Abstract: “Nowadays, photovoltaic (PV) systems are widely used because of environmental concerns, electrical energy demand, cost of electricity generation, minimum service cost and support of governments on renewable energy conversion systems. The main drawback of PV systems is energy conversion efficiency. The two parameters that PV system output power depends on are solar radiation and temperature. Therefore, charge controllers are utilized to increase system efficiency. In this study, performance of 320 W solar panel groups which are controlled by two different charge controllers are investigated. The influence of charge controllers on system performance is presented with the analysis of obtained data. Experimental study is realized on a stand-alone energy system that is located in Davutpasa Campus of Yildiz Technical University.”

Keywords: Charge controller, photovoltaic panels, PV performance, stand-alone system