Midnite Solar 150 Classic vs Outback Flex Max 80 vs Morningstar Tristar MPPT 60

[mschulz]

So I was checking out our sponsors online shop and hopefully can ask brand vs brand here.

Which one is better for 1000-1200 watts of solar panels at 24 volt battery bank?

Would I be wasting money going with the midnite solar? Kicking myself if I bought the Morningstar? Any help would be appreciated.

[Sunking]

Really no contest here as Midnite Solar is in a class by itself above all others. Don't get me wrong Morningstar and Outback make good products, just not as good as Midnite Solar.

[thastinger]

Love my midnite classic 200. It is fed by 5 230W panels wired in series and it maintains a 48V 210Ah battery bank.

[paulcheung]

Hi Dereck,
Can I ask why the Midnight Solar is better than Outback? Is it just personal preference or in fact something that midnight can do and others can't? or more reliable?

Thanks you, I might looking for one 80 amps outback to replace my 60 amps as the current run over the 60 amps limit few times since I corrected the panel problem.

[Sunking]

Hi Dereck,
Can I ask why the Midnight Solar is better than Outback? Is it just personal preference or in fact something that midnight can do and others can't? or more reliable?

Because they have higher current transfer ratios which means you can run higher panel voltages. In addition customized battery voltage settings and really good data interface. Not to mention they are underrated as the Classic 150 is specified as a 80 amp controller but are really 96 amps.

[paulcheung]

OK understood,
Thank you

[ChrisOlson]

MidNite also now makes a smaller 30 amp 150V MPPT controller called the KID. And they make a marine version of it too. We got a KID Marine on the solar array on our sailing yacht:

[boostinsteve]

Just got my midnite classic 150 today. Absolutely love it so far. It is much more efficient than my Chinese mppt controller I was using. The internals are much better on the midnite, and has much better construction.

[mschulz]

It is much more efficient than my Chinese mppt controller I was using. .

When you guys speak of these Chinese MPPTs, what are you talking about? I am just curious - I think I am sold on the Classic 150. It just seems to be the right fit for the geek part of me that wants to have a lot of reporting and ability to remotely monitor the system.

[Sunking]

When you guys speak of these Chinese MPPTs, what are you talking about?

Very poor quality Chi-Com manufactured equipment. Many are false claims like claiming they are MPPT.

[boostinsteve]

The one I had was a tracer 3215. I tore it apart, and did in fact have. A buck circuit built in. I also hooked up my o-scope to see that it was in fact doing sweeps, very slowly, and not very often. About every 2-3 mins.

The midnite seems to do a sweep every time it sees a large jump in Voc

[mschulz]

The more I read about this stuff, the more I see you get what you pay for. So now that we have the charge controllers out of the way, how do you pick a good inverter. There is million that say they are Pure Sine Wave?

[ChrisOlson]

The more I read about this stuff, the more I see you get what you pay for. So now that we have the charge controllers out of the way, how do you pick a good inverter.

For off-grid power in the US there's basically only three kinds. Schneider Conext (Xantrex), Outback, or Magnum Energy.

If you have a small system and only need 120V power, then get an Outback.
If you have a large system and need 120/240V split phase power, then get a Schneider Conext XW.
If you need 120/240V split phase but don't have enough money to afford a Conext XW Power System, then get a Magnum.

[boostinsteve]

The more I read about this stuff, the more I see you get what you pay for. So now that we have the charge controllers out of the way, how do you pick a good inverter. There is million that say they are Pure Sine Wave?

If you know what you need, it would help. I use the cheaper Cotek made pure sine wave inverters, and they work fairly well for my application. All I needed was 120v, so that simplified it for me. I have watched it with my scope under load, and the more reactive loading I have on it, the more distortion it develops in the waveform. I currently run my home office on mine, and that includes AC. When the compressor starts, I see a hit to power quality, but it is good enough for me. Grid power out here in Hawaii comes with its own surprise of distortion.