I may have been a tech many moons ago, BUT rather dumb about solar and the controllers that run them. We have 2 AGM 110AH batts, what I believe is a PWM controller hitched up to a single 120W panel.
My question is that during the day (sunny) Im reading 14.3V at the peak of the charge, at night on 240V the highest is 13.5V. Is the high reading normal for the controller or do I have a problem? Guys, please no smart a*** comments.....
Cheers
DeBe said
02:38 PM May 23, 2016
Sounds about right to me, the 240V charge would be float charge voltage. The solar would be its normal charging voltage.
Phil C said
02:44 PM May 23, 2016
Thanks DeBe, Im happy now..
exa41 said
03:30 PM May 23, 2016
That's right 1 4.4 for charge 13.7 for float..
PeterD said
04:11 PM May 23, 2016
You should not worry unless the solar charge voltage does not drop to 13.5 to 13.8 V by mid afternoon. If it does not drop to the float it can mean one of two things. It can mean you are not getting your batteries charged. Alternately, if you are getting your batteries fully charged it means the controller is not working properly, that's a worry as you are overcharging your batteries.
DeBe said
06:19 PM May 23, 2016
Depends entirely as what type of charger he has. His figures are about the same as mine & iv not had any trouble.
oldtrack123 said
11:01 PM May 26, 2016
Phil C wrote:
Greetings all
I may have been a tech many moons ago, BUT rather dumb about solar and the controllers that run them. We have 2 AGM 110AH batts, what I believe is a PWM controller hitched up to a single 120W panel.
My question is that during the day (sunny) Im reading 14.3V at the peak of the charge, at night on 240V the highest is 13.5V. Is the high reading normal for the controller or do I have a problem? Guys, please no smart a*** comments.....
Cheers
Hi Phil
I assume the night reading is while you are connected to 240V???
If so you are seeing the inbuilt charger /dc power supply voltage regulated to around 13.8V.
Nothing to do with the solar regulator
But If the day reading stays on 14.3 V it is possible you have a problem
My first step would be to check the actual voltage directly on the battery terminals.
If that stays @14.3 V & never drops back during the day to around 13.8V you could have a problem & are overcharging the batteries
What sort are the batteries??
-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Thursday 26th of May 2016 11:06:28 PM
Phil C said
09:58 AM May 27, 2016
oldtrack123 wrote:
Phil C wrote:
Greetings all
I may have been a tech many moons ago, BUT rather dumb about solar and the controllers that run them. We have 2 AGM 110AH batts, what I believe is a PWM controller hitched up to a single 120W panel.
My question is that during the day (sunny) Im reading 14.3V at the peak of the charge, at night on 240V the highest is 13.5V. Is the high reading normal for the controller or do I have a problem? Guys, please no smart a*** comments.....
Cheers
Hi Phil
I assume the night reading is while you are connected to 240V???
If so you are seeing the inbuilt charger /dc power supply voltage regulated to around 13.8V.
Nothing to do with the solar regulator
But If the day reading stays on 14.3 V it is possible you have a problem
My first step would be to check the actual voltage directly on the battery terminals.
If that stays @14.3 V & never drops back during the day to around 13.8V you could have a problem & are overcharging the batteries
What sort are the batteries??
-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Thursday 26th of May 2016 11:06:28 PM
Thanks for the reply oldtrack
The voltage and charge/discharge cycle during the daylight hours. This I am told is part of the conditioning of the batteries. We have 3 year old 110 AH AGMs. Not sure of the breed as I havnt been in the battery box for a while, will look when we get settled after our last trip. BTW we have good voltmeter connected directly over the battery at all times. >100K ohms per volt sensitivity.
The night voltage with the van connected to mains is 13.2 to 13.8, again this could be the charger conditioning the batts, or variable load.
They seem to do OK by themselves when we free camp, the lowest they have been was once when we had our electric blankets on the inverter and the reading was 12.5, so Im not ultra concerned at this time. But 14.3 seemed a bit high to me, I may look into another controller when I get around to doing some electrical work.
Thanks again mate, hope all is well with you and yours.
-- Edited by Phil C on Friday 27th of May 2016 10:02:57 AM
Hylife said
10:35 PM May 30, 2016
All quite normal.
Your solar controller (PWM or MPPT) is probably NOT intelligent and will put out a constant 14.4 when the sun shines regardless of battery state of charge. Even if the battery is fully charged it will most likely NOT reduce the rate.
Most 240 chargers these days are a little smarter and recognises the change in cell resistance and therefore reduces its output according to the battery state of charge.
oldtrack123 said
11:13 PM May 30, 2016
nPhil C wrote:
Thanks for the reply oldtrack
The voltage and charge/discharge cycle during the daylight hours. This I am told is part of the conditioning of the batteries. We have 3 year old 110 AH AGMs. Not sure of the breed as I havnt been in the battery box for a while, will look when we get settled after our last trip. BTW we have good voltmeter connected directly over the battery at all times. >100K ohms per volt sensitivity.
The night voltage with the van connected to mains is 13.2 to 13.8, again this could be the charger conditioning the batts, or variable load.
They seem to do OK by themselves when we free camp, the lowest they have been was once when we had our electric blankets on the inverter and the reading was 12.5, so Im not ultra concerned at this time. But 14.3 seemed a bit high to me, I may look into another controller when I get around to doing some electrical work.
Thanks again mate, hope all is well with you and yours.
-- Edited by Phil C on Friday 27th of May 2016 10:02:57 AM
Hi Phil
No problem
But if the battery voltage stays that high with no load on the batteries I would do some checking
Have you any idea of what amps are going into the batteries from the solar?
No LA batteries like being kept @ that voltage[ if wet cells, I would be checking the electrolyte level ]
.It may be regulator or wiring fault, I doubt that anyone would sell a solar regulator that at the very least, did NOT switch off ,PULSE WIDTH MODULATE the current, & thus reduce the voltage!!
after all THAT is the basic function .
No point in even having one, if they do not do that
Of course a solar regulator is totally different to the regulation methods used in higher priced multi stage chargers !!!!
Perhaps some details of the reg could help.
Does it have a separate voltage sensing connection?
I am going OK
A bit worn out spending all of every day for the last 14Days @ the hospital
Wife has been in hospital, treating her heart failure induced problems, but hopefully will come home Wednesday.
-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Monday 30th of May 2016 11:42:05 PM
Phil C said
10:29 AM May 31, 2016
Good to hear,
Hope all improves with your wife, it gets very stressful visiting hospitals. Our thoughts are with you.
Greetings all
I may have been a tech many moons ago, BUT rather dumb about solar and the controllers that run them. We have 2 AGM 110AH batts, what I believe is a PWM controller hitched up to a single 120W panel.
My question is that during the day (sunny) Im reading 14.3V at the peak of the charge, at night on 240V the highest is 13.5V. Is the high reading normal for the controller or do I have a problem? Guys, please no smart a*** comments.....
Cheers
Sounds about right to me, the 240V charge would be float charge voltage. The solar would be its normal charging voltage.
Depends entirely as what type of charger he has. His figures are about the same as mine & iv not had any trouble.
Hi Phil
I assume the night reading is while you are connected to 240V???
If so you are seeing the inbuilt charger /dc power supply voltage regulated to around 13.8V.
Nothing to do with the solar regulator
But If the day reading stays on 14.3 V it is possible you have a problem
My first step would be to check the actual voltage directly on the battery terminals.
If that stays @14.3 V & never drops back during the day to around 13.8V you could have a problem & are overcharging the batteries
What sort are the batteries??
-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Thursday 26th of May 2016 11:06:28 PM
Thanks for the reply oldtrack
The voltage and charge/discharge cycle during the daylight hours. This I am told is part of the conditioning of the batteries. We have 3 year old 110 AH AGMs. Not sure of the breed as I havnt been in the battery box for a while, will look when we get settled after our last trip. BTW we have good voltmeter connected directly over the battery at all times. >100K ohms per volt sensitivity.
The night voltage with the van connected to mains is 13.2 to 13.8, again this could be the charger conditioning the batts, or variable load.
They seem to do OK by themselves when we free camp, the lowest they have been was once when we had our electric blankets on the inverter and the reading was 12.5, so Im not ultra concerned at this time. But 14.3 seemed a bit high to me, I may look into another controller when I get around to doing some electrical work.
Thanks again mate, hope all is well with you and yours.
-- Edited by Phil C on Friday 27th of May 2016 10:02:57 AM
All quite normal.
Your solar controller (PWM or MPPT) is probably NOT intelligent and will put out a constant 14.4 when the sun shines regardless of battery state of charge. Even if the battery is fully charged it will most likely NOT reduce the rate.
Most 240 chargers these days are a little smarter and recognises the change in cell resistance and therefore reduces its output according to the battery state of charge.
Hi Phil
No problem
But if the battery voltage stays that high with no load on the batteries I would do some checking
Have you any idea of what amps are going into the batteries from the solar?
No LA batteries like being kept @ that voltage[ if wet cells, I would be checking the electrolyte level ]
.It may be regulator or wiring fault, I doubt that anyone would sell a solar regulator that at the very least, did NOT switch off ,PULSE WIDTH MODULATE the current, & thus reduce the voltage!!
after all THAT is the basic function .
No point in even having one, if they do not do that
Of course a solar regulator is totally different to the regulation methods used in higher priced multi stage chargers !!!!
Perhaps some details of the reg could help.
Does it have a separate voltage sensing connection?
I am going OK
A bit worn out spending all of every day for the last 14Days @ the hospital
Wife has been in hospital, treating her heart failure induced problems, but hopefully will come home Wednesday.
-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Monday 30th of May 2016 11:42:05 PM
Hope all improves with your wife, it gets very stressful visiting hospitals. Our thoughts are with you.
Phil C