What is a Solar Charge Controller?
Solar charge controllers are necessary for virtually all solar power systems that use batteries. Solar charge controllers work to regulate the power as it moves from the solar panels to the batteries. This prevents overcharging of the batteries, which then ensures that they last as long as possible. Read solar power battery if you are interested in learning more about solar batteries. When the level of voltage in a battery passes a certain threshold, the charge controller will halt the charging process. In older charge controllers, this was accomplished through the use of a mechanical relay. More recent charge controllers make use of pulse width modulation (PWM). This is a process in which, as the battery starts to reach a fully charged state, the amount of power being transferred to it gradually decreases. In addition to reducing the stress on the batteries that results from the charging process, PWM keeps them more fully charged, making them more efficient from the user’s perspective