[oil pan 4]

After a little 40 mile drive last night I checked my solar system while it was charging at noon.

90 watts worth of panels were generating 17.7 volts and producing 2.3 amps.
That is 45% of rated, not bad for laying flat with some dust on them.

The genasun charge controller is doing its MPPT thing, with that input power of 17.7v at 2.3 amps it is putting out 13 volts and 3.1 amps.

That's almost 41 watts going in and just over 40 watts coming out. If you try to argue with that, you will lose.

If this were a cheaper PWM controller I would only be getting 2.3 amps or less.
So if I were using a PWM controller I would have lets say best case scenario, 13 volts coming out amps 2.3 amps. Or 30 watts.

With flat dusty panels running at 45% of rated, having a MPPT controller instead of PWM controller is like having PWM controller and 4 to 5 additional panels.

I would have to say having an MPPT charge controller makes a huge difference if you only have limited solar panels on your vehicle.

So with an MPPT controller I only need 90 watts worth of panels to get 40 watts of power.
With a PWM controller I would have needed 130 to 140 watts worth of panels to get 40 watts.
Most vehicles don't have room for 90 watts, so that makes a lot of decisions for you as to what your panel and charge controller configuration will look like.

So at this time, if you put solar panels on a car, SUV or most vehicles, the 5 amp genasun LiFePO4 controller for around $100 is the way to go.
Yes I know it says its for lithium iron phosphate, but I am using an optima Absorbed glass mat battery. I have LiFePO4 batteries, I just have not installed them yet.
The 14.2volt LiFePO4 charge controller will obviously work with LiFePO4, it works flawlessly with lead acid AGM and it should work well with conventional flooded, sealed lead acid and gel lead acid.