> Oh, yeah, the charge controller blowing up thing: Does anyone have any > factual data to share on this?
Although our controllers are probably smaller than what you would be considering in this discussion, surviving a load dump (suddenly disconnected battery) is an engineering requirement for us, and likely would be for other responsible MFG's on this list (boB?). The charge controller can either handle full input voltage on the output, or there is a comparator that will shut the controller down instantly when the output voltage gets too high. The only time we run into trouble during a load dump is if there is another charger that is less well-behaved, such as an alternator, running at the same time. This most commonly happens on sailboats, when someone turns off the ignominious battery switch with the engine still running. The alternator spikes the battery line from 12V up to 50-100V+ before the alternator regulator can respond, and the charge controller (and other electronics aboard) might not survive. Tangential to this conversation, it seems battery switches cause our marine and RV customers way more problems than they solve. It seems important to have one, but I wish they were a little more towards the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency end of the accessibility spectrum. Thank as always, Wrenches, for the information you share and high level of discourse. Alex MeVay Genasun * Blue Sky Energy * http://sunforgellc.com _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org