Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100V 50 amp 12/24-Volt Solar

 

This is just to provide some comparison between these MPPTs when i am in search of one that suit my needs.
The test being done in various conditions, multiple PV configuration and repeated at least 3 times to eliminate some ‘quick and easy’ judgements.
Honest observation during test found that each MPPT here has their own ‘strength’ and ‘weakness’, but all seems are good quality one.
None of these result determine anything about ‘reliability’ and ‘longevity’ of the MPPTs and no intention to favor one from the others as they are different from their price point and strength/weakness as mentioned above.
And by no means this was the ‘absolute’ result since product batch, setup/configuration and environment condition may differ from time, application and place perspective.

Component of tests:
– 4 x 300W Monocrystalline Solar PV
– 280Ah LiFePo4 Batt 12V
– 150A Smart BMS
– AMPINVT MPPT 150/40
– EPEVER MPPT 150/40
– VICTRON SmartSolar 100/50
(*) Victron is the only MPPT has higher specs of amp (50A) while the other 2 are 40A, but AMPINVT and EPEVER has higher volt (150V) compare to Victron (100V)

Key Performance Indicator:
– Tracking time and amount of current (amp) generated in various conditions
a) Series/Parallel, and combination of Series and Parallel of PV
b) Combine multiple MPPTs (parallel) in same system
c) Cloudy/Shading and Full Sun radiation performance

Test Method:
– To measure the current generated by each MPPT, i use the battery BMS across all the MPPTs so this will eliminate AMPINVT/EPEVER/VICTRON specific calculation and calibration on each of their device.
– Using ‘external’ amperemeter (BMS) will make the judgement square and fair between the 3 MPPTs and objective(not subjective as per vendor specific)

Build wise
1) AMPINVT
– If i could choose, i would like all the MPPT being build like AMPINVT.
– It is very nice solid metal all-round, 2nd most heaviest and the connector style for batt and PV are full clamp type which is good one.
– The only complain on this 150/40A series is the connector very small for 4AWG cable size (batt), it is impossible to fit in 4AWG cable in the batt connector.
2) EPEVER
– The heaviest and biggest among the 3 MPPTs and the shape a bit awkward for me
– Solid build and provide more heat-sink surface to dissipate heat
– Among the 3, the connector type on EPEVER is the worst in my opinion, it was ‘pinch’ style with screw so it doesn’t have good amount of contact and holding power, however the connector size is HUGE!, 4AWG size is not a problem at all.
3) VICTRON
– Being the smallest (less than half-size of EPEVER!) and the lightest of all
– All metal case with heat-sink on the bottom
– Connector style similar to AMPINVT and the size is also small, impossible to fit 4AWG cable size!

Tracking Time
– No doubt AMPINVT is the clear winner here for tracking time, it is very fast compare to VICTRON and EPEVER, VICTRON took almost double the time to reach maximum power point while EPEVER being the slowest of all.
– However, this is very important and i almost didn’t notice it first till i repeated the test , albeit AMPINVT tracking time is the fastest, the amp generated is not steady, it is fluctuate between 2A(min) – 6A(max) from the max current generated, it seems AMPINVT was ‘very active’ re-scanning the maximum power point in looping mode and sweeping through the current between 4-7 seconds.
– Due to unsteady current generated by AMPINVT, this may reduce the total amp-hour produced even though the tracking time is the fastest (quick/shortest).

Cloudy Day
– In 2S PV setup, all 3 produced very similar amperage.
– In 2S2P PV setup, VICTRON has perform slightly better on cloudy day (by 0.3A – 0.6A) after multiple test reading, while AMPINVT being the last one.

Shading Problem
– In 2S PV setup, VICTRON and EPEVER produced slightly more amperage compare to AMPINVT.
– In 2S2P PV setup, 2 out of 5 test reading shows EPEVER generated slightly more amperage compare to VICTRON (by 0.4A – 0.8A)

Full Sun radiation
– In 2S and 2S2P PV setup, i can’t really tell since the max amperage for AMPINVT and EPEVER already reached (40A), while VICTRON has 50A max, thus VICTRON constantly produce more amperage by 6A-8A higher than the others.

Conclusion
– AMPINVT has very attractive price point, pretty compact but loud (fan noise) and the really downside is ‘unsteady’ amp generated, however if system small enough (less than 600W) with 2S PV config only and very limited budget, i think AMPINVT is quite difficult to resist here, since the remaining 2 options is twice or thrice the price.
– VICTRON is long known name in MPPT worlds, no doubt it could be the best and the test result telling not far from the tale, however this is the most expensive one in the ‘similar’ class, if budget is not an issue and you want to build very compact (small) system then it is no brain to not pick up this one.
– EPEVER, this MPPT perform similar as VICTRON in many ways and perhaps slightly better in shading scenario, can do over paneling up to 3x the power specs (3x520W=1560W) is huge advantage but due to size you need bigger space, but i guess the the best bang for the buck on this class.