Testimonials
Being an avid hunter and also a ham radio operator I thought I would combine my favorite hobbies by install an IC-7000 in the "Hunting Camp". The Camp is located in the woods far from most common RF noise sources. I was disappointed when I turned the radio on and found a very high level of noise spread across the hf bands. A 200 watt solar system used to provide 12 VDC lighting turned out to be the problem. No surprise there, Ha Ha. After some online research I found information about Rob's solar charge controllers and after reading reviews I thought it could be the answer to my problem as well. I placed an order and in a few days I had the controller and an RF filter in hand. After installing the charge controller I was very pleased by the fact that all previous noise was gone. At that particular time the background noise level on the IC-7000 s-meter reading was down to zero and did not increase when the charge controller was turned on. I did however detect a very slight increase from the speaker when the controller was turned on but it was so low I consider it to be insignificant. Thank you Rob for taking the time to design and provide a Ham friendly solar charge controller. When placing the order I had a problem with the final step of the process but with Rob's quick and courteous response to an email for help my order was completed.
Thanks again Rob. Great Product!
John
N8BFL
Thanks again Rob. Great Product!
John
N8BFL
We have been trying for over a year to find out exactly what products we needed to get solar power at our hunting cabin. We were very fortunate to get Rob’s name and contact info. Rob answered all of our questions, made great recommendations and explained, in detail, how to hook it all up. We went with 2 of the Apollo Charge Controllers from Rob and the other components that he recommended.
These Charge Controllers are Awesome and so is Rob. Everything went just as he explained and we are now fully powered and off the grid!! Thanks for everything Rob!!
Jeff Gebert
Brentwood, TN
These Charge Controllers are Awesome and so is Rob. Everything went just as he explained and we are now fully powered and off the grid!! Thanks for everything Rob!!
Jeff Gebert
Brentwood, TN
Hi Rob,
Got it working without any issues, charging my 12V 35/85A AGM battery. I added an input and output LED meters for now, and I am planning to add additional circuity to switch one of the meters for current measurement.
I also checked for RF Noise around the 100 Khz range with my Flex 6300 with a Pixel Loop antenna. Barely saw the signal above the normal background noise.
Thanks for an excellent product,
Javier
Got it working without any issues, charging my 12V 35/85A AGM battery. I added an input and output LED meters for now, and I am planning to add additional circuity to switch one of the meters for current measurement.
I also checked for RF Noise around the 100 Khz range with my Flex 6300 with a Pixel Loop antenna. Barely saw the signal above the normal background noise.
Thanks for an excellent product,
Javier
At Last! A Low RFI Solar Charge Controller.
I have now installed two of these devices.... one for home and one in our Club's new Emergency communications trailer. Our first attempt at solar power for our Comm trailer was a disaster having installed an Amazon purchased Renogy system. It radiated strongly not only in the HF spectrum, but also up through VHF as well. ARES Communications were nearly useless with that system if we left the solar charging system on.
After days of searching the Web I stumbled across DIYSolarforU and contacted the owner.... an individual who himself had been so concerned witht RFI from Solar Charge Controllers that he designed his own system. I ordered one Apollo MPPT charge controller to evaluate and was flabberghasted by the drop in RFI..... it was practically undetectable unless we put our antenna a few feet from the controller. It was quickly installed in place of the errant Renogy charge controller and our new Comm Trailer has now become very useful.... anywhere in the spectrum. We are using it with 200W of Solar Panels.
The product supplied comes as a bare circuit board -- no housing, but at this price it was well worth it. We simply mounted it on the trailer wall and covered the unit with a home thermostat plastic guard to prevent any damage to the unit . The clear plastic housing allows easy view of the solar charge parameters which scroll slowly on the LCD on board display while allowing reasonable ventilation ... not that this unit gets very warm to any extent. Given the small size of the circuit board, one should easily find numerous housing possibilities for this unit if you need to protect the board.
The only thing I could fault on this product is the terminal connectors, built for #12 wire max and seemingly in my opinion a bit delicate for this application. After notifying DIYSolarforU about this concern I was quickly advised that newer and more substantive terminal blocks were found and would be in place for subsequent production run of this product. The proprietor of this company is extremely responsive to customers!
I am very pleased with the two units I have set up, and anticipate ordering more in the future. Ed
I have now installed two of these devices.... one for home and one in our Club's new Emergency communications trailer. Our first attempt at solar power for our Comm trailer was a disaster having installed an Amazon purchased Renogy system. It radiated strongly not only in the HF spectrum, but also up through VHF as well. ARES Communications were nearly useless with that system if we left the solar charging system on.
After days of searching the Web I stumbled across DIYSolarforU and contacted the owner.... an individual who himself had been so concerned witht RFI from Solar Charge Controllers that he designed his own system. I ordered one Apollo MPPT charge controller to evaluate and was flabberghasted by the drop in RFI..... it was practically undetectable unless we put our antenna a few feet from the controller. It was quickly installed in place of the errant Renogy charge controller and our new Comm Trailer has now become very useful.... anywhere in the spectrum. We are using it with 200W of Solar Panels.
The product supplied comes as a bare circuit board -- no housing, but at this price it was well worth it. We simply mounted it on the trailer wall and covered the unit with a home thermostat plastic guard to prevent any damage to the unit . The clear plastic housing allows easy view of the solar charge parameters which scroll slowly on the LCD on board display while allowing reasonable ventilation ... not that this unit gets very warm to any extent. Given the small size of the circuit board, one should easily find numerous housing possibilities for this unit if you need to protect the board.
The only thing I could fault on this product is the terminal connectors, built for #12 wire max and seemingly in my opinion a bit delicate for this application. After notifying DIYSolarforU about this concern I was quickly advised that newer and more substantive terminal blocks were found and would be in place for subsequent production run of this product. The proprietor of this company is extremely responsive to customers!
I am very pleased with the two units I have set up, and anticipate ordering more in the future. Ed
Arrived as predicted. Installed Wednesday night and watched it come alive Thursday morning. I *LIKE* the 14v / 19v between day/night, BTW.
Despite the rain and overcast, I got 8-10 watts which was enough to keep the various night lights on throughout the house. When the rain stopped, the power level came up enough to trickle charge the battery. P-P of 46 watts and 4.65 A/H. Not bad for such a totally overcast crappy day.
Today has been AWESOME! Battery terminal voltage is up at 14.3 V, 3.75 to 4 A, 54 W, 86 P-P, and 17 A/H. The battery has been fully replenished and all loads (LED lighting in the kitchen and livingroom) are being sustained. Sweet :)
"The world is once again turning on greesed rails" (Cannery Row).
Thanks again!!!
--- Jay Nugent WB8TKL
Ypsilanti, MI
Despite the rain and overcast, I got 8-10 watts which was enough to keep the various night lights on throughout the house. When the rain stopped, the power level came up enough to trickle charge the battery. P-P of 46 watts and 4.65 A/H. Not bad for such a totally overcast crappy day.
Today has been AWESOME! Battery terminal voltage is up at 14.3 V, 3.75 to 4 A, 54 W, 86 P-P, and 17 A/H. The battery has been fully replenished and all loads (LED lighting in the kitchen and livingroom) are being sustained. Sweet :)
"The world is once again turning on greesed rails" (Cannery Row).
Thanks again!!!
--- Jay Nugent WB8TKL
Ypsilanti, MI
Contact us at: DIYSolarForU@gmail.com