"RW Salnick" wrote in message
...
RW Salnick inscribed in red ink for all to know:
KLC Lewis inscribed in red ink for all to know:

"Larry" wrote in message
...

"John" wrote in
:


The manufacturer claims an increase
in current power of 30%.


What nonsense. The controller turns the panels OFF at the appropriate
time. It doesn't manufacture power from thin air. I wouldn't buy his
product because he lied to me.



Larry
--
Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep vote on who's for dinner.
Liberty is when the sheep has his own gun.



IIRC, Practically A Sailor did a test and review on those units, and
verified the manufacturer's claims.



How do the Maximum Power Point controllers work?

bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle


OK, nobody's answering me - I'll try it myself...

IIUC, the "power Point' controllers are basically DC-DC converters,
converting the 19 volts or so that the panels produce to 12.6 (or
something), thus drawing from the panels at their output voltage instead
of the battery's voltage. Presuming minimal change in current delivery,
this would represent an increase in delivered power.

OK, where am I wrong here?

bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle

Wish I could give you an answer, but electrically I'm just shy of being a
low-grade moron. I can follow directions and connect wires, but that's about
it.

John,

Practical Sailor (magazine, or www.practical-sailor.com) tested one of
these types of controllers, don't recall if it was this model, within
the last couple of months and confirmed it's not snake oil. I
imagine the manufacturer can find the article and get you a copy.

Practical Sailor has a history of recommending and trashing products
on a fair basis, and is very reliable.

I recall the explination in practical sailor was something like Bob
posted (DC-DC controllers) above, rather then typical contollers that
throw away the extra voltage above 12.6 (in the form of heat) from the
solar panels, these types of devices will convert the energy to a
lower voltage (and higher amperage) and give your batteries more of
the watts produced by the solar batteries instead of throwing them
away as heat via a voltage regulator.

There are not many caveats, but one important one is that the
controller does not provide a gain in all conditions. Solar Panels are
only producing voltages excessively over 12.6 during sunny days
without excessive shadows (e.g. mast, etc.) over the panel.

Dan