Charge controller lifespan and spare parts

[Bob D]

Does anyone have a sense of how long a Classic 150 will last?
The 24V system sees 90 A during bulk in the summer, but essentially idles all winter.
Ambient temp is not too hot - eastern Ontario.
Are there parts that age out, or that become more prone to failure after a certain number of KWH?

Also, when something fails, is it worth troubleshooting, or does one just replace the whole unit?

Or do these last long enough that one should find something else to worry about?

[Vic]

Hi Bob,

All of the Classics,   in use here,   are in their ninth year of service.   This is a long time for power electronics,   that are usually worked fairly hard for hour,   after hour each day.    All are still going strong.   One has a noisy,  but  still-working fan,   and,  another has one fan which does not run,   but  this Classic is not stressed too much,  so have not yet replaced that fan.

There ARE spare parts available.    Scroll down,  toward the bottom of the list,  in the Link,  below:
http://www.midnitesolar.com/products.php?menuItem=products&productCat_ID=21&productCatName=Charge%20Controllers%20-%20Classics

Fans are probably the first items  that will fail.   A warm/hot Classic will equate to added fan run time.   And,   this will take its toll on fans.

There is a Fan Kit available:
http://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=668&productCatName=Charge%20Controllers%20-%20Classics&productCat_ID=21&sortOrder=1&act=pc

Low-ish ambient temps during the day,   and PV input voltages that are not much higher than 2X the nominal battery voltage (for a Classic 150),   should help keep the conversion losses relatively lower,   which will help reduce the heating inside the Classic.   Generally,   electronics appreciate operating in environment that we would enjoy.

MidNite used to (and may still) offer to take back Classics for a complete Refurb (fans,   Capacitors,  etc,  usually),  for a flat fee of about $160,   at about year six,   or so.  Have not seen a reference to this program,   recently.

Classic Crazy Larry,   has sent in one/some,   for this refurb.

Classics are very solid performers,   and have a long history of being reliable.

This is the experience,   here.     Vic

[ClassicCrazy]

yes my Classics have been very reliable - I had another one that I put on when I had the one rebuilt - nothing was wrong with it - I just thought I would have it done at the end of 5 years. But I never reinstalled the rebuilt one cause you know the other one is there and that would be work ! So it is a spare now.  The refurb was install new fan and some capacitors - I think that was about it - other than getting an evaluation that all was good too.  It is nice to have  one for backup just in case - but have never needed to use one that way yet.
The Classics have been very stable and reliable - a few glitches along the way but those were fixed with firmware updates when reported. And a lot of great new features added with firmware updates. The Whizbang was fantastic ! 

Larry