15 Ampere solar charge controller without microcontroller

15 Ampere solar charge controller without microcontroller, In this article you will learn following things:

  • What is solar charge controller?
  • How to design solar charge controller?
  • How to select solar charge controller?
  • Circuit diagram of 15A solar charge controller?
  • Working of solar charge controller.

What is solar charge controller?

Solar charge controller is an electronics device connected between battery and solar panels. It is used to regulate charges flow from solar panels towards battery. In other words solar charge controller is used to control flow of charges from solar panels to battery. It provide protection from overflow of charges from solar panels to battery and it is also used to protect batteries from under voltages. Its mean solar charge controllers provide protection against under and over voltages of batteries in charging and discharging of batteries.

How to design solar charge controller ?

Many methods have been developed for solar charge controllers. Many types of solar charge controllers are available in market. But mainly three type of solar charge controllers are used.

  1. Simple solar charge controller: This type of solar charge controllers use analog electronics to control flow of charges.
  2. PWM based solar charge controllers: This type of solar charge controllers used microcontrollers to charge batteries through pulse width modulation method.
  3. MPPT solar charge controllers: MPPT stands for maximum power point tracking. This type of charge controller used MPPT techniques to charge battery from solar panels.

I have seen many people searching on different websites about solar charge controllers. But they don’t know about use of microcontrollers. All high rating solar charge controllers use microcontrollers. So I decided to post an articles on solar charge controller without microcontroller. In this article I am going to post a circuit diagram of 15 Ampere solar charge controller which do not use any microcontroller. This is very simple circuit diagram of charge controllers.

How to select solar charge controller ?

Before making or purchasing any charge controller for your solar panels, the question must come into your mind. What should be the rating of your charge controller? Let me give you one example, after this example you will get th answer of this question. For example you have 200 watt solar panels which have open-circuit voltage of 24volt and closed circuit voltage would be around 18 volt. By using simple power formula you can calculate rating of required charge controller for your solar panel.  You know about power formula for DC power that is

P = V * I;

we know the values of power and voltage which is P = 200W and V = 18 V. By putting above values in power formula:

I = 200 / 18 = 11.11 Ampere

So calculated value of current is 11.11A. Lets suppose voltage of solar panels may reduce to lower value 15 volt. In that case current will increase. So you should select charge controller of little higher value than calculated. I hope you got the answer of  question “How to select solar charge controller”.

Circuit diagram of 15A solar charge controller :

Circuit diagram of 15A solar charge controller is shown below. If you want to use this circuit for higher rating, you can use more than one solar charge controller in series to increase current rating of charge controller. Circuit diagram shown below is simplest circuit diagram of charge controller. Because It do not have any microcontroller. This circuit of charge controller used analog electronics instead of digital electronics.

15A solar charge controller using LM358
15A solar charge controller using LM358

Components list :

Category,Reference,Value,Order Code
Resistors,"R1",4.7k,
Resistors,"R2",4.7k,
Resistors,"R3",10k,
Resistors,"R4",18k,
Resistors,"R5",100k,
Resistors,"R6",15k,
Resistors,"R7",12k,
Resistors,"R8",33k,
Resistors,"R9",22k,
Capacitors,"C1",2.2nF,
Capacitors,"C2",10uF,
Integrated Circuits,"U1",LM358,
Transistors,"Q1",RFP30P05,
Transistors,"Q2",BC337,
Diodes,"D1",LED,
Diodes,"D2",MBR1645,
Diodes,"D3",5.1V,
Miscellaneous,"J1",Solar panel,
Miscellaneous,"J2",BATTERY,
Miscellaneous,"RV1",5k,

Working of solar charge controller:

15 ampere charge controller circuit diagram used analog electronics components to control the flow of charges from solar panel to battery. RFP30P05 P-channel MOSFET is used to charge battery. RFP30P05 MOSFET have about 20A rating. Its mean this MOSFET can easily pass current upto 20 ampere. For more information check data sheet of RFP30P05.

LM358 operational amplifier is used to turn on or off P channel MOSFET when battery is charged upto 13.6 volt. When battery is charged upto 13.6 volt. LM358 turn off MOSET by giving low signal to resistor R4. LM358 is used as comparator which compare battery voltage through voltage dividers connected to inverting and non-inverting pin of LM358 operational amplifier. Connect solar panel to connector J1 and battery terminals with connector J2. LED D1 shows the status of charging.

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31 thoughts on “15 Ampere solar charge controller without microcontroller”

  1. In my project, i need 5A charge controller. Kindly tell me the specifications according to 5A. Thanks.

    Reply
  2. What about the LM358(U1:B) 7th pin we have to connect it anywhere or leave it as it is??plus can i use this circuit for the following specification
    150watt solar panell and 30AH or 40AH battery???

    Reply
    • 30 or 40ah battery means you can use 3 to 7 amperes current for charging battery. 150 WATT will give you more current than that so i would suggest you to use less power solar panel.Make sure voltage for solar panel should be 17 as said in post.

      Reply
  3. Can i connect 12V solar panel in this circuit? i think there is nothing to do with voltage in this circuit , Only current from panel is charging battery.

    Reply
  4. thanks sir. this was very helpful, it works the way i wanted, vireing the out put was very easy for me using the RV1 5kohms.but to get the P-channel mosfet transistor was was a problem in my area. so, i used IRF3205 N-channel mosfet transistor and control the solar voltage negetively because the transistor i used was N-channel. thanks alot sir. this circuit made my day.

    Reply
    • U got perfect results on pcb ? Have You charged battery with this circuit and please tell me the power of solar panel you have used?

      Reply
  5. Can the same circuit be modified for 12V 10A solar charge controller??? If yes, what are the required modifications??

    Reply
  6. i have a 22.5 volt and 7 amp solar cells and MPPT 30 amp, i want to design a circuit for my system ? what modification should i do to use your 15 amp circuit ?

    Reply
  7. Please suggest to solar charge controller.
    I used in 250w solar panel,

    Above circuit is ok or any changes

    Reply
  8. Mmmmm nice and simple, Im just not sure about changes to accomodate my 100V panel (A Mitsubishi MT100) which can have open circuit voltage of 150V in bright sunlight. If I assume 12V battery banks for a smaller application, …. suggestions?

    Reply
  9. WHAT IS THE VOLTAGE RATING FOR THE 15AMP SOLAR CHARGE CONTROLLER? I AM ASKING THIS BECAUSE YOU SIMPLY MENTIONED THE CURRENT RATING AND NOT THE VOLTAGE RATING.

    Reply
  10. THE OTHER ONE IMPORTANT THING I FORGOT TO ASK IS THE MINIMUM SIZE AND MAXIMUM SIZE OF SOLAR PANEL TO USE IN TERMS OF WATTAGE.

    Reply
  11. How can I modify the simple solar charge controller to obtain a 1A charge controller for my mini hydro DC generation project

    Reply
  12. Hello,
    I have a solar panel for 48 volt system, so I would like to have this controller set for that application.
    Would you please give me an idea on the components values, I will have to add a volt regulation of 12 volt for the opamp, not a problem, but there is the led light that will require a proper voltage…
    Thanks for your assistance.
    Regards

    Reply

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