I started off in 2020 with a small 100W (2x 50W panels) 12V solar system using a cheap MPPT controller. Usually the MPPT controller has a relatively big inductor in it, at least the ones I searched. I've never seen that board you shared.
I documented the project in my blog, you can see it here (the article is in italian language, but Google translates it quite well):
https://electronic-acca3-it.transla...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp
I chose the CPY-2420 20A MPPT controller after quite a bit of research and went for a low bugdet true MPPT controller. I checked many online reviews before buying it, and found reviews where they do open the box and look inside. It's a 12/24V autoswitching model, so you could have panels+battery+inverted in one configuration or the other. I bought it for under 20€ (20USD), the price is more or less that.
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To make the system my first choice was the general voltage to use: 12V or 24V. Being my first system I went for the easiest and cheapest, that is 12V. I'll most probably be expanding it to 24V sooner or later. So:
- Panels are now 4x 50W polycrystalline. Because of bad orientation they make at best 110-120W instead of nominal 200W. Cables I used for the panels (from panels to controller) are 2.5mm2 (13AWG) for each couple of panels. Cable is nearly 10 meter long (30 feet) and gets slighly warm when maximum current passes through them.
- Batteries are now 5x 12V 9A AGM Lead-acid in parallel. These LA batteries aren't the best choice I suppose. You can actually use less than 50% of the nominal capacity. You can find some load tests I made in the article I shared. But this controller only supports LA batteries, so I'll stick onto these for now. I found a good make at a good price (british Ultracell batteries), I would avoid any low quality battery;
- Inverter is a 1000W chinese pure-sine wave (around 35€/35USD), works well, I usually keep it at a really low load, around 30-40W (my notebook, a cellphone battery charger);
- The security stuff I added are also described, on DC side: an MCB switch to cutoff panels, 2 fuse holders with 20A 10x38 fuses between battery and inverter; on the AC side a 10A MCB on the inverter's output and an energy meter (this is a must! Keeps track of voltage, current load and how much current goes trhough it).
What I didn't implement is the autoswitch from solar to grid.
[ The article contains a link to buy the controller - it's an affiliate link, I get a bunch of coins if you buy using it! ]