Solar regulators

Travellers,

the main difference is the way the batteries are being charged.

The el cheapos are single stage (outputting around 13.8V) meaning they take longer to bring your batteries up to full charge.
The result is that your battery will be operating in a partially discharged state for long periods which will shorten their life.
I recommend to top off the charge with a quality mains charger whenever the opportunity arises.

One snazzy way of achieving this while travelling is to use your quality mains powered charger, powered by a cheapish ($80?) 300W modified sine wave inverter which is wired up to your alternator/starter battery.
Remember you only want to top off the charge wich requires no more than 10 to 20 Ah which can be easily accommodated by the starter battery.
Use a charger which can be selected to only draw 50% of its rated current, so that the little inverter won't get overwhelmed.
You can read more about this method here:
half power mode

For any questions, just post them here or use the notification form on the address provided and we'll sort you out.

Best regards, Peter

My first question is - Is there something wrong with the way your current setup works ? Does it charge your batteries to full capacity ?
If the answer to those 2 questions is yes - then why waste money upgrading ?

If the answer is no then you need a controller a good 3 stage PWM or MPPT with 3 stage PWM and fit it as close to your battery as possible - Bypass the reg on the panel and connect the panel to the new controller .. That should solve most charging problems whilst at camp - .

Cheers

Steve