solar controller amp hours rates question

[Cutwater28GG]

im noticing some weird behaviour with the morningstar solar controller.

this weekend I had full sun and no shadows on the panel. the batteries were fully charged. just off shore power and just been on a 30 minute run on the engine down to blake island.

I noticed that initially after engine shutdown I got 5+ amps out of the panels. yet the amps then dropped off to basically zero.

Does the morningstar detect battery voltage and if fully charged, stop passing amps to the batteries?

 

[ixlr8]

Does the morningstar detect battery voltage and if fully charged, stop passing amps to the batteries?

It should, otherwise it will boil the batteries dry.

 

[Red Raven]

Does the morningstar detect battery voltage and if fully charged, stop passing amps to the batteries?

This is normal. The Factory standard Morningstar controller is a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controller. It cannot adjust voltage or current but rather is just a switch that can connect the panels to the battery for a period based on the battery voltage. This “connected” period is the “Pulse Width” referred to in the name. As the battery voltage gets higher the Pulse Width gets narrower to avoid over charging the batteries.

Curt

 

[Todd2]

I added 2 extra panels and mine did the same thing. I first thought there was a problem (my wiring 😱 - no way!). The fridge sucked the batteries down over night and the solar panels/controller came to life when the sun came out. Now it really puts out when it needs to.

Todd