Solar System Essentials: Solar Charge Controller
Your System’s Regulator to Keep Your Batteries from Overcharging
One of the most essential components of Solar Panels for your home is the Solar Charge Controller. It basically regulates the voltage of your Solar Battery Storage to avoid overcharging. Most 12 volt solar panels put out about 16-20 volts, making your battery more prone to damage if there’s no regulation.
Types of Solar Charge Controllers
- Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) – it reduces your battery’s charge time to turn extra voltage into amperage.
- Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) – it slowly reduces your battery’s power supply without overcharging it to reduce stress to the battery.
Solar Charger Controllers Features
- On/Off battery charging
- Automatic voltage selection
- Lighting protection
- Temperature compensation
- LED digital indicator light
- Battery system monitor
- Field adjustment parameters
Importance of Solar Charge Controller
Although it is not required to use solar charge controller, still, it guarantees to protect your solar batterystorage. Since you’re going to be using your solar panels for a long period of time, you’ll most likely be using these components for a long period of time as well. This being said, you need to take care each components – panels, batteries, controllers – to ensure that you will not be needing a lot of fixtures in the long run. The image below is an example of solar charge controller:
