BernieQ2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:28 pm
Thanks Terry, I was not intending to fiddle inside the controller
Would I be right to assume that because it has 12/24v that its a MPPT ???
That controller was in the motorhome when bought, and charging 4 97ah AGM battery's
Keith will have to jump in here...he may or may not have had it installed.
My lithium battery charger will be in todays mail so the SMS said , floods have slowed everything.
I'm still struggling with the eye that the shingles buggered...and not improving so typing is a pain
Bernie.
Just a dumb as possible PWM charger, not even user adjustable so at the very bottom of the stultification table when it comes to solar controllers ..... the next level down would be an on/off switch
The shingles menace is real torture after it has done it's thing and damaged the nerve ends, my eye specialist tells me it didn't get into my eye itself, but it still hurts to try and read a book on the phone at night and still won't focus properly so ..... you have my sympathy Bernie.
The heat making the affected area of my forehead and scalp sweat is a real bugga, stings like salt into an open wound, even after all this time .... the doctor wasn't real confident it would ever improve, just more getting accustomed to the pain ... much like the neck, knee and headaches I guess
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
"tanks" here---Gents,
I have not made any changes to the solar thingo. I noticed that I only had 3 red led lights on a few occacions--mainly just 2 led lights most of the time.
Keith.
I'm now 87 years old, having experienced another birthday, and I'm still living in WA, single (gave up looking), white hair, no teeth, no money, no worries.
I plan to have another birthday next year.
As far as running multiple solar regulators into the one battery, unless you get the Victron BMV and network the Victron MPPT controller to it, the Victron unit will keep shutting down because it sees a much higher battery voltage than it was expecting to see .....
Terry, I don't understand this point. How can the Victron "expect" to see?
Assuming there is no voltage drop in the cables, all the controllers will 'see' the same battery voltage.
And each controller will follow it's own charging regime based on the battery voltage.
My new lithium battery charger arrived, played around with it...when connected, it took over the charge...the solar controller shut down is charging the green light went out ? 14.5 was showing on the new charger.
Would that be because the battery charger was now exceeding the solar's capacity.
we will be out most of today. So cant play with it.
Bernie.
You gotta be there to see it ..................
I got told to set the solar setting slightly above any other chargers you may have connected. The idea is to harvest as much as you can from solar before you even think about buying power to boost it. (Genny, grid, alternator etc)
To do that you need equipment that the settings can be adjusted.
******************* BruceS
Mannum, SA
********************
As far as running multiple solar regulators into the one battery, unless you get the Victron BMV and network the Victron MPPT controller to it, the Victron unit will keep shutting down because it sees a much higher battery voltage than it was expecting to see .....
Terry, I don't understand this point. How can the Victron "expect" to see?
Assuming there is no voltage drop in the cables, all the controllers will 'see' the same battery voltage.
And each controller will follow it's own charging regime based on the battery voltage.
Without a separate voltage reference from the battery, the voltage reference is internal in the MPPT controller itself. There is no such thing as zero resistance cabling, even the lab testing with the conductor in liquid nitrogen showed some resistance. This means the voltage sensed at the charging cables will be higher than the battery voltage. The MPPT controller stops charging and senses the battery voltage and solar voltage at that point and determines the best voltages to get the most out of the solar output.
If another charger is pushing current into the battery at the same time, the MPPT controller actually senses a higher voltage than the true battery voltage so determines an incorrect calculation and the best output is not achieved. If the voltage sensed by the MPPT controller is close to the voltage programmed in as rested voltage, the controller immediately drops into maintenance voltage mode where it holds the battery voltage just below float voltage mode ( a requirement for lithium batteries) and no further charging will occur until the voltage drops below that point. The return to bulk mode can be programmed into the Victron MPPT smart controllers, but it only works if combined with the BMV on the Victron network .....
The whole MPPT charge control is very complex, yet also used the much simpler PWM method when it deems to be in absorption mode and float mode. Only the networked Victron controllers operate full time with no stopping to sense voltage and uses the current measuring method to determine when to drop into float mode and when to either drop into maintenance mode or return to bulk mode .....
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
BernieQ2 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:27 am
My new lithium battery charger arrived, played around with it...when connected, it took over the charge...the solar controller shut down is charging the green light went out ? 14.5 was showing on the new charger.
Would that be because the battery charger was now exceeding the solar's capacity.
we will be out most of today. So cant play with it.
Bernie.
Ummm......more information, like brand and model of the battery, then we might be able to determine just what you said ....
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
My new lithium battery charger arrived, played around with it...when connected, it took over the charge...the solar controller shut down is charging the green light went out ? 14.5 was showing on the new charger.
Would that be because the battery charger was now exceeding the solar's capacity.
we will be out most of today. So cant play with it.
The brand etc will be interesting, we had a drop in here to test for the owner and it would not accept more than 16 amps charging or discharging without the internal BMS disconnecting ...... His complaint was the battery was showing 11v when the solar was off, but 14.8v to 15.5v when the solar was on, yet the battery voltage wasn't improving ...... His solar was trying to charge at 25 amps .....
We have one here on the bench we like to show customers, built out of D sized LFP cells, shows 14v at the terminals but wouldn't even power a 60w light nor would it accept any charge. The owner gave us that battery, so I pulled it apart, the internal BMS had failed, not something that can be repair or replaced without removing the top of the battery ..... not quite a DIY type of job on the side of the road
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
