[RE-wrenches] apollo charge controllers

Mick Abraham mick at abrahamsolar.com
Tue Mar 16 18:25:25 PDT 2010


One of the "technical issues" which Nick may recall is not really a flaw in
the controller but a narrow spec for the minimum DC input voltage.

I "went off" on the Wrench List a couple of years ago because I felt this
aspect should be more prominently explained. My retrofit where the solar
array was wired "24 volt nominal" could not engage the controller to charge
a 24 volt battery. The modules were a bit aged and the original feed wires
were undersized so there was too much voltage loss and the controller
couldn't hook up.

That client did not want to pay me to rewire the array for a higher
voltage...that's understandable since it's 30' in the air and would cost a
bit of labor. Subbing a different brand MPPT controller averted the problem.

I still don't see a very prominent warning about this characteristic on the
Apollo website. However, so long as the array is wired up for voltage higher
than nominal (with proper gauge DC feed wires), this is a non-issue.

I'm speaking up to make sure there's no taint on Apollo as a result of the
issue I had raised. They were cooperative and courteous as we worked through
that.

Mick Abraham, Proprietor
www.abrahamsolar.com

Voice: 970-731-4675


On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 6:14 PM, Nick Vida <nickvida at ymail.com> wrote:

> wondering if any wrenches have any opinions on the Apollo charge
> controllers T80 in particular.
> I heard they had some technical issues not to long ago- is that resolved?
>
> thanks,
>
> nick
>
>
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