Hardware
Battery Chemisty
Cloud Solar supports lead acid (AGM) batteries by default. The Cloud Solar charge controller does support alternative battery chemistries but the settings must be changed either by a technician or can be done remotely by one of the Inclusive Energy ...
Can I change the voltage set points of the charge controller?
Yes. There are 2 ways of doing this. The easiest is to ask a Inclusive Energy member of staff to change the settings remotely. Or you could do it yourself via the serial port at the front of the device. The charge controller responds to 'thingset', ...
Can the meters work for systems without batteries?
Unfortunately not. The Cloud Solar charge controllers use the power from the battery terminals to power on and therefore will not be operational without a battery. In the future we may adjust the hardware to allow for this operation, however allowing ...
Charge Controller Specifications
PWM 12/24V 20A Battery voltage 12/24V Auto Select Rated battery current 20A Nominal PV power, 12V <300W Nominal PV power, 24V <600W Maximum PV open circuit voltage 55V Maximum PV nominal current 20A Operating temperature -10 °C to +50 °C Operating ...
Connectivity
Cloud Solar uses the 2G GSM network to send data to our servers. We can provide a global SIM card which connects to the strongest available 2G network. Most networks are partners with the global SIM provider but please check with us to make sure the ...
Data backup (how much data storage is there?)
Our charge controllers allocate RAM memory space for 16 node reports. A node report includes a variety of data points, including instantaneous solar/battery/load current and voltages, temperature and recorded energy counters. Once the memory is full ...
Hardware Troubleshooting
This article explains the various errors/faults that can occur on your Cloud Solar device and the basic steps for troubleshooting before the device is declared as broken. The Charge Controller does not turn ON It could be due to incorrect or loose ...
How often, and at what granularity, does Cloud Solar send data?
Our devices use a message queuing system, meaning that data can be recorded at set intervals and sent in batches. The maximum number of messages that can be sent together is 16. Both the data recording interval and sending interval are configurable, ...
Installation Guide
See the attached installation guide to help you with installing the Cloud Solar hardware and getting customers set up on the software platform.
Instruction Manual
Please download the instruction manual for the latest PWM charge controller here.
LED indicators
The LEDs on the Cloud Solar box indicate the following:
SIM Card Insertion/Replacement
To insert or replace a SIM card, take the Cloud Solar device enclosure off and insert a nano-SIM into the SIM card slot, in the orientation shown in the images below
System Configurations
Input Voltage for the charge controller The maximum open-circuit voltage of the solar array is 55 V with a maximum short circuit current of 20A. The charge controller supports a 12v/ 24v battery system, and we recommend the following ...
What happens if I have a broken charge controller?
You have a full-year warranty on the CS hardware. In the rare case, your device is broken, you have to contact the supplier of the CS unit. That can be a distributor in your country or Inclusive Energy. We will attempt to fix the issue on-site and ...
What’s the difference between PWM and MPPT?
Both PWM and MPPT controllers are essentially switched mode, DC-to-DC power converters, that step down a high voltage from the solar panel side to match the charging requirements of a lower voltage battery pack. Both employ a pair of transistors that ...