WERCHTAY 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller 12v/24v Current Auto Focus MPPT Tracking Charge with LCD Display Dual USB Solar Regulator Charge Controller Multiple Load Control Modes

In this review I will be comparing the “Best Seller” Renogy 30 Amp PWM Wanderer Charge Controller to the “Amazon Choice” Werchtay 60 amp MPPT charge controller. I have purchased both. I was dissatisfied with Renogy and hoped Werchtay would be a better option. I believe it is.COMPARISON BASISKeep in mind that both of these charge controllers are inexpensive, mostly plastic, and made in China. Renogy is an American Owned Company who designs their own charge controllers and Werchtay is a Chinese owned company that distributes charge controllers that are also sold by other companies. Werchtay is open about it’s Chinese mfg. where Renogy provides no information about where it's product is made. I personally don’t think the nationality of the manufacturer makes any difference in the product; it is the management controls and engineering that determines product performance. I believe both these controllers are targeted to people with 100 to 400 watt systems and it isn’t fair to compare them to controllers used for full scale solar conversions that easily cost over 5X more.RELIABILITYEven though my Renogy failed within one month, I would say that Renogy is more reliable based on frequency of 1 star reviews for product failure. Renogy has a 4.4 overall rating and Werchtay has a 4.0 overall rating.CUSTOMER SERVICERenogy customer service is HORRIBLE. This is based on my own experience, the one star ratings on Amazon, and comments made about the company on other solar power web sites. The Renogy controller has a 3.4 star Technical Support rating on Amazon compared to the Werchtay rating of 4.4 stars. When I read a review where Werchtay proactively replaced a charge controller for a customer, I knew that they would be my next choice. With Renogy, if your product goes bad you are basically out of luck. Renogy’s reliability and “Best Seller” designation allows them to treat unsatisfied customers badly and get away with it. At least for now. My advice to Werchtay is to implement their own quality check before sending out these generic controllers and to advertise a free, no questions asked, 3 month replacement policy. Raise your price a little if you need to, but my understanding is that the profit margins on these generic devices are huge.SYSTEM MONITORING AND CONTROLThe Renogy has no quantitative system monitoring parameters or battery adjustment controls (other than battery type), however, a Bluetooth connected BT-1 module can be connected to provide this capability. The cost of the Renogy charge controller is $32 and the Module is $30. This total cost of $62 needs to be compared against the Werchtay cost of $27 which does provide multiple quantitative monitoring parameters with the choice of which will be on the main display. The Werchtay also allows adjustment of battery float, reconnect, and stop discharge voltage.TECHNOLOGYThere is no doubt that the advertised 60 amp MPPT technology (Werchtay) is superior to the 30 AMP PWM technology (Renogy). Theoretically the Werchtay will capture more energy from the sun and be able to handle higher wattage than the Renogy. I personally would seriously doubt that the Werchtay device is really MPPT for two reasons. 1) Most proven MPPT devices are well over $100 2) I saw this generic charge controller being taken apart on Youtube and they found no induction coil needed for a MPPT controller. That being said, I am not personally in a position to assess to verify or refute the MPPT claim for the Werchtay device. My advice to Werchtay would be to clear up the confusion and if it is a PWM controller, label it as such. For a 100 to 400 watt system, I don’t think that saying this is a PWM controller (like the Renogy) would matter that much for your target market, People thinking you are liars will kill your reputation, as I believe Renogy poor customer service is killing their reputation.FEATURESThe Werchtay includes 2 USB ports, an easy to read display window with 8 screens, and the ability to attach a direct current load to the controller. The Renogy has three LED lights indicating panel status, battery status and battery type.DOCUMENTATIONBecause there is no adjustment other than setting battery type, Renogy documentation is fine. The Werchtay documentation, which provides more system status information and has more adjustments is just marginally adequate. That is being charitable. The information needed is all there, but it is hard to read and you need some background knowledge to use it. An additional concern for the Werchtay is that the manual covers controllers with Bluetooth capability. This controller doesn’t and Werchtay doesn’t claim it does, but the documentation indicates it does. My advice to Werchtay is to upgrade their instructions (either themselves or ask the manufacturer). Specifically, Werchtay needs to increase the type size and clarify Bluetooth capability (or lack of Bluetooth).SUMMARYThere appears to be good reasons why the Werchtay is the “Amazon Choice” for Charge Controller and not the Renogy “Best Selling” Charge Controller. I am giving this product 5 stars in comparison to the Renogy for the following reasons1) I have monitored how the Werchtay controller has worked for 3 days and it appears I got one that works. It provides the amps and volts I would expect during the day based on conditions, and doesn’t drain my battery at night. If the charger didn’t work (or fails in the near future), I feel confident Werchtay will give me a new one free of charge.2). It is an inexpensive product with a lot of features, if you can figure them out from documentation that needs upgrading.Werchtay will lose future business If they don’t upgrade their documentation, minimize the number of faulty chargers being sent to customers, and clarify their MPPT / Blue tooth capability (or lack of). If they do address these items, they have a great chance to be Amazon’s “Best Seller” AND Amazon’s Choice for Charge controllers for this target market.If my future experience with the Werchtay charge controller drastically changes in the future, I will upgrade this review.REVIEW UPDATE=============I don’t usually update a review this close to the first review, but I either missed it, or Werchtay has recently made HUGE improvements to their Amazon Product Page.I would now give this product 6 stars for the following reasons:1) Documentation: The “marginally adequate” product instructions included with the product are now included on their Amazon product page in an easy to read and easy to understand manner.2) MPPT Capability: The Amazon product page refers to this as a “new” type of MPPT technology (One that doesn’t need an Induction coil?) that provides 10% to 30% improved conversion efficiency over PWM. Werchtay asks for people to “use and compare” their product against this claim. I am now willing to give Werchtay the benefit of the doubt on this claim until someone smarter than me can provide evidence to refute it.The one star reviews for Werchtay are all due to getting a defective product. Perfectly reasonable response. Until (if ever) Werchtay improves their outgoing quality, give them a chance to replace the unit that didn’t work. If I start to see a lot of one star reviews because Werchtay won’t honor their warranty, this would change my rating to one star. Unfortunately, Renogy is not the only Solar component seller with poor customer service. The one star reviews of most solar companies are filled with complaints because the company fails to honor their warranty.

Easy to use. Nice display options. Easy to set up.

UPDATE: (see original review below)Ok, the seller did not ask me to do a second review but I had a good experience with them and thought it fair to do so. From my original review below you see where I said the item is easy to set up but unfortunately it didn't work. After seeing my review the seller reached out and agreed to send me another charge controller free of cost. It arrived, we set it up and it is working as described. The first was probably just faulty. Give it a try if you want an affordable charge controller.ORIGINAL REVIEW:Pro: the set up is easy.Con: the item might be faulty because it did not work. It would not read the solar panels and charge my batteries. It kept showing us the moon symbol instead of the solar panel symbol even after we did a reset. I'm confident that the wiring and set up was done right because we already have a charge controller set up but it was old so we wanted a new one. It's disappointing because returning goods from Jamaica is such a hassle.Should you buy this? It's hard to say because it could just be a faulty item but I'd be careful. If you've used a charge controller before then just find that brand and buy that one.

Good quality and fit. one year after purchase still doing its job. Would buy again for another installation.

This charge controller Seems to be a good value - it has lots of features but also requires care in setting up if you need to change the default settings. There are some helpful youtube instructional videos by other users. I have purchased three and all are still operating as expected - the oldest is now about 6 months old.