Revelations 1.0

Not quoting the Book of Armaments, chapter two verses nine through twenty one, I did indeed have a revelation. Last night as I lay on my deathbed contemplating getting up to visit the loo, I realised that AGM batteries have a float voltage of 13.8v. My cheap and cheerful Chinese charger has a float voltage of 13.4v which is .4 of a volt off kilter.

Not being quite with it, being on my deathbed, I did order another charge controller. Probably not a smart move because it’s another PWM controller. Looking through the details today (I chose it because it was identical to the one Harbor Freight sells but less costly), I realised that while identical, even Harbor Freights charge controller won’t work with the AGM battery that Harbor Freight sells. Duh! I should have looked at that but stupidly thought that Harbor Freight knew and cared what they were doing. I forgot - they’re just box shifters.

So, today I’m still on my deathbed. I think I might have picked up something from rolling around in the dirt the other day, looking at my battery.

As you can see - the ground is just sand. I’ve been bitten by a black widow under the bus. I’ve seen snakes in the vicinity. Cats and rodents probably pee and poo everywhere there. There are probably spores galore. No wonder I’m on my deathbed. I’ll probably not be right for a few days.

Last night after I blogged, I pulled one of the controllers apart - the LED controller. It was as awful as the guy that reviewed one on YouTube  had suggested. The back forms a great big heatsink with the components on the PCB vaguely pressed against the heatsink. Good luck on that working all the time!

As can be seen, it’s got a date on the PCB of 2015. It needs to be updated to be able to charge all the different varieties of battery. SLA, gel and AGM batteries all have different voltages. The controller I bought yesterday can handle everything except AGM. Looking for something that handles AGM is hard. Nobody seems to stock anything.

This is the inside of the front cover. How lazy is that - they used the same cover for a different unit but put a sticker on over all the holes they weren’t using. Of course, being Chinese, its totally impossible to find out if the manufacturer has anything better or whether the case was designed for something produced many years ago that’s now no longer produced.

My blue charger that lacks any sort of name or model number (in true Chinese style). It does have three battery settings and they’re nicely labelled: B01, B02, B03. Heaven alone knows what all that means. Even the sticker on the side doesn’t give me any worthwhile information.

Taking the back off the controller - which also worked as one of those strange heatsinks, I found the remains of thermal glue on the backs of the 4 mosfets. Clearly that had not been glued well as the back just fell off with no reluctance of any sort. No identification visible anywhere.

I took the PCB out and looked. Right in the very center was a little text that said W88 1.2. That wasn’t very informative either. What we have therefore is a mystery charge controller that operates in a mysterious fashion. Basically, it’s yard art that is crying for a couple of decorative bullet holes.

So, where do I go from here? I have looked at expensive charge controllers and not been greatly impressed by what they claim to do. My MC4 connectors, second watt meter and so on are still on the way. My SAE to cigarette adaptor is still listed as being in New York. Since it’s been there since the 24th I’m going to say that the New York gangsters have worked out how to resurrect the dead and have resurrected Al Capone and he’s broken into the USPS warehouse specifically to steal my $6 adaptor.

These days I’m more in favor of ordering from within the USA than from China. Six weeks is just too bloody long to wait for everything. Having said that, when there’s a major price difference then I see the value.

Looking up the W99 v1.2 online I found everything from exotic sex toys to parts for a Soviet anti-aircraft missile. I did not find any listings for solar controllers. That’s a bummer. Looking around though I did find a charge controller that came from India. That might be worth a look. Having said that though I am reminded of a video I saw today on YouTube. A fellow bought an American brand generator from Lowes for next to nothing because it didn’t work. He stripped it down and discovered that the piston rings had broken. The manufacturer couldn’t find the part number then quoted 15 days to get them. Clearly coming from China. Armed with the part number and the logo stamped on the piston head he found it was a Chinese part by a Chinese company. It wasnt an American generator at all - it was a Chinese generator assembled in America. As a footnote he found some piston rings that fitted, off the shelf and they came from a 50 year old Honda moped.

I’m skeptical about buying things that are allegedly “American made” because hardly any manufacturing happens in America. There was a scandal some years ago when the defense people found American missiles were made with chips that came from China.

I will put the new charge controller in when it comes. Being digital I should be able to control the shut off, start-up and float voltages. If that doesn’t improve on the miserable 20 minutes I’ve been getting out of the battery then I shall have to don a breathing mask and get down under the bus, take the Harbor Freight battery out and put a SLA deep cycle or just the plain old lawnmower battery in and see how that does.

When I tested my twin 30W panels I was getting plenty wattage out of them. Those alone at just 30W between them instead of the 60W they are, should produce in a day 300 watt hours or 25AH which is more than enough to fill a completely dead 35AH battery.