Why do we need charge controllers? To prevent batteries from being damaged by charging too hard. As you charge a battery, its voltage rises, which is all good up to a point. However if the voltage gets too high the battery may overheat, dry out explode etc.
How do charge controllers work? The controller monitors the battery voltage and limits the charging current to prevent it from pushing the voltage above a chosen level or “set-point”. This diagram shows the process as recommended for Rolls batteries when used with SMA inverters. There are several phases of battery charging, each with its own set-point voltage that the controller should observe. These voltages are also temperature compensated (adjusted to allow for battery temperature rise or fall).
So it can get pretty complex. But a simple charge controller that limits the charge rate to prevent a 12V battery from exceeding 14V during charge may be all that you need in reality. Make sure that your charge controller is set correctly for the battery make and type. Sealed batteries (gel type), for example, may need lower settings for safe operation.
How do they limit the charge rate? Solar charge controllers are wired between the solar array and the battery so that they can act like a switch and turn off the charging current. Mostly they will do this in rapid pulses and control the average charge rate by the width of the pulse (Pulse Width Modulation or PWM). (Often nowadays they will also use Maximum Power Point Tracking or MPPT but this has nothing to do with charge control. It’s just an additional separate function of the charge control device, to improve the performance of the solar array.)
It’s not a case of turning off the charge when the battery is “full” so much as optimising the charge rate from maximum available current at first, down to a trickle charge current into a well charged battery on float.
What is diversion charge control and why is it better? Another way to limit battery charge rate is to divert current away from the battery and into a “dump load” otherwise called a diversion, ballast, or shunt, that is almost always some kind of heater/resistor to dissipate the excess energy safely as heat. The controller is often connected directly to the battery rather than between battery and source. The dump load is chosen so that it can use all the current you will get that is not controlled in any other way. But it must not exceed the amperage capacity of the controller itself. There are two advantages to using the energy rather than switching the current off.
- One is that it can provide useful energy harvest (for making hot water for example and avoiding the need to burn fuel).
- Another is to prevent overspeed of disconnected wind or hydro turbines where these are the source of the energy.
An unloaded turbine speeds up and becomes noisy, adding to wear and tear and producing higher output voltage that can destroy the controller. If you only have solar and you do not need hot water then there is no advantage to a diversion controller.
What’s the best way to control a hybrid system (with both solar PV and wind/hydro turbine)? You can do this with one big diversion controller. The controller connects to the battery and the charging sources each connect directly to the battery. Here is a typical wiring diagram. You can buy an MPPT controller (to improve performance) but you don’t have to. Actually I find that a standard grid-tied solar panel connected directly to a 24V battery is close enough to its maximum power point that you don’t need MPPT for short wire runs. Or you can use a solar MPPT controller (and a hydro MPPT controller) alongside a diversion controller.
Will the charge controllers conflict with each other in a hybrid system? Where you have a solar(usually MPPT) charge controller and a wind or hydro diversion charge controller on the same battery then the settings for both controllers must be suitable for the battery type. They may not agree perfectly as to the set-point voltage for optimum charging all of the time and at every stage, but they don’t need to. Think of them as a committee of experts. Committees rarely agree, but whoever you listen to is probably going to do a good job, being an expert after all.
What happens if the diversion controller is not big enough to dump the solar power? You might have a hybrid system with 2kW of solar PV working 2 sun-hours per day and 200W of hydro working 24 hours. (The wee hydro produces more kWh of energy than the solar.) The dump load should be sized for the hydro (at least 200W). What happens if it starts to dump solar power? The dump load itself has an inherent maximum current. So long as the diversion controller can handle the current in the dump load on 100% duty there is no problem. It will not be overloaded. If this fails to control the battery voltage then it will rise slightly and the solar controller will back off solar current and limit the charge rate according to its (slightly different) chosen set-point.
How do I set the controllers to make best use of the solar power to heat water? If your diversion controller is heating water then you may want it to produce as much as possible. In this case you should set the voltages slightly lower in the diversion controller and slightly higher in the MPPT one so that the diversion operates first on rising voltage and the MPPT acts as a safety net if the diversion load is maxed out and the voltage rises further. Make sure that both controllers have setting that are acceptable to your battery. Set your hydro MPPT controller to the highest set-points of all so that your hydro is never unloaded. This controller is only valuable for MPPT function (and it’s also comforting as a safety net in case the diversion control fails).
Where can I get a diversion controller? The best ones on the market are the Morningstar Tristar 45 and Tristar 60 controllers. The Xantrex C40 is kind of OK but a lot less stable in operation. There are not many other commercial ones available. Here is one. Missouri wind and solar offer one but I don’t know if they are good (comments?).
You can find low cost ones that divert hundreds of amps via a relay but these are rather crude in operation. Most diversion controllers have a diversion mode and a solar mode so make sure you understand the difference and configure the controller correctly for your needs. Some divert directly off the turbine and stall it so it slows down but these will not give you much useful hot water from a wind turbine in low winds.
Can I make my own charge controller? Yes indeed. It’s a fun DIY electronics project. I have made a lot of them in the past but to be honest the Tristar is cost-effective and much better in so many ways. But I will try to do another post soon with details of various DIY charge control projects.
Hi Hugh, met you at Glastonbury in 95. My peers thought I was “that student wierdo” as I went specifically to see the Alternative Energy Exhibition. Chatted & bought your manual. Only just getting into the turbine field now due to living in a semi urban environment and due to the extortionate and rising cost of energy (2022). lol. Sadly I recently inherited a 10 yr old unused & boxed Hornet off a late friend of mine. Got it all installed direct to a battery bank inc dump load. On the box was marked 12V. My mate once briefly previously mentioned it as a 12V and that he wished he had bought a higher V rated one.
I recently was advised by a well known UK supplier to spin it up and check the Volts. = 60 – 70V+ off load on a multimeter. I was then informed it would be a 48V turbine… I set up my system & batts accordingly. (solar to add in next few weeks – ice/rain permitting 48V style). Only had a bit of wind this last few weeks but charge voltage when spinning fairly well not get even up to 24V mostly and only maybe 38V fleetingly. Was interesting in the above article that you say batteries dictate turbine charge level and that turbine outputs off load are volatile – also obviously that the turbine must be matched to the system.. Can you advise me the best way to check the true nominal voltage rating the turbine would have been built as? I am presently waiting for wind to monitor the output but fear that off load monitoring is not going to give me any meaningful result and when under load the battery bank masks the turbine output. I need to identify the turbine voltage rating so I can decide how best to integrate it into my hybrid supposedly 48V system. (turbine hooked up to 12V bank at mo while I am monitoring… No wind for days though.lol) Thankyou for any useful info Hugh and you are doing a great service for independent minded folk in this country & beyond, Regards, Gary.
hi Gary,
sorry I do not check these comments often. I do not know the design cut-in rpm of the hornet or I would be able to offer a procedure to check the machine. But the simplest solution is likely to be trial and error and it does no harm in the short term just to hook it up informally to a 12V and then a 24V battery and see which works best. Good luck with the hornet.
cheers
Hugh
Hi,
Wouldn’t an MPPT between the battery and the hydro be able to operate the hydro at its optimal voltage?
Best,
Andreas
Hi Andreas,
On the whole yes if the installer is working with uncertain site data or the user is working with variable flows that result in variable operating pressures and voltages then MPPT will usually help. So it’s often a good idea. It also allows you to run the turbine at a higher voltage, saving on the cost of cable.
But remember that it is also possible to design, install and operate a turbine at its maximum power point without such a controller if you are clever enough.
This saves on cost and efficiency as the controllers are costly and they do use some power.
Mostly for PowerSpout turbine customers we do recommend using MPPT to avoid problems with finding the best operating configuration manually.
cheers
Hugh
I have an autonomous 48v battery charging system comprising a 50 panel (12.5kw) solar PV array arranged in 3 strings connected to 3 x 4kw SMA Sunny Boys charging batteries via a master and slave 6.0 SMA sunny island…The Sunny Portal stats are great and generally works very well in the Greek summer (typically 50 kw +daily ) with plenty left over to power a Nissan Leaf. Winter is typically half summer output but still OK except for dull periods where I need a petrol genset. My question is regarding a previous smaller set up of the same system with an additional 1kw Future Energy turbine charging the batteries via a Tristar controller. There was no way to monitor the performance of the wind turbine and the ‘Traffic Light’ Tristar indicators did not agree with the SMA Sunny Island % figures. On windy nights I could see no advantage with respect to battery charge. The local installer Aresti Power took the money and ran and and when the turbine became noisy I took it down….Future Energy themselves suggested connecting the wind turbine directly to the batteries…but I also heard that the physics are that the batteries take the higher voltage? so on a sunny day with low to moderate wind the wind charger makes no impact and therefore in Greek summers the wind turbine is effectively a night time device when connected in a solar / wind hybrid set up. Sorry to request an electrical science lesson but batteries when connected in series accumulate volts? but why not say 5kw of solar plus 1kw of wind equalling 6kw total when both connected to the batteries?….and the diversion controller you describe sounds great to connect to a heating element… I installed an electrical resistance in the solar thermal collecting tank as a dump load…..should I try again with wind turbine connected directly to the batteries and with a shared diversion controller for hot water dump loads…and for monitoring? can I hook up to SMA Sunny Portal or should I buy a digital read out to check performance? Thanks
hi David,
Seems you have the solar PV system connected via sunny boy GTIs or “AC coupled” as it is sometimes called. The GTIs manage the MPPT side of things to maximise solar energy production. When the battery is full, your sunny island inverter pushes the frequency of the “grid” up a bit so that the GTIs slow down charging just like a charge controller works.
This is a great setup except that you waste a lot of PV power due to it being rejected when it could be used for heating if you have a diversion controller. You can run a diversion controller and harvest that heat using suitable settings. Or there is a relay in the sunny island to help with diversion too. this is a bit clunky but at least it follows the inverter’s strategy whereas a separate controller may argue with them.
Yes the wind turbine should be connected directly to the battery. Make sure it is rated for that nominal battery voltage. Wind turbine voltage will actually be dictated by the battery, not the turbine. But you need a turbine that is designed for that battery. Then you also need a diversion controller for the wind turbine to prevent it over-charging the battery. And this can also divert solar power for you and it can provide useful water heating.
I hope this helps.
Hugh
Thanks Hugh, very helpful….I’ll delve more into the Sunny Island settings to enable usefully diverting / dumping as hot water potential extra capacity from my PV panels.
The wind turbine was specified as 48V DC to suit the battery bank so should be fine to connect directly?….not sure what you mean by the batteries dictate the voltage? and could you please answer the question about whether solar / wind hybrid system can receive both energy sources in unison and if the input amount is the sum of the two, i.e. say 1kw from the wind and 6kw from the sun = 7kw total. (The individual solar panel voltage is around 30V x 16 in a string = 480V but no doubt comes out the SMA Sunny Island battery charger a little above 48V)
hi
Look for a relay option called ExtPwrDer.
Wind and hydro turbines and also solar panels have volatile output voltage so if you disconnect your windmill do not be surprised if the voltage is 100-200Vdc open circuit but my point was that the battery voltage will be what determines operating the windmill voltage and then if it is designed for that it will work well, but if not it will run at the wrong speed.
Yes it is very normal to have a hybrid system with multiple sources charging the same battery and the power they put in is additive as you suggest. The actual voltages and currents vary depending on the ratings of the various conversion devices but the battery voltage is largely determined by the battery and also to an extent by the rate at which you charge or discharge it.
cheers
Hugh