Xantrex C-40 Charge controller arrives!

Just got my C-40! I hook it up in a simple test to a 12V battery and 15-watt PV panel. Too bad it's cloudy today!!!!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar
• power
• pv
• photovoltaic
• Xantrex
• C-40
• charge controller

[hyvahyva]

Haha, did you notice the little easter egg at the upper left corner of the PCB? I laughed my posterior off the first time I noticed it.

The Xantrex C-35/40/60 series are great, amazingly versatile controllers -- literally the ONLY thing I'd wish for in them is MPPT, but if they had that, they'd no longer be able to be such simple units. (The Xantrex MPPT controllers is all kinds of software driven, and expensive, as it's based around a huge switching boost/buck regulator.)

[BenjaminNelson]

@hyvahyva

Yeah, there's a little smiley face right on the circuit board. It made me laugh.

It's good to feel good about solar power!

I figured that with the versitility of this solar controller, that if I ever upgraded to anything else, I would still always have a use for it.

[ditmar11]

nice controller bud. i got one myself but i am having trouble understanding how to hook up a regular load, such as lights in diversion control mode. any ideas? thanks

[BenjaminNelson]

Just hook them straight up to the batteries (through a fuse/circuit breaker/disconnect)

The controller senses the voltage of the batteries. If you are using as much power as your wind or hydro are making, the voltage stays the same. If you are using more or less, the battery voltage will raise or lower. If you batteries are full, and you stop the load connected to the batteries, the voltage will start to rise, and the controller will then output some power to the dump-load to prevent overchaging

[BenjaminNelson]

The only time the LOAD is hooked directly to the C40 is when it's used as a LOAD Controller. All other times, the loads are just hooked to the batteries.

See page 46 & 47 of the Xantrex C35 C40 C60 Owners Manual (available online as a PDF)

[SirTragain]

What is the black nob on the right; looks like there is a hole in the side for ajusting something.

[BenjaminNelson]

There is a small black button on the right side. It is for starting a manual equalization charge. You can program the controller to do an equalization charge automatically once a month, or you can press the button to start one any time.

I will most likely be using gel batteries with the system, so I will set the controller to NOT do equalization charges. Maybe even put some tape over the equalization button hole!

[jessebrade]

you have torches witch you can charge by just repeatedly pressing the button so why do game console controllers use battery's.

you could easily use the same technology as the torch considering when playing a game you are already repeatedly pressing buttons

[DHarrisChillin]

@dannyray753 I believe you could hook both of them up together, but you would need to make sure you have a sturdy joint connection between the two units and then run one wire to your charge controller (Make adjustments for wire gauges for higher currents). For example you could build your own combiner box. Skippy shows an easy way of doing it:

here's a link to his video

/watch?v=NfgNkwoEtIg

[dannyray753]

can you hook up a solar panel and a wind turbine up to that or is it ok to hook both of em up? (i was gonna get Xantrex C40 Wind Turbine/Solar Charge Controller with LCD Digital Meter but if it doesn't do both at the same time i'll have to get a dif one)

[XRayCam]

Yea, nice charge controller. I got mine about 4 years ago. Some area's on the board have corroded so I'm down and out....looking online now , I can get one for $119 free shipping. Guess I need to get another one TODAY :) I would go for the C60 now (don't need that much at the present) but I CAN'T because the LCD meter I got for the C40 will NOT work on the higher amp unit :(

[ditmar11]

thanks bud for your info. i like your system..cool