Originally posted by LeighW
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They seem to have improved their sales literature now, perhaps as a result of your feedback? The sales glossy I have (2015) has a table of 7 of their chargers, 5 of which support solar charging. On all 5 of them they now clearly state:
MPPT Solar Regulator: Yes
Solar switch on voltage**: 17.5V
Solar range: 9V-28V
** Requires unregulated solar panel
The point is they have their own on-board MPPT so you need to connect a raw panel rather than a panel that has it's own on-panel MPPT regulator. The open-circuit voltage of most nominal 12V panels is typically in the low 20s, so well past 17.5V. I suspect when they told you "their units are designed to work with their panels" they meant to say "their units are designed to work with raw unregulated panels".... perhaps they did and by the time the story got related to you it'd been Chinese-whispered into that version. In any case, I see no evidence that they're "pushing their premium product". I just plugged one of these cheap-n-cheery $75 panels: https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_i...AbsolutePage=1 into their BCDC1225-LV and it lit up without any drama. The panel open-circuit voltage was at about 22V before I connected it. The charger was happy to move through its three stages (Boost, Absorption, Float) on the strength of a 40W source. At 4pm on a Gold Coast winters afternoon it was still pumping 26W into the battery from a nominal 40W panel so I'd say their MPPT is working pretty well.
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