Dear colleagues,
Once again, many thanks to everyone who contributed to this survey. I was interested to see what products are being used in the community, because often there are models and brands with good features that are not advertised in your own country, which can be easily overlooked. I’ve found out about several brands that I wasn’t previously aware of as a result of this informal survey.
My application is for instruments deployed in Greenland, so I’m interested in low temperature operation and operation throughout the polar winter. For this reason I’ve stuck to lead-acid batteries because lithium-ion suffers failures due to dendrite growth if charged below 0 degrees Celsius. All the models quoted below are for 12V lead-acid battery systems. I have listed them by manufacturer, in alphabetical order:
No regulator
Michele Citterio at GEUS points out that a solar regulator isn’t strictly necessary if your solar panel is relatively small when compared to the size of the battery – you can just use a blocking diode instead. GEUS use this approach very successfully on their PROMICE weather stations in Greenland, where they have a 10W panel supplying a 112Ah battery bank. The panel size (in W) is less than 1% of battery bank capacity (in Wh).
BlueSky
Alfons Eckstaller at AWI has used the BlueSky SB 3000i (~300 euro) but had issues with programming being lost in the field. His view was that it was potentially a good controller but needs further investigation as to reliability. He has now replaced it with a Morningstar SS-MPPT-15L.
BZ Products
Ed Yarmak of Arctic Foundations has used the BZ Products 500 Charge Controller very successfully for many years. As far as I can tell this is no longer manufactured.
Conrad
Lutz Eberlein at TU Dresden recommended these own-brand controllers from Conrad for small projects.
https://www.conrad.com/p/18310-charge-controller-pwm-12-v-24-v-6-a-111182
https://www.conrad.com/p/ivt-pwm-seriell-1224-charge-controller-serial-12-v-24-v-4-a-110173
Eco Energy
Eco Energy (https://eco-energy.us/) are a small US/Canadian company and specialize in controllers with very low night-time power consumption – their unique selling point is “zero overnight power consumption” on some models. Their products are sold in the US, Canada and the UK.
Diego Wasser at University of Zürich recommends their ASC30W model, which has the zero-overnight-power feature.
Andreas Bauder at ETH Zürich has tried their S10 but had bad experiences with it.
Flexcharge
SES-Flexcharge are a US-based manufacturer of very rugged PWM solar controllers. They don’t appear to be sold outside of the US, Canada and Iceland, but they are very popular in the US polar community. UNAVCO recommend their NC30L12 model (https://www.unavco.org/projects/project-support/polar/remote/power/power.html). The regulators have been used successfully at the South Pole. Thanks to Thomas Nylen, Santiago de la Peña and Sam Doyle for their recommendations.
Genasun
Genasun’s regulators are of the MPPT type and have very low night power consumption (90uA on the GV-4). Genasun sell their products in both US and Europe and are part of the same company as Blue Sky Energy.
They are recommended by IRIS-PASSCAL in the USA (https://www.passcal.nmt.edu/content/polar/equipment/year-round/power-box) and also by Dirk van As at GEUS, Adam Garbo at Carleton University, Joe Pettit at UNAVCO and Andreas Bauder at ETH Zürich. Their model range covers primarily smaller panel sizes – their largest rated regulator is the GV-10 which is designed for use with a 140W panel.
MorningStar
Morningstar are long-established manufacturers and I’ve used their products many times myself. Their products were similarly recommended by TJ Young at Cambridge University, Sam Doyle at Aberystwyth University, Zoe Courville and colleagues at CRREL, Forrest Schoessow at Ohio State University and Lutz Eberlein at TU Dresden. It’s worth noting that many of MorningStar’s designs are quite old now and their night-time power consumption is higher than some of their competitors.
Additionally, Alfons Eckstaller at AWI recommends their relatively expensive SS-MPPT-15L regulator, which is the MPPT type, whereas most people are using the SunGuard or SunSaver PWM regulators which are rather cheaper.
Phocos
I had a lot of recommendations from European researchers for Phocos regulators (these are widely available both in Europe and the US).
The following models were recommended (some of which may no longer be on sale):
CM04-2.1 (Andreas Bauder, ETH)
CML10-2.2 (Andreas Bauder, ETH)
ECO-N-10-T (Diego Wasser, U Zürich; Daniel Grüße from ZAMG, Vienna; Achille Capelli, WSL) – Diego’s comment is that they are very robust, but that the standby power consumption is relatively high (4mA) when compared with the models from Genasun and Eco Energy. This model is IP68 rated.
CIS-MMPT 85/20A (Achille Capelli, WSL)
CIS-N (Tilo Schöne, GFZ Potsdam)
PL-20 (Tilo Schöne, GFZ Potsdam)
Revolt
Andreas Bauder at ETH Zürich recommends this cheap controller from Revolt, which is also sold under various other brands (googling “dual USB solar controller” reveals the same model sold by Banggood and AliExpress as well as numerous other retailers): https://www.revolt-power.de/Digital-Solar-Laderegler-20A-12V-24V-Auto-Switch--NX-6816-919.shtml
Solar Technology
Andy Smedley at Manchester University said that he has a PV Logic 10A Dual Battery Charge Controller (https://www.solartechnology.co.uk/product/10a-dual-battery-charge-controller/) on order from Solar Technology at the moment but has not yet trialled it.
Siemens
Daniel Steinhage at AWI says that they used to use Siemens Solar SR30 controllers but as these are no longer manufactured, they replaced them with with the Steca Solarix 3030.
Steca
Daniel Steinhage at AWI recommends the Solarix PRS3030; Andreas Bauder at ETH Zürich recommends both the PR3030 and PR1515. It’s worth noting that the Solarix has a much lower self-consumption than the PR models, as the PRs have a display screen.
Victron
Daniel Steinhage at AWI has had bad experiences with the BlueSolar 12 PWM-Pro – the programming of the low-voltage disconnect feature failed, but it is not clear why.
Julius Rix at BAS recommends the BlueSolar MPPT 7510. He built a system using three panels arranged in a triangle and three of these regulators. The three regulators communicate over Bluetooth, with one acting as the main controller and the others following its instructions. He says that it was very easy to set them up using a smartphone, including changing the battery charge profile.
Andreas Bauder at ETH Zürich recommends the Orion-Tr 12/24-10A DC-DC converter.
I hope you find this useful – I certainly did!
Best regards,
Mike
From: CRYOLIST <cryolist-bounces@lists.cryolist.org> On Behalf Of Michael Prior-Jones
Sent: 27 April 2021 07:57
To: cryolist@cryolist.org
Subject: Re: [CRYOLIST] Solar regulators for autonomous instruments - recommendations?
Dear colleagues,
Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone who has sent me details of their preferred solar regulators, it’s really appreciated. I’ll work up a summary next week and provide an update.
Mike
From: CRYOLIST <cryolist-bounces@lists.cryolist.org> On Behalf Of Michael Prior-Jones
Sent: 23 April 2021 16:11
To: cryolist@cryolist.org
Subject: [CRYOLIST] Solar regulators for autonomous instruments - recommendations?
| External email to Cardiff University - Take care when replying/opening attachments or links. |
| Nid ebost mewnol o Brifysgol Caerdydd yw hwn - Cymerwch ofal wrth ateb/agor atodiadau neu ddolenni. |
Dear Cryolist-ers,
If you have deployed instruments in the field that are powered by solar power, could you tell me which types of solar regulators (aka charge controllers) you have used and whether you recommend them?
I’m already aware of a number of brands (e.g. Morningstar, Flexcharge, Genasun) that are popular in the UK and US polar research communities, but would like to have a look as widely as possible to see if there are any good products out there that I’ve missed.
If you have time, please reply directly to me (not to the list) and let me know. I’ll post a follow-up to the list when I’ve collated everyone’s responses.
Many thanks,
Mike Prior-Jones
| Dr Mike Prior-Jones (he/him) | | Dr Mike Prior-Jones (ef) |
| Post-doctoral Research Associate School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Cardiff University | | Cynorthwy-ydd ymchwil ôl-ddoethurol Ysgol Gwyddorau'r Ddaear a'r Amgylchedd Prifysgol Caerdydd |
| Tel: +44 (0)7792 553358 | | Ffôn : +44 (0)7792 553358 |
| I work remotely from home in Cambridge and do not have an office in Cardiff. | | Rwy'n gweithio gartref yng Nghaergrawnt, ac nid oes gen i swyddfa yng Nghaerdydd. |
| Please call my mobile number if you want to speak to me. | | Ffoniwch fy rhif ffôn symudol os hoffech siarad â mi. |
