through wireless. They might be able to correct some of the on board issues.
+Darren Charron I'm afraid EPEver haven't publically released any firmware upgrades for this range to my knowledge. I'm not sure it could be done through the RS485 port even if they did though. The iTracer and eTracer products can be upgraded but I think that's via RS232 or USB - but I could be wrong. Cheers
Thanks Adam I am just trying to figure out what is best for me I live in Manitoba Canada and we get some cold winters here and sometimes not a whole lot of sun in the winters. I think I might go with the system you have just going to do a little more research first.
I'm sure you could rig something up using that voltage source and a .1% or better resistor.
Thanks for another great video.... ..... My controller is situated in my camp trailer where my wife doesn't have to see it, making it hard to jockey the menu.... The battery meter "niggling annoyance" is putting it lightly!! Hard to believe the battery meter is not accurate with mppt controller technology....
+shtnrlse Thanks for the kind comments. The SOC meter doesn't bother me too much but I know it does for others.
Adam I have been monitoring my 3210 for some time and I am now convinced it does not actually charge batteries fully.
The manufacturers PDF says it has three stage charging but I see no evidence of that happening with mine.
Have you been able to monitor what it actually does over a period of time?
Have you seen any evidence it is providing the bulk and absorption stages, essential to fully charge a battery?
It seems to do nothing more than use the crude Boost setting which is set to a user determined voltage and time frame, default being 2 hours it then seem to switch to Float irrespective of SOC.
Or am I missing something?
hi Adam, thanks again for a follow up video. I have the same epever 20A MPPT controller and MT50. 2 100w panels in series. This is installed on a boat.
When there is no PV output the SOC displayed on the MT50 drops like a rock even though the battery voltage is showing 12.9V! I just ignored it now but it did cause a bit of a panic the first few times.
I think it work pretty well although I wish I could put on a lux switch to turn off the fridge at night and on overcast days.
Battery bank: 1 130AH Sealed Lead acid and 1 60A Low maintenance Start battery with BEP ACR.
All the best to you Adam!
Hello, I noticed that the tracer 3210 AN, in the early morning does not work in mppt, until the production does not exceed 10 watts.
In fact it keeps the PV at 14/15 v for a while ....
When the production exceeds 10/12 watts, suddenly it starts to work in mppt, it brings the pv to 33v.
THIS HAS NOTHING TO SEE WITH MPPT TRACKING SPEED.
Epever charge controllers (tracer, triron, Xtra are the same board and inductor) are as fast as a Victronenergy charge controller! In various comparisons they are about as fast as a victron and much faster than renogy and other non-brands.
I also did a test in this situation:
While the pv was at 15v in the morning and producing about 10 watts, I unplugged the pv and plugged it back in.
As soon as it is reconnected, the Tracer finds the mppt point at about 33v, but in about a minute, it progressively restores the pv to 15v (33-28-18-15).
Then when the production exceeds 10/12 watts, the tracer starts the real mppt and maintains it for the whole day.
It is evidently a deliberate choice. I don't understand why ...
Maybe it's like Adam welch says ... Under ten watts, the inefficiency of the dc dc conversion becomes relatively too much, and maybe it is better to simply cut the voltage of the PV ?? I do not know...
In addition to this, it is clearly written in the manual that mppt operation starts when PV VOLTAGE is> 2v + BATTERY VOLTAGE.
FOR example victronenergy starts mppt when Pv voltage is> 5v + battery voltage.
What if you wired 2 12 v panels in series . This would give a high voltage to it and probably stop the pwm type readings ?? P's great video to think you
+TheKingofkites I did try both panels in series (24v) and panels in parallel (12v) and found that under cloudy sky’s the best result was using panels in parallel due to the fact that the charge controller doesn’t do MPPT when the incoming power is very low.
It's keeping down the voltage for too long after good sunlight has hit the panels, in my observations it missing a good hour of sunlight before it goes into MPPT mode, by keeping the voltage down its also keeping down the watts.
How does this one compare to the black and yellow china one you replaced this one for? I have the black and yellow CC and am thinking of upgrading to the epever 20a one. Maybe a video comparing the 2?
+rvprepperwayne Efficiency wise I couldn't split the two. There tracking of the Eco-Worthy might be a bit faster. It's the comm port which make the tracer better value for me. Being able to monitor, log and adjust parameters remotely is excellent. I wouldn't go back now.
the battery display is made to show ACTUAL USABLE BATTERY JUICE BEFORE DAMAGE !! when it has no bars you are around 50% battery and shoukd reduce load to avoid harming the system... when its full, you're floating.....
Interesting if so. This rather highlights the dreadful paucity of information in the manual.
Is your panels connected in series? With 2 or 3 solar panels in series you can get the voltage up with less sun light to start charging with less light. But must make sure that the voltage at higher output doesn't go higher than the voltage that is the controller can take.
Hi.
Thanks for the interesting Videos, I'v just installed 400W solar panels on my RV and a Tracer 4210A. I'd like to save my data for a later day and I just wondered, did you ever create that data logger using an Arduino or a Raspberry you talked about in one of your videos? Cheers.
hello adam. Based on your reviews I purchased the epever mppt controller. It is 30 amp model. I installed it and it appeared to work, however, the PV voltage registered 14.0v. I disconnected the pv and measured it at 18.3 volts. i have it connected to a 4 unit bank of pV'S. EACH IS 90 watts for total of 360 watts. The battery registered 12.9 volts and charge current of 13.2 amps. this is almost exactly what the pwm unit I replaced it with was doing. I am in central texas and it is a 99 degree day. i INSTALLED it and took measurements at about 2 pm. The measurements were made about 3 minutes after hooking it up. I came in and found this video and ceased to panic as much.You mentioned it would take a while for the mppt to kick in. What do you think the while should be. The small manual doesn't give hints and the website was of no help. Thanks in advance for your comments.
Hey Adam, Lexpee says his 30 Amp model switches from PWM to MPPT around 24W, while your 20 Amp does it around 10W -- so I wonder if the 10 Amp model switches at a lower value? I've only got a 100W panel, so I'd like it to go to MPPT as low as possible...
Could do I guess. Sadly I haven't one to test and show you.
Have heard about the Epever UPower Series -Inverter/charger? Looking for someone who has reviewed them. I enjoy watching your reviews, maybe someday you can look into these.
just waiting on mine now
hi adam thanks for video did you test the chinese circuit breaicer thank you
Thanks for the video Adam! I have a question - I have two 12V batteries in series, so 24V system. And 8 x 100W Monocrystalline panels, each max output 19.2V and 5,2A. I have connected solar panels in 4 pack in series. Each pack has 38,4V and 5,2A. I have 4 packs so 38,4V and 20,8A. It is all good in theory, but in winter the solar panels do not give much voltage, so my question is: will it help if I make a switch for winter and summer use. In summer 4 packs 38,4V and 20,8A and in winter 2 packs 76,8V and 10,4A. Theoretically it should be more voltage in winter from panels and the charger can work in MPPT mode and not in PWM mode. What you think about it?
Thanks!
Hi Adam,
Appreciate your videos. I have a 20A and a 30A TacerA charge controller and both have worked just fine (almost). The 30A blew the input MOSFet twice, but the third MOSFet is still holding. My little niggle is caused by spikes in the TracerA's output as the sun emerges from behind clouds. The so called "cloud edge effect". Both TracerA's spike to over 16 volts which trips the overvoltage on my inverter and you have to then cycle the inverter. A pain to say the least. Have you noticed this issue at any time. Not getting a lot of meaningful help from EPsolar unfortunately (sigh). Cheers and keep them videos coming.
I can't say I have seen this happen in front of my eyes however sometimes the battery 'Max Voltage' statistic shows a higher voltage than my boost voltage. I guess this could be the same issue. I'll keep an eye on that - perhaps that will be something to mention in the 18 month update! Cheers
John Wain
I had THREE 4210a models fail on me!!!
My system is as follows:-
Three 150watt panels connected in series giving me approx. 60volts.
One 12 v150ah battery.
The first 4210a unit I bought was made in 2016/5 which is indicated on the serial number, it blew out as I heard a "pop" sound and I went to look and the screen was blank.
I went to the retailer I bought it from and they wouldn't refund me my money, so I contacted Epsolar and told them the situation and they contacted the retailer and told them to take in my broken one for an analysis, then the retailer gave me one to use until mine gets fixed which they said had the exact same problem as me and they fixed it!!
So I took it home it worked for a day then the next day at noon approximately 11:45pm I heard the same pop sound from it and sadly it blew like my old one.....
I contacted Epsolar they said that it turns out the two I had were "bad batches" they came this conclusion from my broken one they told the retailer to test the mosfets with a multimeter and they found out that it's a bad batch. They told the engineer to replace the mosfets and replace the two 35 amps fuses and it started to work again, however they told me to disconnect one panel so that the voltage remains under 60 as these bad batches can't handle over 60volts.
Nevertheless the MPPT's manual clearly indicates that the controller can handle voltages from the panel upto 92v.
So then the company Epsolar told me that they will get me a replacement ASAP with a new batch which can also handle my three panels upto 92volts, so two months later it arrived from China and this batch was made in 2016/11 which was a relief to see.
Sadly it worked for two days (it was cloudy) then on the third day which was sunny I looked over to the MPPT and saw a blank screen.
It's the weekend now Epsolar told me to wait until Monday to resolve the issue, I will be making an update on this frustrating problem here.
Hi Yusuf,
Yep, my 3210 (30A) unit blew the input FET and I only noticed it when the inverted alarmed on "low voltage" and I went to have a look. I found the input STP150N10F7 was short circuit. Interestingly the FET is rated at 100v and my panels are only capable of 60-72v or so. Max panel current is only 5-6A and the FET is rated at 110A.
Bought some replacements (original ST models) 1st replacement lasted a week or so and went short circuit again. Swapped it out again with ST branded device and it is still holding (crossing fingers).
Had a lengthy email chat with ePSolar which was strikingly ineffective so I just gave up.
As a side issue have you noticed the charge controller spikes the output due to "cloud edge effect". The controller spikes to over 16v which trips out the inverter on cloudy days. Caused by the sunlight being magnified as it emerges from behind a cloud. This is completely random and depends on the type of cloud edge. The panel voltage spike is not tracked and controlled by the ePSolar units. They were remarkedly unhelpful with this problem as well.
Interestingly my 20A model has never missed a beat but still has the "cloud edge effect" problem.
Good luck and keep us all informed.
Cheers,
John
Hey John,
Thanks for your reply.
No, I don't think I have experienced the cloud edge effect maybe I haven't been paying close attention, however I will surely after fixing my MPPT keep a look out and post anything on here buddy.
Now for the Mosfet part the you swapped out do you mean this particular one :-
www.st.com/en/power-transistors/stp150n10f7.html
If not please send the link where you have purchased it from.
The first Mosfet that you bought the blew out, was it the same as the one that's holding out now??
I noticed that in all my failures that the Mosfet would blow out when the solar pv exceeds 60volts.
Do your solar panels exceed 60volts and the Mosfet is fine?
And by the way are your panels connected in series or parallel?
Thanks in advance mate,
Yusuf
Hi Yusuf,
You will only notice that if you have something like an inverter connected that has a high voltage and a low voltage cutoff (with alarm). Otherwise you can check the unit with your MT50 or the PC based ePSolar utility.
Either way just look for the "Max Voltage" in the battery info section and you will see the highest output for the day.
Now to the MOSFet. Yes all were "supposedly" original ST branded STP150N10F7 devices from:
www.ebay.com.au/itm/262567266336?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I looked around for a possible replacement but the "Rds On - Drain-Source Resistance: 4.2 mOhms" spec is hard to beat.
The panels are 190W each (2 off) connected in series. Each panel produces about 38V at the MPPT point giving 76V in series at about 5.5A. Generally I find the controller tracks at about 65V - 67V on the PV side.
The MOSFet I replaced is on the bottom left hand side of the main board under the clip that holds two TO220 devices down on the heatsink. Not sure if the 4210 unit has similar topology or not.
Cheers,
John
i have a 4210A and i know that by default its programmed to equalize the battery's on the 28th of each month. Is there a way to deactivate this?
Hi Adam! Could you please make a video regarding charging lithium ion batteries with epever mppt charge controller. And please test 3s and 4s battery configuration with proper bms and is it making any difference by using 24 or 12 volt configuration. I really like your videos, it's clear speach and understandable. Tnx
Most likely due Solar module Vmax and Vmmpt max mismatch... Module output voltage outside Mppt voltage range cannot be converted to power.
Glad I found your channel! I have the 4215bn with mt50, and whenever I connect my solar panels in series (2x100w), it will display the accumulated voltage for a few seconds (40w) under the pv icon, then it will go down to between 13-20v, immediately, even if the weather hasn't changed (no clouds and fulll sunlight). Does yours stay up at higher voltages for more than a few seconds?
Good video Adam.
That battery icon issue is across the BN series as well. it's most annoying. :/
I really wish they'd do a firmware update release to fix it. it's been over a year now.
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any of the EPSolar / EPEver charge controllers getting a firmware update after shipping. Doesn't bother me very much but it could easily be improved.
yes, just a minor annoyance.
but would be nice if they fixed it.
and the tracer series is advertised as firmware upgradable, so why they don't do it? who knows. it's not a deal breaker by any means though.
for the price, nothing else comes close (so far)
keep up the great videos mate.
You should do some videos about LiFePO4 cells! Im planing on getting 8 for my new solar power pack!
Yeah - I've played with lead acid and I've played with lithium ion - LiFePo4 would be interesting to play with too. Trouble is if I'm going to invest in that, I'd also need to invest in a suitable charge controller and BMS. My lithium pack charged from a lead acid charge controller is made up of free recycled cells - ultimately if they gave up the ghost I've lost nothing. One day perhaps.
True...
Also, this is a really cool site that has a ton of different awesome stuff: www.ev-power.eu
I have a BN and it too sticks in low light. It is just bad. If you disconnect and reconnect the panels it hunts and you see it go through the peak power. So it is just wasting all that power in low light. And that is a deal breaker in the winter. I made a circuit to kick the panels connection when this happens but its not a fix.
Just purchased a 40A unit for my 500w 30v cells, the new unit is now Backlit for 30s / press of either button.
How did you get on Derek as I am about to fit same system as you? I have two 220 amp hr batteries?
I have the 80 amp mppt controller 200v one .
Adam
I'm sure it's been mentioned time and time again..
is it worth buying a MTTP to use as a trickle charge on x2 20w solar panels situated on a boat were boat engine use is maybe every few weeks, so just looking to keep it topped up for as and when..
any ideas on a small cheap attempt please be great..
no nothing about elecky stuff but do enjoy yr vids 👍👍👍👍👍
Hello. Given that you only need a small charge to keep the battery topped off when it is idle you might not want to bother with MPPT. PWM will be fine and will do what you need I would have thought. I use a 30 watt panel on a caravan to keep the battery topped up with no problems. Given that a boat is usually an expensive thing, I’d probably go for a reputable brand charge controller though. I’ve had great experience with EPEver for the last few years. Their viewstar range would allow you to set the right battery charge type, show you the voltage of the battery and what’s happening with the solar.
@@AdamWelchUK
thank you Adam I'm very greadful for yr input 👍 fab vids btw😉
Adam, ive bought the 2210 version, and the cc-usb-rs485-150u cable, but it doenst work... what software have you installed ? and where i get it ? Kind Regarts
Hi Adam, thanks for these videos they are very useful for setting up my own solar shed. I have a shed that has an East/West roof and I was wondering if it was necessary to get 2 of these at 20amps or if one at 40amps would be okay, as I want to put 2x260W panels up there - there's a couple of compact 100W on each side now but there's room for the 260Ws as well (which would be 720W total at 24v)... and I have no idea if there would be any issues to look out for if two charge controllers are being used (like needing a reverse current diode or some such)?
Also see there's a new variety of MPPT charge controllers on eBay called the eSmart 3 series MPPT Solar charge controller and this claims to be 12/24/36/48v (auto recognising) and comes in 40 or 60amp versions and also has a wifi RS485 dongle add-on. Don't suppose you could review one or know of issues already?
I have a Tracer3215BN, and get the data via my arduino, also beside the panels, I have a BH1750 light sensor, 2 in fact one high res, one low res, it;s interesting to see the way the power out from the panels follows the light sensor. But, what I didn't realise, was the way the Tracer charge controller, once it starts seeing power from the panels in the morning, resets it self every hour. Hope this link works, and you can see what I mean, this only became apparent, once I started to monitor it in a graphical mode.
s2.postimg.org/6170o6y1l/Untitled.jpg
Great videos Adam, with a polished style, makes it all easier to watch and listen to.
I have noticed the lack of MPPT at very low power, but don't see it as a problem, as you mention. I have found another significant problem.
The boost mode will run for up to 180 minutes and starts early morning when there is not enough solar energy available to boost the battery. Boost runs out and switches to float late morning when the real solar power is available, but float charge can't push it into the battery. Therefore most of the available afternoon solar energy is wasted and over several days the battery runs down. I have about 1KW 60V of panels, 24V 230Ah flooded battery, 30A controller and MT50. It seems that this controller is not suitable for my panel battery and load arrangement.
A configurable time delay to offset boost-charge to begin some hours after dawn would be great.
Question: Could the few bars, despite it being fully charged, actually being an indication of SOH, alias state of health, of the battery?....
Hi Adam, your videos are great!
I'm running a offgrid system with 3 epever 20 Amps. Do you know, it is possible to connect all the data of the 3 controller on one software Application?
Best regards
Hans
You could have all three setup in Solar Station monitor but I believe it only monitors one at a time. To monitor more you might need to look at other control software that uses the MODBUS protocol. There are quite a few ones - many open source and therefore free, but I don't have any experience with any of them I'm afraid.
Hi Adam,all new to this,thinking of putting a 100w panel on my 814 truck and wondered is it worth putting an mppt controller over a pwm on the system,probably going for a 115 ah max battery...it's mainly for lights and might get an inverter [there's another minefield] for powering the odd smallish watt power tool..never seen so much to choose from..head spinning lol!
The million dollar question! With no straight answer I'm afraid. In my situation I tend to use my power at night with lights and experiments in the shed of an evening. My batteries are full by the time I get home and that's great. I use an MPPT solar charge controller but to be honest my midweek use I could just use a PWM. It would take a little longer in the mornings to charge up my battery bank but I wouldn't care because I'd be at work.
On a weekend however I can use my power more in the day. If I turn my inverter on that starts to put a decent load on my battery bank. It's at this point where getting the few extra watts is helpful - and MPPT will kick in and get the most it can from the panels.
Finally as we see in this video MPPT can be of little advantage in the dark winter days.
Inverter wise I'd probably be looking at pure sine wave if you're looking to run power tools (unless it's to charge their batteries). Modified sine wave is less efficient and generally works best on things that have DC converters in them.
Minefield or exciting competitive market? You choose!
Is it worth it to get an MPPT on a solar panel 40W (max output 2,6amp)? Small setup I know, but I have 4 batteries (300+ amp) charging from a PWM and I dont have space for more panels, so I am considering upgrading the charge controller to a MPPT. Makes sense?
hi, :) what cable do you use with em? we have 20m 4mm2 mc4 cables but it says we need to use 16mm2 on the manual? theres 4mm2 cables coming out of the solar and we also bought triple Y MC4 4mm2 cables to connect our three panels in parallel, so which bit needs to be 16mm2? also, does this have an automatic low voltage cut off? TIA
also you can set the backlight time etc etc etc..
my gel battery shows full bars when its charging, but as soon as the sun goes off, my epever shows only 3 bars and 12.8v. Why it doesnt stay at 5 bars?
Because its positive ground rather than negative the battery indicator is inaccurate
I've got three panels @ 975W (325W each) - do you think I can use 3 of these controllers charging the same 210AH 12V AGM battery Adam, or is there a better, more cost effective solution?
Hi Adam, video is awesome as always bud, I really like how detailed you are. I have a question and a cheeky request... I'm in the process of creating my van conversion power design and I wondered what configuration you would recommend? I will be putting 4 x 100w of solar panels on the roof with another 2 x 100w at a later date so I guess I'm asking how would you have it configured from a voltage perspective and what mppt would you use (would this one work and as we're 9 months on is there a newer version or better option now available?). Any advice would be awesome as I'm more mechanical than electrical :)
My cheeky request would be a video showing how to charge deep cycle batteries from multiple sources? in my scenario I have the solar, vehicle alternator (fluctuates 13.5v - 14.5v) and when on a site there's also the mains electric hook up. So how do I get these all into 1 system working in unison with each other? Could I just use 3 charge controllers?
You don’t mention the voltage of your panels but I would probably put two panels in series and two pairs in parallel. That way you can add your two extra panels with ease in the future. Just be sure to get a charge controller that’ll take all six panel (and I generally suggest getting ‘the next one up’ - so if you’re getting close to 20 amps maximum solar charge go for the 30 amp model).
This charge controller is still built and sold but I guess the newer version is the TRiRON range - which I’ve also done a video about.
That’s probably not a video I can do as I don’t have a motor home but theoretically all systems could be attached to the same battery at the same time. All should have protections to prevent damage if the battery voltage exceeds their target charging level. So if your onboard charger charges to 13.8 volts and your solar charge controller is charging to 14 volts then current won’t flow from the onboard charger once the solar has managed to get the battery over the 13.8 volts. The onboard charger should have a diode or something to prevent the current flowing into its circuit. Hope that helps.
Adam Welch - Thanks so much for the reply! I have seen your video on the TRiRON but haven't seen it for sale anywhere, I'll check back on the video to see if you put a link. I didn't think about auto shut off! Of course!
I didn't put voltage because I wondered after seeing another of your videos whether it was better to feed 24v or 12v? I got the idea you had a better result when you switched to 24v? Not sure if I misunderstood that?
Thanks again for the reply!!
Very informative series of videos Adam, thank you for that! I'm looking into upgrading my off-grid system and a new controller (40A for 4x140W panels) would come in handy. I just got slightly confused by the Voltage values you have mentioned, it looks like you are charging a 12v battery, but your PV voltage is around 35 V. How is that possible?
Just realised there is a DC-DC converstion in this charge controller. This is an incredible feature, as I can wire my panels in series producing some 80 (open circuit) voltage. This reduces voltage drop and cable size substantially. Just ordered one. Looking forward!
Glad you worked it out - yes that is one of the key features of a MPPT solar charge controller, the fact that your solar panel voltage can be quite a distance away from your battery voltage. The DC2DC conversion seems pretty efficient on the EPEver units. I hope you enjoy your purchase! :-)
Mine just stopped working. WHAAAAH! i ordered another. EP Ever 8420 AN. Less than a year old.Input voltage,solar voltage OK.Fuse OK.
Adam, it looks like all the EPSolar/EPEver Tracers use a positive ground setup. Why is this? I'd be installing in a boat with a negative ground.
+snapspin There might be a few design reasons, but ultimately it takes a lower component count and therefore lower cost. You can still use a positive ground controller in a negative ground vehicle. You just need to ensure that you don't use the vehicle ground as a replacement for a cable. If your solar goes straight back to the controller and your controller is connected straight to the batteries there shouldn't be an issue. You can use the load too - but again you need to ensure it's isolated from the vehicle ground. Unless of cause there's a boat regulation that prevents it.