The Hack My Solar Podcast

Charge Controllers, what are they? OK so we have covered what solar panels are, and how to design a solar array,  but what happens once your panels are generating power?  Well you obviously want to get them into your battery bank, but other than some very specific situations, you will charge your batteries through a charge controller.  So what is a charge controller...in essence, it is the device that regulates the amount of energy, both in terms of voltage and amperage, that goes from your solar array to your battery bank. Charge controllers come in two primary modes, Pulse width modulation(PWM) and Maximum Power Point Tracking(MPPT).  Pulse Width Modulation Solar Charge Controllers reduce the amount of voltage applied to the batteries in an inverse relationship to the charge level of the batteries.  So as the state of charge goes up, the voltage is reduced so as not to damage the batteries.  MPPT Solar Charge Controllers match the incoming power from the PV array to the most efficient use of that power in