OutBack Power FM60-150VDC FLEXMax 60 Charge Controller

Outback is an amazing company. I ordered components for my solar build before I really had a system designed. I didn't really understand what I needed to. This outback is perfect for small installations. Automatically detects battery and system voltage. I love the way the outback works in my system. It is worth every penny. After I built my system and installed it, I realized there was a better way to maximize wattage from the panels. I still use the outback, but this outback can only handle 150vdc. Do a lot of research. Design your system well. Take your time. Go for the outback if you can afford it. It is plug and play. Super easy. It's amazing I didn't burn it up with all of the creative ways I found to screw up! I called Outback for help after my install. The tech expert made me so mad! How dare he impugn my honor and tell me the problem was in my wiring! Turns out he was right! I found the short and fixed it. No issues since.

If you need a MPPT charge controller don’t look for any other. This 60 amp charge controller can produce all the power you need. Just make sure you use cable #2 AWG from the combiner box to the terminals and the units works like a well oiled machine. If you have questions about sizing or panels don’t call Outback. I had some newby questions that I know is not on how to use the charge controller, but they were very rude by phone, so I decide not to call them ever again. In the other hand, the seller was great to work with. Pretty fast and help me along the way. My setup 6 290 watts panels (2 strings of 3) 10 kw battery bank 24 v. Two phase 6kw pure sine inverter 1 midnight combiner box 2 15 amps DC breakers 1 80 amp outback dc breaker For the test part I connect 3 panels in series in a 12v 5k battery bank and a 2000 watts inverter. That photo was at 9:00 am. Battery almost full from 50% discharge from the night before. As you see this baby charge that bank in just 3 hours. Rest of the day... FLOATING! So bad I can’t give it 10 stars!

Update 07/23: Remote monitoring can be done with the Outback Mate2 but they’re hard to find and they cost ~$300. That puts the Outback controller on equal footing price-wise with the Victron which costs more for the controller but it includes the communications package (note that Victron does not support end-users at all). I’ve added a Victron SmartShunt plus my own display for remote status and am happy enough with it. Update 11/22: Both units are experiencing the hung Charged state problem but one is remote and I didn’t notice it was doing it too. It happens a couple of times a month, the controllers hit their absorb set point and after then hitting the end-amps setup or on absorb timer expiration they go into Charged state which just waits for the voltage to drop to the float set point when it’s supposed to enter float mode. Sometimes it just doesn’t come out, it stays in Charged and the batteries begin to deplete. This problem is well known and there are several forum posts about it dating back years. Outback pretends they don’t know of any such chronic issue but that would require willful ignorance, there are just too many reports of it. I suppose the fact that the firmware cannot be updated in the field means Outback is avoiding admitting to it so they don’t have to update everyone’s controllers at a repair facility. Note: This stuck Charged state may sometimes be cured by turning on a heavy load. My baseline amp draw is 2.5a @ 12v. I have read that applying say a 10a load may kick it out of Charged. I know of one instance where it stayed in Charged for a couple of hours and spontaneously went to float on it’s own. Update 4/22: these are very good assuming you don’t want remote status or history displays. They made a Mate3 remote display but reviews were terrible and it cost more than this controller plus their interface protocol is proprietary so no rolling your own. There’s just no way to monitor these or aggregate statistics say for charting of seasonal performance. A simple serial data port with a dozen or so ascii values on it would make this controller among if not the very best. Both of my units are still chugging along. I still occasionally have the issue with the one going into charged mode and never coming out but it’s pretty rare, maybe once or twice a year. They were purchased at least a year apart and I believe they have different firmware versions but I haven’t specifically checked. Another complaint is that there is no menu item to see when or even if the automatic equalization mode is scheduled. You can hit the Auto equalize selection at any time but does that cancel a previous one? Probably but the only way to tell is watch the unit for a month. Also if equalization happens on a cloudy day and the unit cannot get up to the equalization voltage does it declare success or schedule it for the next day? Who knows. I’ve seen behaviors at different times that suggest both. Original: I’ve got two of these in different locations and am very happy with them. You cannot update the firmware except at a factory repair center and the price is extreme for the separate mate controller that supports a web interface. That said they just work. A couple of times one of mine has finished absorb mode and stuck in charged and I’ve had to force it through the menus to go to float mode. I’ve not investigated why that happened.

Controller works great. Top quality and easy to set up. My original offshore controller worked for 6 months and failed. My neighbour has had a full Outback system with inverter for three years and has no issues.

More expensive than others, but well worth the extra cost. Excellent performance so far.