December 4, 2025Dec 4 HiI had my system installed at the end of March 2025. Recently I came across a few posts with regards to the heat that the solar charge controllers were generating. My charge controllers were hot to the touch during the day and I decided to go down the rabbit hole of figuring out what temp's the controllers were hitting and how to reduce them.Got myself a Temperature Sensor Gun and measured my controllers at 50.5 degrees Celsius before implementing my solution to cooling them down.Parts :- 4-6 x 120mm CPU fan ( Deep Cool in my case ) 1 x 90W 12V/7.5A Adaptor ( Model Q-A265 ) 1 x 1 to 2 DC Split Cable ( used by CCTV ) 2 x 1 to 5 DC Split Cable ( had those lying around ) 4-6 x DC Female Power Connector ( CCTV ADPT MJ077 )The heat sink of the controller is against the wall, I didn't want to interfere too much with the installation setup ( I removed the conduit cover for the middle fan to push air through ).I left the conduit cover of the second controller on to see if there was a difference and you hardly see any difference in temperature. ( second controller at the far end in the pic ).These are the measurements for today :- At 07:30 the system was running at 3.8kWh solar production Controller 1 ( 3 fans ) - 31 degrees ( Fans off ) Controller 2 ( 2 fans ) - 32.5 degreesI purposefully left the fans off so that the controller can start heating up At 09:08 the system was running at 6.8kWh solar production Controller 1 - 50 degrees Controller 2 - 50.5 degreesFans were switched on at this stage At 09:22 the system was running at 7.3kWh solar production Controller 1 - 43 degrees Controller 2 - 43 degrees At 10:17The temperature of both controllers have been hovering between 41 and 42 degrees with the fans on.Example of how the fan is connectedI hope that this implementation will extend the life of the controllers!!!!Have a great day all.
December 4, 2025Dec 4 4 hours ago, FaadielH said:HiI had my system installed at the end of March 2025. Recently I came across a few posts with regards to the heat that the solar charge controllers were generating. My charge controllers were hot to the touch during the day and I decided to go down the rabbit hole of figuring out what temp's the controllers were hitting and how to reduce them.Got myself a Temperature Sensor Gun and measured my controllers at 50.5 degrees Celsius before implementing my solution to cooling them down.Parts :-4-6 x 120mm CPU fan ( Deep Cool in my case )1 x 90W 12V/7.5A Adaptor ( Model Q-A265 )1 x 1 to 2 DC Split Cable ( used by CCTV )2 x 1 to 5 DC Split Cable ( had those lying around )4-6 x DC Female Power Connector ( CCTV ADPT MJ077 )The heat sink of the controller is against the wall, I didn't want to interfere too much with the installation setup ( I removed the conduit cover for the middle fan to push air through ).I left the conduit cover of the second controller on to see if there was a difference and you hardly see any difference in temperature. ( second controller at the far end in the pic ).These are the measurements for today :-At 07:30 the system was running at 3.8kWh solar productionController 1 ( 3 fans ) - 31 degrees ( Fans off )Controller 2 ( 2 fans ) - 32.5 degreesI purposefully left the fans off so that the controller can start heating upAt 09:08 the system was running at 6.8kWh solar productionController 1 - 50 degreesController 2 - 50.5 degreesFans were switched on at this stageAt 09:22 the system was running at 7.3kWh solar productionController 1 - 43 degreesController 2 - 43 degreesAt 10:17The temperature of both controllers have been hovering between 41 and 42 degrees with the fans on.Example of how the fan is connectedI hope that this implementation will extend the life of the controllers!!!!Have a great day all.Interesting project you tackled. A temp of 50 deg is actually low. The MPPT can run for very long at higher temps. Component will now have a easier life but time will tell. Those MPPTs do throttle themselves when the temp increases over a set point.
December 5, 2025Dec 5 Just for reference my 100a Microcare MPPT’s hover at around 70 degrees at midday. When I contacted Microcare in P.E. Their sales manger said to not worry about the heat, they are designed to run at those temperatures . Being the overly cautious, I added an external fan to try try cool things down. They have been running non-stop for the past 5 years.
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