Victron SmartSolar 100/20 MPPT Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth)

Easy install, loaded the Android app, easy connect*, app works perfectly. My previous PWM solar controller was new in 2003. This is light years beyond. I'm at 4 stars now, it's only been in for a week, but I'll go to 5 later if it stays good. * The Bluetooth pairing required "000000" which was buried in the book, when I first tried pairing the phone was saying "0000" or "1234", neither worked. The default pairing code is 000000.

I highly recommend this product. Just returned from a 63 day camping trip during which the Victron 20 Amp controller worked flawlessly. 60 of our 63 day trip were without shore power and relied on our 100 watt solar panel. While I have a generator, there was never a need to use it to charge our batteries. The Victron controller was part of an upgrade I did that replaced a cheap PWM controller, moved the controller from the solar panel to the battery box, and added 8 gauge wires from the controller to the batteries. The Victron controller charged my two group 27/66 amp hour batteries more quickly and more deeply than the PWM controller. My energy into the batteries from my solar panel now always exceeds my energy out (I track cumulative watt/hours). I could also run ... MoreI highly recommend this product. Just returned from a 63 day camping trip during which the Victron 20 Amp controller worked flawlessly. 60 of our 63 day trip were without shore power and relied on our 100 watt solar panel. While I have a generator, there was never a need to use it to charge our batteries. The Victron controller was part of an upgrade I did that replaced a cheap PWM controller, moved the controller from the solar panel to the battery box, and added 8 gauge wires from the controller to the batteries. The Victron controller charged my two group 27/66 amp hour batteries more quickly and more deeply than the PWM controller. My energy into the batteries from my solar panel now always exceeds my energy out (I track cumulative watt/hours). I could also run my fantastic fan during the day and my batteries would still receive an excellent charge. These MPPT controllers charger more rapidly than PWM by converting excess volts to additional amps. The Victron controller consistently stepped up the amps coming from the solar panel by as much as .7 amps. Excellent product!

I've used solar controllers from three other manufacturers before this Victron 100/20. The other controller charging curves never seemed to utilize the available solar power as well as Victron does. The Victron provides a significantly higher current to my battery bank than other controllers, and fills the bank up faster. That's the five star part. But I'd prefer an inexpensive external wall monitor instead of Bluetooth. Victron has that available on some of their controllers, but it's a pricey option. And while DC 12V 20A runs under a meter only require 12AWG thick wire, most of us use much thicker wires, so the wire connection baskets do seem tiny, the smallest I've ever used, so stripping the 10AWG solar wires and the 0AWG battery wires down to squeeze into those ... MoreI've used solar controllers from three other manufacturers before this Victron 100/20. The other controller charging curves never seemed to utilize the available solar power as well as Victron does. The Victron provides a significantly higher current to my battery bank than other controllers, and fills the bank up faster. That's the five star part. But I'd prefer an inexpensive external wall monitor instead of Bluetooth. Victron has that available on some of their controllers, but it's a pricey option. And while DC 12V 20A runs under a meter only require 12AWG thick wire, most of us use much thicker wires, so the wire connection baskets do seem tiny, the smallest I've ever used, so stripping the 10AWG solar wires and the 0AWG battery wires down to squeeze into those tiny baskets that were also tightly spaced together was a hassle during installation.