Sunforce 7 Amp Charge Controller

by Sunforce

• Protects battery from overcharge and discharge
• For use with 12 Volt solar panels and batteries only
• Handles up to 7 amps of array current and up to 105 watts of solar power
• Maintains 12V batteries in a fully charged state
• Operation: Yellow charging light indicates battery charging and green light indicates fully charged battery

Product Description

Amazon.com

The Sunforce 60012 7 Amp Charge Controller prevents overcharging and discharging of 12 Volt batteries. It is intended for use with 12 Volt solar panels and maintains 12 Volt batteries in a fully charged state. It can handle up to 7 amps of array current and up to 105 watts of solar power. The controller is easy to use with a yellow charging light that indicates that your battery is charging, and a green light that indicates a fully charged battery.

Key Component of a Solar System Over 15 Watts

A charge controller is a very important feature of a solar system and must be used on all systems over 15 Watts. A charge controller protects your batteries from overcharge and discharge. Charge controllers are the maintenance free protection of your solar panel and batteries.

A charge controller monitors the battery’s state-of-charge to insure that when the battery needs change-current, it gets it, and also insures the battery isn’t overcharged. Connecting a solar panel to a battery without a regulator seriously risks damaging the battery and potentially causing a safety concern.

Charge controllers are rated based on the amount of amperage they can process from a solar array.

Product Description

The Sunforce 60012 7 Amp Charge Controller prevents overcharging and discharging of 12 Volt batteries. It is intended for use with 12 Volt solar panels and maintains 12 Volt batteries in a fully charged state. It can handle up to 7 amps of array current and up to 105 watts of solar power. The controller is easy to use with a yellow charging light that indicates that your battery is charging, and a green light that indicates a fully charged battery.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

169 of 172 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sunforce 7 amp Solar Controller January 6, 2008

By Jordan Xaviers

Amazon Verified Purchase

Bad:
Really cheap quality. Included instructions don't provide enough information. Website is just as un-informative. Cheap connector wires (low current), and is not equipped with screw-on terminal junctions.

Good: Product works as advertised. Amazinlgly "regulates" the voltage to the required amount so as not to overcharge the battery. Beware though, in order to test the actual output voltage, you must apply a load on the battery end of the controller BEFORE. Failing this, the output can register volts as high as 20 volts !!! Apparently applying an actual load causes the controller to output the correct voltage range - lucky me, cause I bought 4 units ! The LEDS alternately flickers (fast for good voltage input and slow for low to no voltage on solar panel). The manual did NOT state the order of LED flashes.
(1) Fast LED flashes - good voltage/current
(2) Slow LED flashes - low/no voltage/current
(3) steady Green - fully charged
(4) steady amber - possible no load OR really low voltage/current

I recommend you go out and buy 'em. The are a really good deal and does the job at the best price ! I use them in Jamaica, to provide my appliances with power during power outages (very frequent here). Used with solar panels and DC to AC inverter, of course. Considered using a generator, but too many accidents here with generators, too noisy, too bulky, and during hurricane aftermath, fuel is a problem. Solar is freely available, so it was the BEST option all round.

Hope this helps all readers !

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars not recommended November 8, 2010

By Nick

Amazon Verified Purchase

This unit is simply an electronic switch, it is either on or off. The problem with that is that when it is on the full force of a high current is applied to the battery and if the battery is almost charged the battery voltage quickly rises to the cut-off voltage (14.2v). When current is cut off the battery voltage quickly falls to the turn on voltage (13.1v), and the unit turns the current on again. This can happen several times a minute when the current is high and the battery is almost charged. Also, in operating this way, the battery never gets fully charged, which requires a small constant current.

I strongly recommend that anyone considering this unit spend another $10 and buy the vastly superior HQRP 10Amp controller or something similar which controls the amount of current, rather than just switching current on or off.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to use Charge Controller October 2, 2007

By A. Moore

Two wires to the battery and two wires to the solar panel. It doesn't get much simplier than that. Worked flawlessly out of the box. Yellow LED indicates charging while green LED indicates the battery is charged.