Victron solar help

Smitty55

I’m solar illiterate so please bear with me. I just picked up a 2021 t@b 320. I found the PUK and reset the pin hurdle #1 passed. My problem is the app says that the charger is off. I clicked why is the charger off and it says “insufficient PV power” I checked the wire connections and everything is tight. Next I checked fuses and all fuses were good. Any tips on where to start

AnOldUR

At 13.69V, your battery is probably fully charged. Also the solar voltage has to be five volts more than the battery voltage to start charging.. 

pthomas745

Welcome to the Forums!  Good for you for getting past the PUK number quest.

Tell us what battery setup you have.  The "battery voltage" number "looks" pretty good, but this depends a bit on what exact battery you have, and whether or not you are plugged into shore power.

So, in other words, this is all pretty normal for a charged battery. Tell us what the battery type is.  Then, lets take a look at the "settings" for the solar charging.

WayneW

Welcome!  We also have a 2021 320. There is a lot to learn. This forum will help. 

A big thing, as @AnOldUR said, is that the Victron solar controller requires the solar panel output to be >5 volts higher than your battery voltage to start charging. There’s a video from Victron explaining why they made that choice. So things look reasonable from your display. The battery voltage will have to get lower or your solar output will have to get higher for any charging to happen. 

Smitty55

pthomas745 said:

Welcome to the Forums!  Good for you for getting past the PUK number quest.

Tell us what battery setup you have.  The "battery voltage" number "looks" pretty good, but this depends a bit on what exact battery you have, and whether or not you are plugged into shore power.

So, in other words, this is all pretty normal for a charged battery. Tell us what the battery type is.  Then, let’s take a look at the "settings" for the solar charging.

The battery is an AGM deep cycle RV/Marine battery. It was not plugged into shore power when I took that pic. 

pthomas745

Great!  At 13.6 or so, a lead acid battery is usually said to be "charging" or fully charged.  

To get the solar panel to start charging the battery, you need to take some amps out of it.  So, if the trailer is available and out in the sun tomorrow, you need to run some of the 12V devices such as the fan or the TV, and run the battery down for a while.  Eventually, the solar should sense the voltage drop, and you should see some solar charging being put into the battery.  If you have a "2 way" fridge (battery and electric) you can run the fridge on 12v, also.

Batteries can be the most bewildering thing to sort out at first.  There are a lot of factors about "how long will my battery last when I run "XXX" that will involve the age of the battery, how much sun is hitting the solar panel, etc.  There is also a bit of "art" involved with determining the "state of charge" of a lead acid battery to learn about.

The other way to take some power out of the battery will be to leave the battery switch on overnight, if the trailer happens to be close to where you are.  With the battery switch on, there are a number of "parasitic" drains that are always taking power from the battery: such as the entertainment items (Jensen) and the gas monitor.  In my 2017, leaving the switch on with no power coming into the trailer takes about 6 amp hours out of the battery over 24 hours.  

So, give the trailer a day or an overnight session with the trailer unplugged and the battery switch on.  That should get you a good idea of whether or not the solar will kick on for you.  You might also see in the "History" part of the app how the solar handled charging over the last couple of weeks...but I'm not exactly sure if the PUK number would clear information like that.

So, keep asking questions, send us some more screen shots of your status and settings pages.  Send a picture of your battery and we might be able to tell the age and amp hour rating.  

Smitty55

I turned several 12v things on this am to use battery power. It kicked the solar charger on, thanks for the help!! Here’s a screen shot of it & a pic of what battery is in the trailer.

ckjs

Smitty55 said:

...It kicked the solar charger on, thanks for the help!! Here’s a screen shot of it & a pic of what battery is in the trailer.

If the panel were in the sun at that time, and properly oriented to it, it should have been providing more than 14.82 volts.
Typical panels generate at ~20v in good situations. Less than 18v might be due to shade - even "high shade" - a partially defective panel, or high-resistance wiring. If the panel is perpendicular to the sun, it should provide its rated voltage, even when the battery is full and there's no current draw.