Review on 🌞 ACOPOWER Midas 40A MPPT Solar Charge Controller: Efficient PV Negative Ground Controller for 12/24V Solar Panels & Battery Charging (2020) by George Ahmed

I live offline so I get all my power from solar. I add a 12 volt DC battery to one of my sheds to provide lighting. For this project I am using an ACOPOWER Midas 40A MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controller. It has now been in use for over a week. ADVANTAGES: • The controller is easy to program. • This is a negative ground regulator making it suitable for most van and vehicle installations (my barn has no preference) • It supports a range of battery chemistries - flooded cell, AGM, SLA (same setting as AGM), gel, lithium Ions and lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4). This means it will work with most common batteries used in solar power plants. • This is a true MPPT charge controller that maximizes the energy your solar panels receive. • It supports an input voltage of up to 100V from the solar panel, which allows you to daisy-chain multiple panels. In my case I use two 100 watt panels in series. This allows a smaller diameter cable to be used between the panels and the charge controller. • It uses intelligent charge profiles (and stages) for the selected battery type - Bulk, Absorption (called Boost by this manufacturer), Float and Equalize. Note that with custom (custom) settings, there is no setting for bulk voltage, since bulk voltage and absorption (boost) voltage are always the same in each charge controller. So you need to set the boost voltage for both. • Reverse polarity protection and short-circuit protection to avoid wiring errors. • It delivers up to 40 amperes of charging current for batteries during full and absorption charging phases. • It works with 12V or 24V battery systems and automatically detects the battery voltage. • It has "custom” settings so you can adjust the charge profile to the battery manufacturer's recommended settings if they differ from the pre-programmed ones. Battery settings in the controller. • A temperature compensation is carried out. It is equipped with a temperature sensor that measures the ambient temperature in the room. To monitor the battery temperature, you need an optional ACOPOWER battery temperature sensor (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074GWFQC3). • Works with the EPever MT50 remote control (not included). I have one from my EPEver solar system in my workshop and have confirmed that it is 100% compatible. It can be purchased from Revain here: (https://www.amazon.com/EPEVER-Suitable-Tracer-Tracer-BN-Controller/dp/B07QRZYWV4) • The display is easy to read and shows all important charging parameters (voltage, current , watts , kWh, accumulated watt-hours, etc.). • If the load on the batteries drains them too much, the controller will automatically turn off the load to protect the batteries from over-discharge, which can shorten their lifespan. CONS: • I use Deka Monobloc solar panels with flooded cells in my setup. The manufacturer recommends running and leveling every 28 days. I couldn't find the frequency setting in the manual or in the controller's menu system. I contacted the manufacturer for instructions and was told that the frequency could not be adjusted. The charge controller apparently decides when an equalizing charge is needed. I'd rather be able to set the frequency to match the battery manufacturer's recommended frequency. • Although the manual is fairly well written, it does not state that setting the boost voltage (in user configuration) also sets the base load. Excitement, even though I expected it. I think that should be made clear in the instructions. • As in the previous case, there are no diagrams of charge profiles for each battery chemistry in the manual. I would like to see such diagrams. SOME THOUGHTS Overall I think this is a decent charge controller. This suits my needs for my new shed solar power station. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't set the compensation frequency as recommended by the battery manufacturers. The manual does not specify how frequently or under what conditions the controller will initiate an equalization charge. The instructions are not as well written as I would like, but I think it's more than enough to get the charge controller up and running properly, and that's the main thing. In my opinion, this charge controller offers good value for money. Although I deducted a star due to the lack of support for EQ frequency tuning and the lack of some things in the manual, I think it's worth your purchase.