Solar Charge Controller Needed For A 600 Watt Go Power Solar Flex Solar Power System

Question:

I need to have 6 panels in my system so what components need to be upgraded to get that 6th panel in the system. Will the charge controller do the job or should we go up to the 60 amp charge controller. I like to have my system to have future growth if needed and not be on the edge. I will be running 400 AH of Lithium batteries with this. I am putting the system on a 1995 AS Excella 25 foot. I have done a cad engineering layout of the system. Yep I am a technical nerd. My needs are immediate. Thank you,

asked by: Jim H

Helpful Expert Reply:

To determine the correct rated solar charge controller for your system you'll need to divide the wattage coming in from your panels (in this case 600watts if you added the sixth panel) by the voltage of your battery bank and add another 25% for unexpected energy surges. If you run your batteries in parallel the voltage will remain the same but if you run them in series the voltage will increase the voltage (i.e. two 6v batteries in series would be 12v). So for example 600watts / 12v = 50 and then we'll add 25% for unexpected surges which would equal 62.5 amps so you would need to run another MPPT Solar Charge Controller # GP54FR in parallel to handle the load. Having two solar charge controllers would also allow you to expand your panels in the future.

The Go Power Solar Flex Charging System with MPPT Solar Controller # 34275012 you were looking at has the # GP54FR already included and to expand it to 6 panels you can use the Go Power Solar Flex Expansion Kit - 110 Watt Solar Panel # 34272629 which will connect using the MC4 connectors provided.

expert reply by: Kevin C