u/DatGuyDatHangsOut

I'm putting together a little solar street/yard light setup and could use a sanity check on the charge controller.

Here's what I've got:

• 12V system, LiFePO4 battery, roughly 40Ah (~512Wh)
• 90W solar panel (standard 12V-class, Vmp ~18V)
• 30W LED load, so about 2.3A draw when it's on

I want a proper MPPT controller (not PWM — seems like I'd lose a chunk of the harvest at these wattages). I'd expect around 6–7A of charge current, so a 10A unit should give me decent headroom.

The one behavior I do need is basic dusk-to-dawn: when the sun goes down, the light comes on; when the sun comes back up, the light shuts off and the controller goes back to charging the battery. That's it — no dimming, no timed steps, no motion sensing. Just on at dark, off at light.

Beyond that, I want something that handles the fundamentals well: MPPT charging from the panel, sensible battery management for LiFePO4 (correct charge setpoints, and a load output to run the LED.

Any recommendations for a reliable unit in this class? any extra functions are nice to have but not a must

Thanks

Hello,

I deal with a lot of LiFePo batteries and I need a tool that can help me test them. I would like to build a cabinet where I can plug in a battery (or more than one at a time) walk away and the machine does it all but sounds expensive.

Basically I need a tool that tells me if a battery is good to go as is, if it needs some cell swap or if it is dead.

Help is appreciated!

Hello,

I deal with a lot of LiFePo batteries and I need a tool that can help me test them. I would like to build a cabinet where I can plug in a battery (or more than one at a time) walk away and the machine does it all but sounds expensive.

Basically I need a tool that tells me if a battery is good to go as is, if it needs some cell swap or if it is dead.

Help is appreciated!

I am starting to get some ants in my raised bed, nothing crazy yet but I want to be proactive and fight them.

Has anyone here found a natural insecticide? I don't want to spray a bunch of stuff that will harm butterflies etc.

I mean logistically.

Right now my wife and I have our paychecks going to our respective personal accounts, I send her money for rent and utilities (her house), then we send an equal amount to a shared account that is connected to our shared Credit Card. The rest we keep to ourselves.

My wife was thinking of having both our paychecks go to a shared account, pay for everything and put some aside as a shared savings then split the remainders proportionally to income. Say she makes 70% of the total coming in, she will keep 70% of the total after everything is paid.

We have not implemented that yet curious how other couples are doing.