Solar controller

G'day william
I have the same reg and it has stopped the history reading aspect, but does still work. With Regs a PWM can only deliver the panel amp ability to the battery , ie, locked to battery voltage plus a bit more, whereas, if the panel voltage and power point at that instant/conditions are same amps but higher voltage, the MPPT will convert the additional panel voltage into more amps than the PWM can achieve.
With suitable regulator, MPPT which has a higher input voltage tolerance, you could, with an Anderson plug have a point where an Anderson simply connects the Present solar to the regulator. ie an inline Anderson join of positive wire. If the folding panel is of similar/same output and current ability, and by using a crossover wired anderson adapter (clearly labelled as to their use/position, the folding panel could be used to, "Not Parallel connect" but series connect the two solars, so double voltage is seen at the regulator. Then the MPPT can take advantage of it all and provide with an earlier start. later finish and more harvest while sun on both. Just an option which may be worthwhile.

I have a 24v system running house panels in series to double voltage to over 70v open circuit, around 56v while charging and being more than double the system voltage the MPPT controller outputs more than double the amp flow compared to that in the solar line.

I admit my Victron bias with a few devices running here faultless for years.

MPPT controllers will typically output 15-20% more energy into your battery.

Consider a 30A Victron BlueSolar MPPT 100/30 solar controller.

I'm guessing that it will be physically no bigger than your existing Renogy controller.

Set the switch to your battery type, wire in and forget.

Hi William B,

The short answer is an MPPT controller will outperform a PWM controller, and give better results.

Macca.

It's a time consuming process dealing with Renogy I had a 170ah Lithium fail after 15 months and they had no way of testing it even after I suggested I could take it to an auto elec. They just took my word that it failed they didn't want the old one back and replaced it with a new one which I still had to pay a bit for under the warranty conditions. It took a while for the warranty claim to go through after following their system of raising a ticket and having to suppy pics of the item each time what a joke. I won't be buying any more of their products.

What’s your aversion to an app ?
I have only one device with an app ( 2 actually, an Evakool fridge, but once set, it doesn’t need the app )…a Victron 30A solar controller.
Although it doesn’t come with a remote display, the app is so easy to look at. Once you know the solar panels are in sun, and you know they both work , you probably don’t need to look at the app.