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Post Info TOPIC: Solar controller problem
Woody n Sue


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Solar controller problem
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EC04E34D-B5F6-4BC5-BAB8-2D7003CA5BC9.jpeg

so I know this subject has been done to death and I will start looking through all the posts shortly but we are out camping now for the first time we have been using suea CPAP now I dont think this has anything to do with the problem other than that it is jawing mor power overnight than just the fridge which is usually all that runs on power over night, now the last two mornings my batteries have been down to 11.9 but when the sun shines the controller is still showing   Charged  and wont switch over to allow the Pannels to charge the batteries so used the genny yesterday to get them up again but this morning I had a fiddle and it seems to us ( there is an electrician amongst us ) that the controller is faulty as we got it to work for a short time but then the   Charged light is on again and its not even up to 12 v yet .

Also thinking of maybe a seperate system for the cpap so it can be swapped to the camper trailer when we go in it 

thoughts please 

Woody 



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 When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace !  24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff) 
Barboots


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What does the display read when you move the switch down to "Charge Set-Point"?

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Woody n Sue


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That is where i think the fault is it reads anything it wants from 0 through to 10 we tried adjusting it but it dosnot seem to make any difference and i think it should read a constant number ie 14.3 or what ever it is set on

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 When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace !  24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff) 
Barboots


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From the product sheet Google offered me, it looks like any of the settings should run until 13V or so. You're probably right that it's acting up. Maybe disconnect the PV, disconnect the battery, wait a minute, reconnect the battery, then reconnect the PV.

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Barboots


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http://specialtyconcepts.com/SPECIALTY_CONCEPTS_PDF_FILES/MARK_20_INSTRUC_MANUAL.PDF

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Woody n Sue


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Thanks for your help i have all the paperwork as per your link and we did disconnect it all with no result so it looks like a new controler is on the cards

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 When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace !  24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff) 
Barboots


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No worries. The document also made mention of fuses and battery connections, but I figure you would be all over those. There's lots of controller options... something to occupy your decision-making time for quite a while!

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Woody n Sue


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Yes conections are ok as are the fuses in that everything looks good but will do a very close inspection when back home Have had a search on here and cntrollers are certainly a hot topic so i wont go further here with that subject Will have a look at the melbourne camping show in feb Woody

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 When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace !  24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff) 
Warren-Pat_01


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Woody, do you know how much power the CPAP machine draws?

Have a look at this www.energymatters.com.au/components/battery-voltage-discharge/ - it's generally not a good idea to discharge a battery below 50% capacity unless it's lithium or the Yellow Top Optima batteries.

Do some checks (voltage) at various times of the day - eg 10am, 1pm, 4pm & at dusk to see the state of the batteries. Do you have a home base or somewhere that you can charge the batteries with a (say 15A) smart charger for a day or two?

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Warren

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2019 Isuzu D-Max dual cab, canopy, Fulcrum suspension; 2011 17' Jayco Discovery poptop Outback
Woody n Sue


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Hi Warren yes we are back home now and I have a panel on the shed roof that I plug in by Anderson plug through the DC DC charger solar connection and the batteries are up to 13.4 the next full day it was up , even though the in van controller still said it was fully charged despite the voltage being under 12 when I plugged it in, so it seems to me that the controller is the problem , we are going to the Melbourne caravan and camping show in a couple of weeks so will check out whats there and see what I can learn .

Woody

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 When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace !  24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff) 
Aus-Kiwi


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I often wander if load is pulling voltage lower ??

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Warren-Pat_01


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Hello Woody,

I'd suggest a couple of test discharges/recharges. Remove the solar system & discharge the batteries down to 50%, reading the battery voltage at the terminals with a multimeter (borrow one if you have to). Then recharge it with a smart charger to 100% & repeat.

To discharge the batteries, you can use your appliances (I have a H4 - 12v 55/60w globe that I can hook up & do a staged discharge). I monitor the voltages periodically (hourly/half hourly) to ensure I don't go down too far. Compare the multimeter reading to that of your controller. Then do the same thing using your solar setup/controller.

By taking the battery down to 50% discharged & then recharging, you will see if the battery voltage get to 14.2-4v. Your 13.4v seems to be showing the batteries are "fully charged" & are being floated (float range is normally between 13.2 to 13.5).

This will definitely prove whether your controller is faulty or whether your batteries are on the way out.

A while back I had a great discussion with Tony-Bev one night where I demonstrated that my (& his) van's charger is a smart charger - discharging the battery was the only way of getting the proof.

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Warren

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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!

2019 Isuzu D-Max dual cab, canopy, Fulcrum suspension; 2011 17' Jayco Discovery poptop Outback
Woody n Sue


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I can isolate the batteries from all load its not a load draw down problem the controller simply wont switch over to allow the Pannels to recharge the batteries which are only two years old 245a x 6v fullriver when we were away the batteries were down below 12 v but the controller still indicated full charge even though the volt meter said less than 12v which was clearly wrong but wouldnt switch over to allow charge to enter the batteries

Woody

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 When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace !  24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff) 
T1 Terry


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Try connecting the solar cables to the battery cables at the controller. As the voltage increases on the display, see if the controller switches to charging or at least switches the charged light off. If the display reaches 14.8v disconnect all the cables, connect the battery cables first, then see if the charged light is still on and just what the display shows the battery voltage to be .... it will be less than the 14.8v because some of the surface charge would have been absorbed into the battery, but it should still read more than 12.4v. Now connect the solar wires and see if it starts charging and the battery voltage starts to go up again, if it doesn't the controller has failed and won't reset, time to buy a Plasmatronics Dingo so you won't have these headaches again wink

 

T1 Terry



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Woody n Sue


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Thanks Terry I will give that a shot

Woody

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