Beware Chinese charge controllers

Zephod · August 03, 2017, 01:29:15 PM

These are two Chinese charge controllers. They are identical except the bottom one nearly caused a fire.

I have a CPU fan as a ventilation fan. Both controllers were connected to my solar panel. The top one works just fine. The bottom one would not recognize the panel. It arrived with a dented screen. After I disconnected it to remove it since it was not performing, I smelt hot electrics. Alarmed I checked everything and found the smell located near my sole CPU ventilation fan. Checking it with the non-contact thermometer I got a reading of 164F. It was hot to the touch. It seems the polarity is REVERSED on that controller. I.E. somebody wired it up inside wrong! I checked my wiring several times before I put power through and it was all 100% right.

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Utahclaimjumper · August 03, 2017, 05:08:58 PM

Usually comes from buying the cheapest item you can find.>>>D

Zephod · August 03, 2017, 05:58:37 PM

Lol. Yup. On the other hand, all these charge controllers seem to come from China.

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belfert · August 03, 2017, 06:54:28 PM

You can still find charge controllers made in the USA, but they cost a fair more than the Chinese ones. Bogart Engineering makes an RV charge controller here in the USA, but it costs around $130. It looks like the Chinese controller Zephod has cost about $20 from a quick Google search.

Zephod · August 03, 2017, 07:37:38 PM

Quote from: belfert on August 03, 2017, 06:54:28 PM
You can still find charge controllers made in the USA, but they cost a fair more than the Chinese ones. Bogart Engineering makes an RV charge controller here in the USA, but it costs around $130. It looks like the Chinese controller Zephod has cost about $20 from a quick Google search.

It was way cheaper than that. $10. I have several others though. I'm using two others at the moment. They seem to wirk.

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windtrader · August 03, 2017, 08:36:57 PM

I know this thread is not meant in anyway a dig at the Chinese. Saying stuff is from "China" implies cheap and poor quality. It's true so much stuff is made there, the whole range from crap to highly complex. Look at the the iPhone for example. Does not get more high tech than that and made in China.

The key to quality products coming from China is nearly dependent on who orders the stuff. Companies that have high standards in design and quality control and willing to pay up some can receive very good products. There is crap and good stuff made in the USA too for the same reasons.

Zephod · August 03, 2017, 08:42:52 PM

Quote from: windtrader on August 03, 2017, 08:36:57 PM
I know this thread is not meant in anyway a dig at the Chinese. Saying stuff is from "China" implies cheap and poor quality. It's true so much stuff is made there, the whole range from crap to highly complex. Look at the the iPhone for example. Does not get more high tech than that and made in China.

The key to quality products coming from China is nearly dependent on who orders the stuff. Companies that have high standards in design and quality control and willing to pay up some can receive very good products. There is crap and good stuff made in the USA too for the same reasons.

Bingo. It's a lottery every time you buy stuff made in China. It could be cheap trash, expensive trash, an inexpensive gem or an expensive prize. I see identical looking products at a wide variety of prices from dirt cheap to mortgage the neighborhood.

I thought the iPhone was by Foxconn in Taiwan anyway.

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Iceni John · August 03, 2017, 08:56:59 PM

If you want a good inexpensive (but not $10!) charge controller, Morningstar makes some decent PWM ones, as does Steca and a few other reputable brands. You really don't need to dredge the bottom with no-name generic junk from the Socialist Workers' Paradise. Some POS costing only a few dollars could possibly start a fire and burn down everything you've worked hard to get - that's not such a good deal. Caveat emptor.

John

windtrader · August 03, 2017, 09:26:33 PM

It's a lottery if you fail to do the extra research to determine exactly where your product is made. Brands matter if a known one like Apple, HP, IBM, etc. because the company is committed to protect their brand, product quality, and service reputation.

The problem is with all the Chinese brands. 99% of them are mom and pop, buying a bulk of whatever widgets, and selling them for some razor thin markup. Problem is unless you do the research you have no idea of the true source of the product. If you track that down, you can figure out the quality of it. That is why you'll see the exact same product selling under 20 different brands. There may 1% of them that only buy the first rate goods from that manufacturer. Every other buyer (brand) is buying 1st rejects, 2nd rejects, etc. Worse quality every round of failed QC.

Anyway, it's hardly random at all once you understand how those goods are made, QC, and sold by the manufacturer.

J_E · August 04, 2017, 12:47:11 AM

Maybe I am missing something, but electrically, I am a bit slow. Why do you have two controllers for one solar panel? I remember that you had 2 batteries. Did you have one controller per battery? It seems like you should have been able to use one controller. Maybe that is how you are able to drain your batteries so quickly. Were you able to verify that the output polarities are switched on the one controller?

Shouldn't any solar panels be combined into one circuit series or parallel and wired to the input of the controller with your batteries wired into another circuit (series or parallel depending on voltage capacity goals) and wired to the battery terminals on the controller. Your load seems like it should be similar, all of them wired through switches and a fuse/breaker panel then to the controller. Maybe the problem is that the controllers were working against each other, might also explain how quickly your batteries were draining. Or do you have two panels set up as independent systems? If so, maybe the settings in the controller were wrong for the one on the cpu fan?

Your "CPU" fan is a basic motor with a fan blade attached, so it doesn't care about polarity. It will just spin on one direction or another.

On a side note,

Zephod · August 04, 2017, 02:52:04 AM

Some CPU fans are unidirectional. That surprised me but I've got some that are and some that aren't.

The multi charge controllers were to supply batteries for different uses. One was to have run my CPU fans. The other was to charge a DIY power bank I was going to build to recharge USB devices such as phone, tablet etc.

Ideally both sets of solar cells will be linked but linking will have to wait until winter when it's safe to get under the bus again. I've already been bitten by one black widow under there this summer.

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muldoonman · August 04, 2017, 05:47:21 AM

All the money being spent on these tiny fans, controllers, and tiny batteries, you might have , along with your solar panels , bought a type 31 battery and and a good 12 volt centrifugal blower with enough cfm's to blow your hat off.

Zephod · August 04, 2017, 06:26:42 AM

Quote from: muldoonman on August 04, 2017, 05:47:21 AM
All the money being spent on these tiny fans, controllers, and tiny batteries, you might have , along with your solar panels , bought a type 31 battery and and a good 12 volt centrifugal blower with enough cfm's to blow your hat off.

I wasn't going to bother with solar power or electricity initially.....
Then I put a solar powered extraction fan then tweaked it with a small battery. Then....

The system has grown organically. Right now there are two systems... one for the extraction fan using 20W of solar panels and a 10ah battery. The other is a 15W panel and a 5ah battery running (now) just one CPU fan.

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muldoonman · August 04, 2017, 07:06:13 AM

Quote from: Zephod on August 04, 2017, 06:26:42 AM
I wasn't going to bother with solar power or electricity initially.....
Then I put a solar powered extraction fan then tweaked it with a small battery. Then....

The system has grown organically. Right now there are two systems... one for the extraction fan using 20W of solar panels and a 10ah battery. The other is a 15W panel and a 5ah battery running (now) just one CPU fan.

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Just put a 2000 cfm fan 12 volt (88 bucks)on my genset radiator (in front) for heat issues and it's drawing 15 amps and will blow you down. Clear that bus out in a second or two.

Zephod · August 04, 2017, 07:20:08 AM

Quote from: muldoonman on August 04, 2017, 07:06:13 AM
Just put a 2000 cfm fan 12 volt (88 bucks)on my genset radiator (in front) for heat issues and it's drawing 15 amps and will blow you down. Clear that bus out in a second or two.

Lol. I'd have thought 130cfm would have shifted air faster. It does extract air though I think my two CPU circulation fans keep me cooler.

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