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| OutBack Power Systems MX60 Charge Controller | |||||
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The batteries are charged by the PV panels, but if you just connect them up directly to the batteries there is the chance of overcharging.
"What is overcharging?" you say... If the batteries are charged far beyond their maximum capacity it can cause them to overheat, loosing precious water in the process. In severe cases of overcharging it is possible to actually boil the electrolyte (read acid) in the batteries. Whenever this loss of water or boiling of the batteries occurs pure hydrogen and oxygen gases are produced, a very, very flammable mixture that can be set off with the slightest spark. In addition repeated overcharging can cause long term, irreversible battery damage. |
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| What this charge controller does: | |||||
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The OutBack Power Systems MX60 Charge Controller keeps the voltage in the batteries from exceeding a user set level.
Voltage is like a measurement of electrical pressure, so we can use voltage as a measure of pressure on the batteries and rest of the system. As the batteries convert the electrical energy into chemical energy, stored in the acid solution, the charge controller will send in more electricity to keep the voltage at the limits I have set.
This charge controller can handle a maximum of 60 amps output at 12, 24, 36, or 48 volts DC.
MPPT It also is a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) charge controller. MPPT squeezes the most possible power from Photovoltaic panels by operating them at their highest wattage output, then electronically matching the output of the charge controller to match the batteries. Higher Voltage Input Another great thing about this charge controller is that it can handle voltages as high as 140vdc on the input side and still step the voltage down to the correct voltage for your batteries. This means that you can use smaller wiring between the panels and your charge controller. It also means that you can squeeze a little more energy out of those cloudy days, and that's a feature that makes this charge controller a real winner! |
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| Performance: | |||||
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We have been using the MX60 Charge Controller for about a year before doing this writeup.
It's been a great unit during that time.
The unit is one of the first 200 units released by OutBack, so they have performed a few upgrades to the MX60 all for the better.
I have had the upgrades performed on this one to make it basically the same as one of the new units shipping from the factory.
We had one problem, where an intermediate upgrade to the motherboard blew out when a breaker tripped, but OutBack was able to quickly diagnose the issue and fix it in only a couple of hours.
Praise I really love this MX60, because I can see the difference over a years time in my solar system performance. We started our system with a B.Z. Products CC-32/CC-40 charge controller, which continues to serve us well handling a small set of panels. The first test of a MPPT charge controller was the RV Power Products SB-50: A good unit that performed as promised, but I was looking for more. I believe that because the MX60 supports wiring the PV array at 48 volts and the battery bank running at 24 volts the extra energy squeezed out of early morning hazy and cloudy days has really made a significant difference to our power production. All that translates into a decreased need to charge the batteries from a generator. |
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