SmartSolar MPPT Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth) - Charge Controllers for Solar Panels - 75V, 15 amp, 12/24-Volt

Solar energy is a great way to have back-up power for your home or for your RV. Solar isn't super complicated, but there are a lot of things you need to know to make the best purchases. Solar charges (like the Victron) come in both PWM and MPPT. PWM are significantly less expensive, but may fit your needs. MPPT is a better option, and this very affordable Victron unit is a fantastic entry-level charge controller. It's 75/15 name refers to the maximum volts it will accept/use from your solar array, and the 15 amps it can accept/use. The Victron Smart Solar 75/15 can handle up to 300 watts of solar panels wired in series or parallel. In series, that's about 68 volts max, well within tolerances, or 16.5 amps max which will be capped at 15 amps. Truth is, except for perfect sun and panel angle, you're not likely to hit the 16.5 amps. Still, that's not bad! A great part of the Victron 75/15 design is that it has bluetooth built in, so don't need to shell out extra for a dongle. Note: if you want this, look for the "Smart Solar," if it doesn't say this, you'll need a dongle. The size of this unit is just excellent; I bought it for my DIY powerstation. It works great, giving me nearly the full 100 watts from my Renogy solar panels under ideal conditions. For the money (about $65 at the time of purchase) it's simple enough for the beginners, or strong enough to manage a modest RV. Cons: It uses small, flat-head screws, so you'll need a small "pocket" screwdriver to make the connections. The input for the wires is pretty small. I had a ferrule kit, so I was able to insert 12 AWG with no trouble. I don't know how you'd easily get 10 AWG (somewhat standard for solar) but what I had worked and I'm happy.

I use this charge controller between a solar panel and a battery. The panel is a single 120-Watt 12/24-Volt unit with a maximum (open circuit) voltage of 33.7 V. The battery is a pair of 12-Volt lead-acid batteries wired in series to make 24V. It appears to be working well. It charges and maintains the batteries at about 25.8 Volts. The controller is easy to wire and set up. The iPhone app took some fiddling around to get going - a couple extra minutes that may have been my fault. Once up and running the app connects the phone to the controller via Bluetooth over a modest distance, maybe 10 yards. The app shows charge current, panel voltage, charge power, and battery voltage. The controller is compact and appears to be solidly made. I would buy another if I have the need.

I have a small, off-grid solar system for my shed to run lighting and a ventilation fan. It has two 50W panels connected in series, two 10 amp-hour 12V LiFePo4 batteries, and this charge controller. I had previously used a competitor's simple PWM controller but wanted to upgrade to MPPT for greater efficiency and to take advantage of having installed two panels rather than the single 50W panel I had earlier. This controller had ~50% higher voltage and current handling capability than the PWM controller. Pros: - MPPT allows for greater efficiency and using panels in series for higher voltage (~40V nominal in my case). - Very simple setup. - Supports LiFePo4 batteries. - Terminals are large and easy to connect wires to. (Tip: crimp ferrules onto stranded wires rather than trying to insert bare stranded wire. Ferrules help the wires stay together and make a better connection than bare wires.) - Built-in Bluetooth support that connects to Victron's excellent app that makes setup and configuration a breeze. - The Bluetooth data module will log data for at least several weeks and you can view it using the app. - Built in charging profiles for a variety of common batteries, such as flooded, AGM, and gel lead-acid batteries, and LiFePo4 batteries. - Lots of little additional options, like being able to enter custom profiles for batteries, limiting the boost voltage to 14.4V rather than 14.6V, setting a "tail current" to switch from absorption to float modes based on charging current rather than time, customizable float voltage, etc. gives the user a high degree of flexibility. One can also limit the charging current to below the maximum rated value if desired. - It's trivial to connect to a Cerbo GX or a Raspberry Pi running Victron's Venus OS to send data to Victron's free VRM service for remote monitoring, graphing, and allow for remote monitoring. - The user can set a PIN code to prevent unauthorized users from connecting via Bluetooth. - With the latest firmware update, certain settings can be locked and prevent even authorized users from making changes that might cause damage or be otherwise problematic without additional authorization. (This owner retains full control, and can unlock those settings so they can be changed if desired.) - Replaceable standard automotive ATM fuse offers overload and short circuit protection. - Extremely well-written, comprehensive manual and online resources are available. English-speaking staff can answer questions if asked. Active user forum for support from and discussion with other users. - Robustly made, feels hefty to the hand. - Easily mounted with screws. - No discernible RF noise from the controller. I'm a ham radio operator and my radios are sensitive to RF noise in the area, but the controller produced no noticeable noise. Cons: - No on-device display or buttons. It has colored LEDs that are either on steady or blink to indicate its charging mode (these are described on the face of the controller and in the manual), but has no LCD screen to show solar/battery voltages, currents, or other information. All configuration must be done via the app. - No built-in shunt to monitor state of charge for the battery. An external SmartShunt can be purchased at additional cost (more than the cost of the controller, in fact) to provide state-of-charge data for the battery and send that information to the app via Bluetooth or to the VRM service. The controller monitors voltage and current, but not state of charge. - The on-device data logging takes place in the Bluetooth module, not the controller itself. When you connect the controller to VRM via a Cerbo GX or Raspberry Pi running Venus, logging data is sent to the VRM service and can be plotted there or downloaded for offline analysis, but the smallest time interval on VRM is 1 minute. The Bluetooth module logs data at 1 second intervals. You can use the app to connect, via VRM, to the device and view the 1-second-interval data trends, but you can only see that short-interval data starting when you connect (you can't see historic 1-second-interval data if you're not connected by Bluetooth). In short, this is an excellent controller. Having built-in Bluetooth is very help and does not require any external module. It is easily connected to a monitoring device (not included) that can send data to Victron's VRM service and allow for remote monitoring and control via WiFi or cellular connections using that device (for clarity, the controller itself only supports Bluetooth and has a port for a data cable, but does not have built-in WiFi or cellular capabilities). It offers a huge amount of value for money, and I strongly recommend it.

The Victron 75/15 smart charge controller is working exactly as it should and I have been using it for 30 days and have had no problems whatsoever. Victron is a quality product and is extremely simple to set up. The Bluetooth function works well with the app and offers plenty of information. Highly recommend.!

Impossible to overstate how clearly superior this product is. We have multiple of them, and regularly camp with sons and others that have other brands. This simply outperforms them in several ways. While the others work - they do the job - this consistently pleases. It's common to see 10% better power harvested from the panel(s), particularly if you can connect a couple in series for 30-40V input. We regularly watch the morning battery recovery from an evening/overnight useage, and this one gets the job done obviously faster. Worth the few extra $. Also the BT functions perfectly, enough range and information.

I purchased a pair of 100 watt panels and the Victron 75/10 charge controller. They are installed on my work truck to charge a 100AH battery that is connected to a 3KW sine inverter. I got the new upgrades installed on Feb 20th and within a week I had already reached the 10 amp peak output from the controller and still had more output available from my panels. I didn't even know about the 75/15 at the time and especially that it was only about $10 more. If I had known I would have just gotten the 75/15 from the start. It was easy to swap out and setup since I had just done the same thing a week ago. The Bluetooth output has about the same range, limited to about 30 feet and my system is in a metal box which limits it even more. Sure would be nice if it had a longer range. My Victron Energy Smart Battery Sense bluetooth range is much better. The 75/15 charge controller so far has worked nearly flawlessly. Minor idiosyncrasies have been noticed but nothing to really complain about. The controller reassess the power point about every 10 minutes. You can notice it in a steady sunshine condition when it all of a sudden searches the power point. It shows up in the Trend graph also as a small downward spike in the power output of the panels. I haven't maxed out the controller with my 200 watts of panels yet. But I've gotten a peak of 189 watts from them in March with the sun still lower in the sky with summer still far away when the sun will be high in the sky and be much more in orientation of the panels that are basically laid flat and parallel to the ground on the top of my work truck boxes. The recorded information is very nice. You can go back a couple days or up to a month to look at what the system was doing. I do however notice that the Power Graph of the panel watts does short you of peaks. Today I had the 189 watt peak which did show up when I looked at the Trend charge within minutes of it happening. But after the day was over I went back and the peak output was only 157 watts which is a little disappointing and one of the quirks I had spoken of. The History for the day shows that the peak was 186 watts which is much closer to the 189 watts I observed on the screen. Really wanted to see 190 watts but just after that peak the clouds came in and the output was about 50 watts the rest of the day. All in all it is a fine charge controller and I would likely stay within the system if I was to put something more permanent elsewhere than my truck.

I have to say some kind words so far for this charge controller, in short, this is an amazing product. Early in its use, I have a small outdoor solar array using batteries to power a sprinkler system, sound system, lighting and an outlet using a separate inverter. We live on top of a hill, no trees, no wind blocks and get the worst of the weather constantly. I have been through many MANY MPPT Solar Charge Controllers and was a bit scared to go with a Bluetooth only controlled device. I was quickly impressed with the VictronConnect software, giving a demo device so I could test drive the settings and see exactly what I would get and control. Next up, how hard is it to connect and reconnect once I got physical hardware.... It was literally as easy as the demo equipment. I was able to power on the controller using Solar power OR battery, meaning as long as you have 1 power source it just works. Bluetooth connected instantly, one tap on my Android phone and the PIN on side of the controller and I was done. I did notice that the default for me was 24v when I had a 12v battery connected but that wasn't a big deal, went through set to 12 and was all set. Because I do a lot of work with solar controllers, I wanted to see how accurate and fast this little beast was on the phone app, ran a constant 25w load and the app was within a half second reporting accurately. Variable loads also gave good information, up to this point I was already sold that this was a solid device. The app is just about perfect, gives you Amp and Watt usage which is nice for quick math and efficiency conversion. I also really like that the battery stats show when your load is pulling from solar only or from battery, very clever and easy to read. Pros: Super easy to install, Plug and Play Easy to configure easy AND expert settings Complete customization of battery settings and a good number of presets Was able to configure exact settings for my 12.8v LiFePO4 battery! Feels solid and I have no doubt that it will last in harsh environments Easy to mount, Good size fits just about anywhere Easily control load on/off depending on solar input Cons: Cant find any yet but here are some things to note Mine defaulted to 24v, easy change to 12, maybe sensitive batteries and large systems might have connection issues Would be nice to have a day timer for on/off functions as well as solar input but this is being super picky If you are looking for a good MPPT Solar Charge Controller, feature rich and don't mind using your phone and Bluetooth to configure, this is the one you want. Can't comment on longevity thus far but I have no doubts this will last! Will update if anything changes...

I'm so impressed with this charge controller! It's solid, well built and easy to use. I have used other brands and I feel this is a superior product. The out of the box BT app just works and works well! The user defined option is one of the top features. I am charging Lithium Titanate oxide cells in a 5S1P config. So far its charging perfectly! I will be buying more Victron products!