BRAVO Waterproof 10 - 10 Amp Waterproof PWM Solar Charge Controller

This is a small, sealed controller for a single 12V solar panel in a place where a normal controller would not survive: an open trailer, a boat locker, a gate opener, a livestock waterer. The case is rated IP65 and the circuit board is conformally coated against moisture. What it is not is a general-purpose controller, and the limits below are worth reading before you buy.

Why this controller

• IP65 housing with corrosion-resistant terminals and a conformal coating on the board. IP65 means dust-tight and protected against low-pressure water jets from any direction. It is not an immersion rating, so despite the product name, do not submerge it.
• Rated for up to 10 amps of solar input on a 12V battery. In practice that is one nominal 12V panel.
• Battery chemistry is selected with a DIP switch, and flooded, AGM, GEL and LiFePO4 are all supported. Note that the equalisation stage at 15.5V is a lead-acid feature; if you are running lithium, set the switch accordingly so equalisation does not run.
• Temperature compensation of -24mV per degree C across -4F to 122F, with a port for an external battery temperature sensor. The sensor is an option and is not included.
• Status is shown by LEDs only. There is no screen, no Bluetooth and no app.
• Over-voltage, short-circuit, reverse-polarity and thermal protection, with charging shutting down at 149F.
• Rich Solar's title calls this the number one waterproof solar controller. No ranking body or publication is named anywhere on the page, so treat that as advertising rather than a finding.

Mounting and wiring

• Read this first: the controller uses a common POSITIVE grounding scheme. That is the opposite of the negative-chassis convention on most vehicles, and getting it wrong will damage equipment. If you are unsure how your system is bonded, check before wiring.
• This is PWM, not MPPT. PWM pulls the panel down to battery voltage rather than converting the excess, so a 100W panel will deliver meaningfully less than 100W here. The MPPT controllers elsewhere in this range harvest more from the same panel; this one trades that away for a sealed case and a low price.
• Maximum array open-circuit voltage is 25V DC, with a normal operating window of 15 to 22V. That is a single 12V nominal panel and nothing more. Check the panel's Voc at your coldest expected temperature, because cold weather raises Voc and 25V is not much headroom.
• 12V systems only. There is no 24V mode.
• M5 terminals accepting up to 10 AWG stranded wire. Mounts vertically to a flat surface with the three supplied spacers and self-tapping screws.
• Standby draw at night is 5mA, which is low enough to leave connected over winter on a healthy battery.
• A California Proposition 65 warning applies to this product.

Warranty

• Rich Solar's published warranty on charge controllers runs two years and is prorated: full coverage in the first year, 50 percent in the second.
• Claims are handled by Rich Solar directly. Register the product and keep your invoice.