PL40 again.

[shonky]

Hi, all.

So upon waking the other day I saw the charging voltage -the battery's charge rate - to be around 12.3volts. After a day's full sun on two 130amp panels the charging rate has not moved, requiring the new Chinese genset to be put into action, which gave 35amps immediately, slowing down later as expected.
Mrs shonky found the washing machine didn't work the same morning. Six month old 600w pure sine wave inverter, right? Upon checking it out it popped once, then rolled over (metaphorically) and died. Went to SuperCheap and replaced it for $190.

Phoned up Christian at Plasmatronics and deduced a heavy thunderstorm the previous night, with spectacular lightning, had affected both instruments. I reset the PL40 on his instructions and found the only battery reading was at resting voltage, not charging voltage. Amps in, load etc were all ok. That I can live with.

I also have an excellent folding panel, which I connect to the batteries directly through an anderson plug and it's own inline meter. This shows a charge of 2.6 amps - the PL40 shows a charge of 6amps from the two roof panels - but the charging voltage is 12.5volts.

Thinking caps on, gentlemen.

[BruceS]

Wait a few hours & then see what voltage you have? 8.6A might take a week or two to charge IF you don't turn anything on!!

[T1 Terry]

Best fire the genset up as well as the solar if you want to save the batteries from sulphating, at 12.3v the battery pack is down around 50% capacity so will require at least 60% of the capacity pumped back in. 60 Ah per 100Ah capacity would take 7 hr peak sun to generate so depends how many x 100Ah capacity you have as to how long before you get them recharged. If you get 5 hrs peak sun each day you will be doing well so even at that rate it would take 1 1/2 days per 100Ah capacity with absolutely nothing being used from the solar or battery pack. Basically, you don't have enough solar to go without the need to use the genset

T1 Terry

[shonky]

Hi, all.

T.I.Terry - IMHO the charging rate given by the PL40 was incorrect, although I know the solar panels are more than adequate. So Kristian sent me a loaner to use while he repaired the original. Sounds great. The loaner, which I've since found out is new, has the SOC stuck at 127% for the last 48hrs, and no load is showing at all. The unit is wired up exactly as the original install. While I know the SOC is not an exact measurement, to have it stuck at the same figure before and after I ran the genny for 3 hours - charging rate from 35amps down to 8amps, following a couple of rainy days - something is wrong.
Anything wrong with intalling a Taiwanese 60amp controller?
Oh, yes, as the inverter blew up I purchased a newie from a well-known auto chain, and it lasted a week before starting to surge continuously. It was turned on, with no load whatsoever.

[T1 Terry]

If it was wired the same as the first one, was it doing the same thing? Reset the SOC to 100% by holding down the button while on the SOC screen. Did the PL40 show the generator charging rate? Did the inverter show as a load on the previous PL40? What size shunt are you using?

T1 Terry

[shonky]

Hi.

T.I.Terry -
No.
OK.
Yes.
Yes.
As approved.

I'll be swapping back to the old one tomorrow - it'll be interesting.

[T1 Terry]

The major issue with the PL series is the small plug under the cover, not a great design at all. They fixed that with the Dingo series by changing to a telephone type plug RJ6 or something I think it's called.

T1 Terry