Abstract

The need for electrical energy continues to increase along with population growth and community activities that cannot be separated from the use of electrical energy. To reduce dependence on the use of fossil fuels, the use of solar energy with solar panels equipped with batteries as electrical energy storage is the best alternative solution as a renewable energy source. In practice, if nonlinear solar panels are connected directly to the battery, the battery will be damaged quickly and will not last long. To overcome this, a controller which is called Solar Charge Controller (SCC) was designed so that it can regulate the voltage and current according to the condition of the battery charging phase. The voltage and current signals are regulated using the pulse width modulation (PWM) method. The design includes a 20 Wp solar panel as a power source, a buck converter is used as a voltage reducer, and electrical energy is stored in a 12 V battery with a capacity of 3 Ah and there are sensors to measure voltage and current. Experimental results show that the solar charge controller is able to work well when charging the battery for each phase, namely bulk, absorption, and float. The device is capable of reaching a bulk voltage of 14.5 V, with an average current of about 4.92 A.

Keywords:battery, buck converter, solar panel charge controller, pulse width modulation (PWM).