Q re Solar wiring

[hwitten]

I'm changing controllers to a 20 Amp MPPT Tracer. It has load terminals with a Low Voltage Cutoff.

I don't use an Inverter/Charger, just a Converter. I don't have 20 Amps of solar and my actual load is probably in the 5 Amp range, usually even less. My reasoning for going 20 Amps is that the price difference was acceptable and I wanted to be able to add temporary solar panels should they be needed in future.

The question... do I connect the Converter to the Load Terminals of the Solar Controller/Charger or do I connect the Converter direct to battery, as it is currently, and only connect my voltage critical load (fridge) to the Load terminals of the Tracer?

I would prefer to run it all through the Load Terminals as that would give me accurate load for the works and protect the battery from getting discharged because I missed turning something off.

Heinz

[MtnDon]

I don't use an Inverter/Charger, just a Converter

Perhaps the term "converter" means something different to the two of us, or I misunderstand something. A Converter, to me, is a device connected to AC power on the input end. It converts the 120 VAC to the battery voltage, like 12 VDC and connects that output to the battery. It can also supply that DC power to the DC items in the camper/RV, like fans and lights. A converter can also be an electronic device that converts one DC voltage to another; 12 VDC to 24 VDC and vice versa for example. Do you mean that you do not have an inverter/charger combo unit, but just an plain inverter only (no charger) that produces AC power from the DC battery power?

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IF this is the manual for the unit in question it appears the load terminals are for a built in timer controlled output to operate a light between sunset and sunrise, with a 15 hour maximum time. ??? pages 8 & 16 ... And it seems that the load output is only available once the PV voltage into the charge controller drops to night time values. ???

(If that is not the unit disregard everything...)

page 15 & 20 has some info on the Load .... but I see no reference to what the maximum amperage of the load circuit is. ???

Seems the manual is a little fuzzy on what the "load" is for... or maybe it's me that is being fuzzy. ???

My interpretation of this is that any of the usual 12 VDC loads would still be connected to the battery and not the charge controller.

[hwitten]

Your assumptions all good

I don't have any AC in the trailer at all, other than the converter itself. Lights, TV, DVD, etc. all 12V.

There is a Dawn/Dusk setting which basically turns all timers off. At least that's what I understood but will have to re-read.
I also understood the load terminals to be 20 Amp, but have to confirm that on the re-read.

Assuming that load terminals stay hot, running the 12 Volts from Converter to them would be correct?
The 12 Volt trailer circuits are all connected to the 12 volt fused terminals at the Converter.
For my Engel fridge I'm running a new circuit from battery (load terminals of Tracer) to the TowV, as that's where it lives, taking power from TV when running and TT when not.

Edit:
Did a little more reading at Amazon and found this in comments:

Don't get confused with their load outputs. They are for timed lighting and such and you do not need to use them.

That means I hopefully assumed correctly that load can stay on, bypassing the timers.

[MtnDon]

The manual is not clear, but reading and re-reading it does seem that leaving the timers disabled should permit loads to operate 24/7. ???

Conflicting user reviews though

[hwitten]

Yeah, the usual worked for some and not for others. Of course most use it in a big array so they aren't using the load terminals anyways. On the plus side they all seemed to squeeze a bit more juice out using the MPPT controller over PVM. Mind you, most are using the panels in series and a high voltage type of panel as part of the MPPT advantage is to allow for high voltage in and regulated 12/24 out. I think I understand solar a bit better now. One surprising fact I ran across is the effect even a small shadow on a panel has with respect to output. So much to learn, so little time