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EpEver Tracer 4210A MPPT Solar Charge Controller Teardown

Tracer 4210A MPPT Solar Controller
Tracer 4210A MPPT Solar Controller

Here’s the solar charge controller to go with the MT50 from the last post. This is the 40A version of the EpEver Tracer A series, the 4210A. This unit is large, and very heavy. Most of this weight comes from the enormous heatsink which doubles as the mounting plate for all the other components, and the large inductors that are going to be required for the DC-DC conversion that MPPT requires.

Front Panel
Front Panel

The front panel has a basic LCD, which shows various stats, such as PV Volts & Amps, and battery bank Volts & Amps. The pair of buttons are used to navigate the basic menu to configure some options, along with switching the load terminals ON/OFF.

Specifications
Specifications

There’s a specs label on the top, with a slight difference here vs the manual, which states the max. PV volts as 92v.

Main PCB Overview
Main PCB Overview

Removing 4 machine screws from the bottom of the unit allows the top to come off. Like the MT50 remote panel, this unit also has moulded-in brass thread inserts in the plastic parts. The PCB in here is heavily comformal coated, which stops me from reading the laser-etched numbers on the semiconductor devices, so there will be few details there.

Main PCB Lower
Main PCB Lower

Here’s the bottom section of the main PCB, with the enormous screw terminals, which will easily take cables up to about 16mm². The RJ-45 jack which hosts the unit’s RS-485 bus is to the right, and a smaller 2-pin connector on the left sorts out the battery temperature sensor.
The DC output MOSFET switches are hiding just behind the right-hand terminals, there’s a pair of them in this unit to handle the output current. Some beefy diodes polarity-protect both the battery & PV inputs.

Board Centre
Board Centre

Moving up the board shows two 35A automotive blade fuses soldered into the board – these would be a real pain to replace if they ever blew, however with the electronic load current protection built into this unit, it’s an unlikely situation, unless something went hideously wrong. The main switching devices for the DC-DC converter are hidden – they’re clamped to the heatsink with the bars at right angles in the photo, I’m not going to dig any deeper into this just for those though – they’re just TO220 devices.
Under a load of thermal gunk on the right are 4 current shunt resistors, and the amplifiers for reading their values. These 1206-size SMD resistors looked a bit small for the power rating to me, but they’re heatsinked in operation to a small heatsink mounted in the top cover.

Board Upper
Board Upper

The upper section of the PCB hosts the main microcontroller, and the connections over to the front panel LCD & buttons. Couldn’t really get much info from these chips, due to the conformal coating.

Toroidal Inductors
Toroidal Inductors

Right at the top of the unit are these toroidal inductors, potted into aluminium housings. The copper windings of these is very heavy – at least 2.5mm². They’re electrically in parallel, the 20A version would only have a single inductor.

Current Shunt Heatsink
Current Shunt Heatsink

This small heatsink sits inside the top cover, and provides some cooling to the current shunts.

Display Board
Display Board

Not much to say for the display board, there’s going to be nothing here apart from an I²C LCD driver & the pair of front panel buttons, so I won’t bother removing this from the case.

5 thoughts on “EpEver Tracer 4210A MPPT Solar Charge Controller Teardown

  1. Hi, I would be so grateful if you give me the name (code) of the “U20” IC

    1. I sent mail to Epever!
      Official answer from Epever:

      The model of the part number U20 is BD9673EFJ-E2.

  2. please any one help me out with the code of “U20” IC????

    1. hi. did you found out? i need also, ic U20

  3. I think is BD9673. 5volt step down switching regulator!

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