Review on 🌞 Morningstar TriStar TS-60M: Industry's Best 60A PWM Solar Charge Controller for 12V/24V/48V Batteries with Unbeatable Reliability and Advanced Diagnostics by Andre Belitz

UPDATE 08/20/2017: The Morningstar TS-45 TriStar charge controller has been running continuously since it was installed in late December 2016 with over 5,000 hours of continuous use. It worked perfectly. My battery was kept charged to be prepared for the occasional power outage that happens here on the island. The software that makes it possible to communicate with a computer is easy to use and contains important diagnostic and statistical information. All-round excellent equipment in professional quality. Highly Recommended! UPDATE 12/13: The best solution to the serial cable problem was actually quite simple: male to female extension/jumper cable *internal*. (see image below) I ordered it here from Revain and the product data sticker is in the image. It's small enough to fully close the cover and screw into place while leaving the serial cable plugged in, so you can attach a serial-to-USB cable to the other end, route it through one of the cable channels, and plug it into your computer for monitoring . **************** I just received this today so it hasn't installed yet. However, I quickly wired it up in place of my existing controller to make sure it worked. My first impression is that it's very well built, with a nice powder-coated metal chassis, heavy metal heatsink, and industrial-grade connectors. on board inside. Once connected, I attempted to connect the serial port to my computer using the universal DB9 serial to USB cable that I ordered with the TS-45 (thanks James H.). I opened MSView from Morningstar, searched for the device and nothing. **A NOTICE. Install the DB9 serial to USB drivers before waiting for a connection between the computer and the controller. On Windows, Device Manager displays a flag when drivers need to be installed. (Who knew the cable needed drivers?!? LOL) Once I installed the drivers for the cable, MSView immediately recognized my TS-45 on the other end and got some preliminary data about my system with a few clicks. Brilliant! One of the main reasons I wanted this Morningstar controller. A NOTICE. The serial header on the board is in a convenient location between the heatsink and the LEDs. I had to shave off the plastic connector housing on my cable to get it to fit properly. And when plugged in, there is not enough space to reattach the controller cover because the standard plug is too tall. It may be necessary to buy/make a small daisy chain/extension cable to fix this - it shouldn't be expensive or complicated and with the cover in place it will provide a permanent connection to the cable inside the case. I'll post a photo of the solution to this problem once I figure it out myself. (SEE UPDATE ABOVE AND IMAGE) The 60 page manual, also available as a PDF download on their website, is very well written and explains setup/functions/settings in detail. fully wired and installed so will update my review when everything is set up. But for now, everything looks premium.