Options for mppt charge controller 60v battery bank

Doin it

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Ofcourse theres midnite....Are there any lower cost mppt controllers? All the ones Ive seen are max 48v battery except midnite 150sl..found a few that are from Aliexpress? anyone have any luck with these?
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I use Midnite Classics. They are expensive but have a full range of features - such as internet, fully customizeable, can be set to sync setting with each other, auxiliary (external) relay control which I use to turn the inverter on/off based on battery voltage and some lesser features such as built-in DC GCIF (required by my local codes) and arc detection. Have 2 of them in operation for over a year with no problems and plan to add 2 more.
 
60V what? Max 60V? Min 60V? Your definition is vague. For us that is a 48V nominal and those are up to 60VDC and PCM60x does up to 62VDC
 
I dont need the internet to charge my batteries... customization is great so the cc I will use will have to be customizable enough to operate well... I wouldnt need it to sync to another cause I only plan to use one with a max charge of 40amps once I get a second battery pack... my inverter has settings to turn itself off and on at battery voltage I set,,,although it would be nice to have the aux port I see no reason that I need it for my setup...I will ofcourse install more surge protection and the right size breakers and codes arent an issue for me as they can be overly safe parameters like USA having split phase panels...let me be a little more clear about why I feel this way...a year ago I decided to go solar. I myself was planning on doing it all legit and to code, key word there was myself.. Turns out that where I live (in the middle of nowhere) I cannot install ANYTHING..not even the panels.. I would have to pay a nabcep certified installer to do everybit of the install...this rubbed me the wrong way..I am the diy type. I mean I built my house myself to save money..if I was to pay a nabcep certified person to do my install the cost would outway the Benefits of having solar... So the only way to avoid all of that was to get grid tie inverters with limiters that do no feed the grid at all, which are not UL listed in the USA..
So I just shouldnt have to spend 500+ on a charge controller for my needs hopefully


Daromer, I specified a 60v battery in the description...theres tons of 48v controllers out there so itd be np to find one of those
 
And you didn,t answer my question. 60V what? What is the charging range you need? You got recommendations on what we think you need. They are as vague as your definition of what you look for.

Note that its either 12, 24, 36, 48 or 72 in general when it comes to chargers. (Nominal voltages). Ie based on LA 12V nominal voltages. Other solar nominal ranges are rare but what you can find is a 48VDC charger with a broader range.
 
I thought I did answer your question by saying it was a 60v lithium pack..my mistake..
Im fairly certain that a 60v lithium pack is full at roughly 65.6v.. I think lowest voltage is roughly 56v
 
If your max charging rate is 65.6 you can work with some Victron units doing 48V nominal. They can go as far up as 66VDC.
Thats the only i could recommend or atleast know about. With that said they arend cheap :)
 
Thx for the suggestion daromer.. hey what u think about the two in the pics above? Heres some pics of what they can do
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I looked at the victrons..the highest charge voltage I seen on any of them was 64v..Id need higher voltage than this to charge a 60v lithium pack
 
Doin it said:
Id need higher voltage than this to charge a 60v lithium pack

This is still very vague. You say 60V pack, but that can't be the nominal voltage. What is your series connection? Is it a 14s, 15s, 16s????

4.2 * 14 = 58.8V
4.2 * 15 = 63.0V
4.2 * 16 = 67.2V
And this is absolute max voltage. What is your upper voltage charge per cell? ie 4.2, 4.1, 4.0V????
 
The pack is 16s..so I guess its actually more like a 64v pack but they call it 60v...65.6-67.2v is the max charge..56-59.2 is as low as the packs voltage should be.
most charge controllers charge 12,24,36,48v then some also do 60v,72v,etc in multiples of 12v...the 2 controllers in the previous pics have an option for a 60v battery.
What I need help with is trying to find a mppt charge controller that has a setting for 60v battery that hopefully isnt from Aliexpress, besides the midnite
 
I tend to use 16s packs, at 4v/cell which is perfect for Victron chargers as their top limit is 64v - Victron inverter max input tends to be 66v - which is a naturally safe combination - but you are being vague about what your maximum battery voltage will be, which is obviously related to what your maximum cell voltage will be, which you can self select.
 
3.7 * 16 = 59.2V
So 60V would be more correct, not 64V. It is based on the "nominal" voltage, not the max voltage.
Bottom voltage of 3.2V/cell would be 51.2V

3.2 * 16 = 51.2V
3.7 * 16 = 59.2V
4.2 * 16 = 67.2V

So your working voltage range is 51.2V - 67.2V. However, charging to 4.2V will not do your cells any favors and will actually keep your cycle life down in the 100's of cycles. Just changing to 4.1V, or 65.6V, for your top end will give you close to 1000 cycles. And then dropping to 4.0V, or 64V, will give you over 1000 cycles.

Looking for a charger that can do 64V is a lot easier than finding one that can do 67V.
 
You cant assume what a chargers max voltage will be based on an assumption based on their advertising, or your nominal battery voltage - you need positive confirmation either direct from the manufacturer or from users.
 
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Yeah I wasnt going to charge to the max..that was just what the description of the battery says..So then I should not charge the battery over 65.2 and stay at more like 64v to prolong battery life which is what I thought although I didnt know the exact voltage to charge them to.. My inverters input voltage is 50ish-90v to operate, this is why I am wanting a 60v battery pack so I was thinking since 70v is in the middle of the inverters operating voltage I would then get the best efficiency out of my inverter with a 60v pack and charging it to as high as I can and still keeping battery life in the 1000s of cycles.. really I should be using a 72v battery pack to get best output from the inverter
 
Yeah Sean thats the problem...trying to keep the system cost low..I was just hoping for a 300 to max 400$ charger that is sold in the USA that could charge my lithium 60v pack properly.. tbh tho my inverters are cheap Chinese and seem to work great and other ppl have been using them for yrs so idk I might go with an Aliexpress cc if I cant find a USA version that meets my needs for under 400$


I guess the victrons can be fully adjustable thru an iPad app ?
So keeping the battery between 56v and 64v is what I should do to not degrade the batteries to fast?
 
Looks like a rebadged eSmart3 with higher voltages. If they are, then they're not that bad of a unit. I have one myself and they're working fine. Mine's the 60A 12/24/48V version for $150 on ebay. For that money it's been a decent unit. Mine's running for a year now with nearly no issues except for the terminal blocks they used. Just make sure all the screws are tightened as mine loosen over time but it's more my fault.
 
I need to be looking for mppt charge controllers that charge up to atleast 64v then..and from what Im reading some 48v charges do this?
 
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