Sunsaver duo

[William Sanborn]

Just installed 2 new group 31house batteries, and on the Labor Day Cruise we were at anchor, and realized that the solar was not charging. Tested and had a constant red light on the reader and a flashing red light on the block.
Pulled the battery line fuses, and unhooked the solar panel hot lead at the box. That shut everything off.
Tested power from solar panel and was good. Reattached positive panel wire to the box and got a flashing green light. Installed Batteries fuses and got solid green light on box, and on control panel. Will check later for charging rates, after it has time to absorbed some sun light.

 

[calcman05]

I gave up on my sunsaver controller on my R31 and bought a Victron SmartSolar MPPT controller instead. It's been great and the Bluetooth monitoring is beneficial.

 

[Submariner]

Upgrading from the Sunsaver Duo, which is a PWM style solar controller… to an MPPT style controller, such as the Victron SmartSolar MPPT controller will capture 20% more sunshine from the panel you already have. Plus, the Victron will give you fantastic instrumentation on how much solar you’re getting. Just as an FYI.

 

[William Sanborn]

Hear lots of good reports on Victron , and advanced Battery Technology verse flooded, but at my advanced age Old School works great when it works, and we'll save those upgrades for the new owners to do.

 

[glider4]

At age 69 a few years back, I upgraded our new to us C-28 from the stock Sunsaver Duo to the VE 100/30 controller. The Sunsaver had 2 wires as inputs and 3 as outputs. Put a heavy blanket over the solar panel. Mounted the VE in the same space as the SSD was in, reconnected the 2 inputs and the + & - leads to the house battery and capped the 3rd output wire. Added the VE app to my phone and set the VE Controller up. Took an hour going slow. If all you are doing is replacing the solar controller it’s easy.

 

[JMarshallR25]

At age 69 a few years back, I upgraded our new to us C-28 from the stock Sunsaver Duo to the VE 100/30 controller. The Sunsaver had 2 wires as inputs and 3 as outputs. Put a heavy blanket over the solar panel. Mounted the VE in the same space as the SSD was in, reconnected the 2 inputs and the + & - leads to the house battery and capped the 3rd output wire. Added the VE app to my phone and set the VE Controller up. Took an hour going slow. If all you are doing is replacing the solar controller it’s easy.
View attachment 26275

Beautiful installation.