Phocos CIS Series of Solar Charge Controllers

Product Spotlight:  Phocos CIS Series Solar Charge Controllers

The CIS family of Phocos solar charge controllers represents the industrial range of the Phocos product portfolio in the low to medium power range. Originally developed for the street lighting market, CIS controllers can be used everywhere, where conditions require a rugged and reliable charge controller.

The CIS family covers a whole range of components needed for building a solar lighting system. These include PWM and MPPT charge controllers available in current ratings up to 30 A. There are also versions available with an integrated LED driver and an LED driver as a separate device which can be controlled by the charge controller.

Where some of our competitors start derating (reducing power) some degrees above room temperature, Phocos has always pushed the thermal limits higher, peaking with the CIS charge controller family, which can handle the full charge current up to 60 °C / 140 °F ambient temperature.

All controllers of this range are built into a rugged aluminium extrusion case. The profile of the case allows for superior heat dissipation. Together with careful component selection, this leads to the extraordinarily high ambient temperatures allowed and reliable operation.

In typical lighting applications, where only either PV or load current is flowing, PWM controllers can handle up to 1.5 times their nominal current rating.

MPPT controllers can handle oversized PV panels by limiting the charge current at high irradiation, while supplying the extra power at lower light as compared to PWM controllers.

The electronic circuit board is potted with an industrial grade polyurethane compound. In combination with the aluminium extrusion case, this leads to a protection rating of IP68 and makes the Phocos CIS Series solar charge controllers resistant to vibration, thermal and mechanical shocks.

Our CIS controllers can be programmed wirelessly via infra-red. This can either be done by the CIS-CU, a standalone remote programming unit, or by the MXI-IR, an IR-USB interface, that enables communication with the Phocos CISCOM PC software. In standard mode the CISCOM software visualizes the settings for easy system configuration. In ‘expert’ mode it enables the customization of all lighting and charging parameters for a wide variety of applications.

In addition to these features, CIS MPPT controllers include a 2-year datalogger for system performance monitoring, which can also be read out via infra-red.

Phocos is proud to offer the proven CIS Series of solar charge controllers.  The various models available offer our customers a robust solution for Off-Grid solar applications.

Go to our product page and select PWM or MPPT controllers to find the right CIS Series charge controller for your application.