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Regulators are connected between the solar panels that generate power and the batteries that store the power.
The problems with not having a regulator is that if power keeps flowing to a battery it will overcharge the battery leading to it damaging the battery and reducing the life of the battery. The idea behind a regulator is that the device monitors when the battery is charged to a certain level and then turns off. This prevents the overcharging and hence makes the battery last longer. When the charge in the battery drops to a certain level the regulators turns back on allowing the panels to charge up the battery. This simple device is called a simple regulator.

Plasmatronics have noted that simple regulators have the following flaws.
1. They undercharge batteries with high internal resistance(due to sulphation or bad connections).
2. They boost charge a battery too often if an occassional heavy load is applied.
3. Under some conditions the charge current can oscillate rapidly on and off causing flickering of lighting and other voltage sensitive equipment.
4. This fast switching can cause radio interference.
5. They waste energy in the afternoon when the batteries are full.
6. Voltage transients due to inverters or large inductive loads such as motors can cause incorrect changes in regulator state.

The solution is to produce a device that works smarter than a simple regulator. Using a microprocessor the smart regulators apply a timeline to the regulators day to day operation generating a history of information about 30 days old. This information is used to remember what is happening with incoming power, outgoing power, voltage changes, when boosting occurs etc and uses that information to determine when the regulator should charge or divert power to or away from the batteries. The smartness of the regulator is based on the past use and generation of power rather than on the present state of the battery, which may be misleading. This means that charging is more even and this helps prolong a batteries life.
Simple regulators are used for installations where there is less of a high capital cost(batteries) to protect.It should be remembered that batteries are an expensive component of a solar power system and the life cycle cost of a good regulator will be recouped in battery life.
Eastwide does offer simple regulators at $69.00 for use in simple power generation systems such as camping or marine applications. See below under Simple Regulators.

The PL Series offer complete control over the charge cycle and gives you unprecedented useful information about the past and current performance of the system.
The PL Series is popular for the following reasons.
1. The displays are informative showing battery voltage, charge current, ampere hours in and out of the battery, load being drawn from the battery and at what stage of the charge cycle the battery is in.
2. They are easy to maintain with the full history of use for the past 30 days.
3. PC Compatable allowing you to interface data to your PC and also via modem.
4. The versatility allows you to use the same PL unit to handle either 12, 24, and 48 Volt systems.
5. Settings are adjustable and stored in the microprocessor memory.
6. User freindly display gives you words to explain the numbers.
7. The energy metering shows daily charge and discharge amp hours.
8. The three step regulation of Boost, Absorption and Float modes with an optional periodic equalisation mode which can switch in series, shunt or series + shunt mode.
9. Records History of charge and load Amp hours,maximum and minimum battery voltages and state of charge for 30 days. Record how much energy was collected and used.
10. A generator controller is included with four different modes of control available and a quiet time option.
11. An event controller allows the load to be turned on and off under a user selected set of conditions. It can be used for lighting, pumping, frost control, etc.
12. There is an adjustable low or high voltage alarm.
13.Tne PL can communicate with a PC with an interface option. Data can be downloaded and settings adjusted remotely.
14. There is a protection against short circuit, reverse flow,and lightning.A Low battery load disconnect function is built in. There is a Current limit for over heat or over current.
15. Two external shunts can be connected using the DC isolated PLS2 bi-directional shunt adaptor.

PC And PL Series
BATTERY VOLTAGE	MAX CHARGE CURRENT	MAX LOAD CURRENT	REGULATOR SERIES	RETAIL PRICE(inc GST)
12	12	10 A	PC1212	$257.40
12	22	10 A	PC1222	$324.50
12	30	15 A	PC1230	$380.60
24	12	10 A	PC2412	$317.90
24	22	10 A	PC2422	$333.30
24	30	15 A	PC2430	$391.20
12,24,32,36,48	20	20 A	PL20	$329.00
12,24,32,36,48	40	7 A	PL40	$425.00
12,24,32,36,48	60	30 A	PL60	$649.00

Simple Regulators Series PR and PR-L (Gel batteries)
BATTERY VOLTAGE	MAX CHARGE CURRENT	REGULATOR SERIES	RETAIL PRICE(inc GST)
12	10	PR1210	$76.00
24	10	PR2410	$77.00
12	10	PR1210L	$78.70
24	10	PR2410L	$79.80

External Shunts are available as options and up to two can be added to the PL to allow it to measure larger currents than it is capable of doing directly. An optional external shunt adaptor(PLS2 $155.00) measures the current in a shunt, converts it to digital information and sends it back to the PL. The connection to the shunt can be placed in any part of the circuit. Currents up to 250A can be read. A jumper on the PLS defines whether the data is a load or charge current. The shunts are available as the SH100 which is a current shunt of 50mV/100A($50.00 incGST) or an SH200 which is a current shunt of 75mV/200A ($80.00 inc GST). The external shunt adaptor has to be ordered seperately with the shunts.