@Julian Ilett Have you finished Muppet 2 yet? Asking for a friend...
@pfeerick3 жыл бұрын
@@sarkybugger5009 Don't forget added incentive to work on it again... the sun is now out again (or so the last video reported)! :-P
@NuttyforNissan3 жыл бұрын
Mine has been in and operating flawlessly now for over a month, Thanks Adam & Julian. Phil
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
That’s great to hear. Thank you for letting me know!
@Lastaii3 жыл бұрын
Great job! Really like the fully opensource-ness of the project. That said, I have just bought one :)
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Thank you
@marcrives2793 жыл бұрын
My PWM85 is still working under my roof, with a 20W solar panel. By the way, this is a nice 3D printed card holder !
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Great news. Thank you so much for you help and suggestion of the 3d printed holder! :)
@johnnodge43273 жыл бұрын
I'm glad the PWM85 is selling well Adam. I should have some of my kits built up for sale ready made, but for some reason, decided it was too complicated. Good to see it's working for you though. Keep it up.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Cheers John. Taken me a bit by surprise to be honest - need to restock!
@SimpleElectronics3 жыл бұрын
Fantastic project! I love it!
@jethrotull58472 жыл бұрын
God bless you ! But I just made a comment on a 6 year old cheep PWM video you posted. Laziness took control and had no idea a “update” video was available . Sorry.. and…Thanks I’ll check it out !
@ivorbiggen95993 жыл бұрын
Very informative as ever. Thank you Adam
@patrickmagee7743 жыл бұрын
Great project.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Glad you like it!
@tl10243 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the great build, just got 2 coming.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Great - thank you.
@JackButlerVideos3 жыл бұрын
Looks so nice! Maybe the next challenge should be a 3d printed waterproof case ;)
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Cheers Jack. I’ll give that some thought!
@slybunda3 жыл бұрын
excellent i have 2 of these i bought from you to use in the car and you set them to 13.2v float for car battery which is awesome. are people able to get custom regulation voltage preset before shipping?
@nickush75123 жыл бұрын
Excellent work Dude.
@cheetahkid3 жыл бұрын
OK, I managed to get it reprogrammed, to work with Li-ion via BMS. I set it on 12.6V. I thought running to reprogram at 3.3V (as ISP) with the 3.3V board, not to be, it is ok to reprogrammed using 5v as long it isn't plugged in with solar panel or the 12v battery. I will be testing right now for a few days (I try not to get it overcharged or it will degraded and again might lower the voltage to 80%), weather getting too warm. I also received the solar panel, it is 18V and 50Watts.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Good to hear you’re changing it for your needs. Yes, programming with 5v is fine, and it’s always best to program it when totally disconnected from other sources. Cheers
@SmithyScotland3 жыл бұрын
Sold out already. Any plans to sell more?
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Yeah that was faster than I thought! A second batch should be on the way soon.
@objection_your_honor3 жыл бұрын
Why didn't you use a P-Mosfet and eliminate the silly high-side charge pump? Granted the P-mosfets had higher RDSon when Julian lifted the design from somewhere, but today's P-mosfets can have very low RDSon.
@fredflintstone13 жыл бұрын
nice video well done Adam :-)
@lesliepieterse10723 жыл бұрын
Good stuff, hope to be running one of these soon :)
@piconano3 жыл бұрын
If I remember right, lead acid charge cut-off voltage is 13.85V not 13.5V. That shouldn't affect the cycle life sulfation, but I don't know.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Depends on the chemistry, but 13.5 should be safe for all, it is a gentle charge and it’s what the PWM5 was set to. It’s adjustable for anyone who wants to as well.
@andymouse3 жыл бұрын
Nice work !...cheers.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@chrispollard65683 жыл бұрын
Just got mine in the US. Really nice 3Dprint - what printer was used?
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Thanks for letting me know. I’ve an Ender 3 Pro.
@dougle033 жыл бұрын
Aren't PWM controllers now pretty much inefficient junk? I'm only fitting MPPT controllers, also why not bring the lead battery up to 14.4v for more capacity? 14.7v would be a bit aggressive, but 13.5v is very conservative...?
@johnnodge43273 жыл бұрын
Absolutely not inefficient at all, for small solar power systems. An MPPT might get a few extra Wh of energy from the panel, but then the more complex and power hungry circuit, simply burns up that extra power when the sun goes down. By contrast, a small and super efficient PWM charge controller, like the PWM85 or Julian's PWM5 consume almost nothing from the battery when the sun is down, so don't waist any energy. PWM is also cheaper than a decent MPPT, so the savings can be put towards another panel, which will increase solar power far above the small gains on an MPPT charge controller. An MPPT only really makes a difference, once you're past 3 or 400W of panels, otherwise it's simply better to spend your money elsewhere. ;) The PWM85 is programmable, so the termination voltage can be whatever you prefer. I prefer 13.8V myself, but 13.5 is still an acceptable voltage, as it's above the nominal standing voltage of a Pb battery.
@pfeerick3 жыл бұрын
MPPT and PWM both have their use cases. MPPT is predominately for when you want high voltage strings, or can't physically put more panels in, thus are trying to increase the efficiency of obtaining that solar energy. This comes at an expense - they are more expensive, and complex than their PWM cousins. PWM solar charge controllers in comparison are cheap, and are much simpler, resulting in less things to go wrong. I did come across some research suggesting that PWM charging could also help prevent battery sulfation... but I don't know to what extent that was. And as a side not... did you know the Epever MPPT solar charge controllers go into PWM mode in the mornings, and in the evening? Once the panels are producing less than 15W, it goes into PWM mode as it is no longer efficient to run the MPPT charging system. Weird stuff!
@Minipimmer3 жыл бұрын
a lot of emphasis is on the standby consumption of the circuit but every time you switch the mosfet you connect the battery in parallel with the parasitic capacitance of the panel. How do you prevent the current spike from breaking the mosfet? is there any filtering to make slow down the slope of the current of the panel?
@Luke-san3 жыл бұрын
Wonder how it would behave using a supercapacitor as a battery. Some of the issues I've seen with cheap (semi) MPPT boards is that they are not super efficient with small panels and this seems ideal.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Seems like a good idea Luc.
@clintoncoker63 жыл бұрын
I have an idea. I'd like to power a car stereo from a 4s (or could use 5s) LiPo pack, but this exceeds the stereo's max supply voltage when fully charged. Do you think a PWM charge controller would work to PWM the lipo pack into the stereo (through a capacitor or small lead acid) to regulate the supply voltage to 13.5V?
@slybunda2 жыл бұрын
are you able to program this to be a full on smart charger that will charge up to 14.4v then auto drop to float voltage?
@AdamWelchUK2 жыл бұрын
It’s an ATTiny so you can program it to do pretty much anything. The PWM5 which I ported did exactly what you are after. The hardware is capable, only the code needs writing.
@slybunda2 жыл бұрын
@@AdamWelchUK been using your 2 controllers for a while now for charge controlling solar panels in cars. excellent design the low self power consumption is ideal
@thelwq3 жыл бұрын
Hi Adam, can it be used to act as a DCDC buck converter with Pb battery changer? I'm wondering if this could be used to charge my 12V Pb battery used by UPS from my 48V Li-ion batteries. Max voltage of 60V would require some changes in circuit am I correct? Thx.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
I’m afraid not. Solar panels are fairly unique in their nature - there is no stored energy so when they connect to a battery their voltage drops to almost the same level (they pull down to just above the battery voltage - and that allows current to flow from the panel to the battery). A battery connected on the solar input would not pull down in the same way, and would pull the battery under charge up to high. As you’ve identified, you need a DC2DC buck converter to achieve what you want. Cheers
@thelwq3 жыл бұрын
@@AdamWelchUK Thx for your answer. Yeah, I'm a bit off, as I'm used to MPPT solutions which would work OK, as the tracker would pull max power and convert it to voltage required to safely charge Pb battery. Something like this would be needed... libre.solar/devices/mppt-1210-hus/
@slybunda Жыл бұрын
how much wattage should the resistors be?
@CarlRecktenwaldJr3 жыл бұрын
Is the new arduino sketch compatible with the previous 5 volt versions? To help reduce power.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Yes it works with both versions. You just need to adjust the regulatorV variable to 5.0 or to be more accurate set it to the exact voltage of your 5v regulator output.
@alexxustube2 жыл бұрын
Hi Adam! Is there any chance you can modify the pwm85 to charge 24V batteries from a 24V solar panel?
@Brian_Of_Melbourne3 жыл бұрын
How is the '3.3 Volt' version different? I see it has extra stages in the charge pump but the schematic still shows a 5 Volt rail rather than a 3.3 Volt one. Am I missing something?
@barrygreengrass33793 жыл бұрын
Adam - how are you getting on with the Super Cheap Spot Welder you bought?
@cirdiam18003 жыл бұрын
What does the circuit do? Does it ensure it’s pumping the most current it can into the battery until it is charged (and then keep it topped up)?
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Exactly that, yes.
@cirdiam18003 жыл бұрын
@@AdamWelchUK Thanks. It would be interesting to see a comparison demo - ie how much current goes into the battery (when it needs charging) with and without the PWM85, under the same conditions. People talk about PWM vs MPPT - but really all I care about is that the current going into the battery (when it needs charging) is maximized - regardless of that being at the maximum power point or some other operating point of the solar panel characteristic curve.
@pepethefrog71933 жыл бұрын
It does intermittenly disconnect the panel from the battery so battery doesent overcharge. But it doesent transform excess volts into amps like mppt does.
@jimthvac1003 жыл бұрын
Adam, Would a capacitor added to the input give higher amperage pulses during charging (When it is using pulse width charging). Or would the potential higher amperage input damage the controller?
@slybunda Жыл бұрын
this should work well, something like a 470uf cap on the input should be interesting. will need to test it.
@widjis Жыл бұрын
is it so difficult to modify it as MPPT charger?
@spikeydapikey14833 жыл бұрын
Noice.
@PatricksDIY3 жыл бұрын
Those Sold out quick less than 3 hours lol.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Crazy. May be able to list a few more soon.
@iantsears3 жыл бұрын
Ordered two.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
Got your order. Thank you Ian. First customer points for you!
@hairfritz26673 жыл бұрын
The way you kept repeating the name of the product made this video sound like an advert, which is what it turned out to be. Some of your other videos have been much better adverts, without trying to be, I think.
@mattivirta3 жыл бұрын
PWM destroy batterty solar user ,lot better have and longlive to battery have MPPT charger. lot batter,safe,lonlive,battery good.
@AdamWelchUK3 жыл бұрын
I don’t agree, the two technologies use solar power in different ways, it doesn’t necessarily charge the battery any differently.
@johnnodge43273 жыл бұрын
How a battery is charged is irrelevant. PWM and MPPT both charge the battery in the same way. In reality, an PWM cycles the battery less, which will make it last longer, not less.
@pepethefrog71933 жыл бұрын
@@johnnodge4327 PWM pulses the battery with the full solar voltage. I would not recommend doing that to a lipo. Voltage measurement will be dependent on the mosfet state and jittery without smoothing. Except for power consumption pwm85 does a worse job than a 3A adjustable buck converter costng 70ct.