For a newcomer to this subject the options are a tad confusing. This thread is designed to help anyone trying to make sense of it all for the first time.
There are to my knowledge three dump controller designs published in this forum.
1. Robin Emley’s known as the mk2
. 2. Martin Robert’s eMC
3. Series530’s Fusion of mk2 and emonGLCD
I think it’s fair to say that if the user requires a build and go controller without monitoring then Robin’s (AKA calypso rae) design is the way to go. Robin has supported his development work with a very impressive set of tools and has certainly been a great help to me when building his design. Robin’s main thread has a large following and there appear to be several members who have built the mk2. There is even a purpose built PCB available to make construction easy.
If monitoring is required then number 2 and number 3 are options. Of these I have built Martin’s design and it certainly does what it claims to do but unless you already have a suitable radio based display/monitor it will inevitably require more effort to build. Also, the emonTx on which it is based is not easy to house as it has connectors on three edges and if you want to put it in a small enclosure as I did the best solution is to discard the jack sockets and wire it in directly.
I am possibly the only forum member who has built and tried both Robin Emley’s design as well as Martin Robert’s and I have no problem recommending them both. As far as I can tell they both divert all the surplus PV power to the dump load which is their primary function. They achieve this in different ways but they cannot be compared for relative performance because they both appear to be entirely successful.
It would be good if someone who has built the ‘Fusion of mk2 and emonGLCD ‘ (That’s a long name) could post a few words here to explain what is special about it as I am not sure.
Finally, it is astonishing that developments of this complexity and detail should be achieved and shared by individuals who then go on to write up and share their efforts. I have great respect for all these contributors and hope to enjoy seeing even more developments in the coming year.
Re: PV Dump Controller Options
Finally, it is astonishing that developments of this complexity and detail should be achieved and shared by individuals who then go on to write up and share their efforts.
Hear hear!
P.