My Solar Setup Updates

dhauf

@jkjenn looks like you have a Victron MPPT solar controller.  Your controller should be reading your state of charge on the battery regardless of if the battery is 100% charged or not.  The wattage coming in from the panel will change according to the discharge demand on the battery.  It looks like you are getting voltage from the panels according to your read out on the app.  Can you send a picture of how you have everything hooked up?  Also do your panels have MC4 connectors?  I believe the controller has 3 sets of terminals, one for the solar panels labeled PV, one for the battery and one for the load side(load is usually left unhooked).  I would also start by taking a voltage reading directly at the terminals on the solar controller with a multimeter set on DV volts.  Check the voltage on the PV terminals, next check to see if you have voltage present on the battery terminals at your controller.  If you are missing the voltage reading at the terminals from the battery I would check all your connections from the battery to the MPPT controller.  It could be a bad crimp connector etc.  Let us know what you find.

jkjenn

dhauf said:

@jkjenn looks like you have a Victron MPPT solar controller.  Your controller should be reading your state of charge on the battery regardless of if the battery is 100% charged or not.  The wattage coming in from the panel will change according to the discharge demand on the battery.  It looks like you are getting voltage from the panels according to your read out on the app.  Can you send a picture of how you have everything hooked up?  Also do your panels have MC4 connectors?  I believe the controller has 3 sets of terminals, one for the solar panels labeled PV, one for the battery and one for the load side(load is usually left unhooked).  I would also start by taking a voltage reading directly at the terminals on the solar controller with a multimeter set on DV volts.  Check the voltage on the PV terminals, next check to see if you have voltage present on the battery terminals at your controller.  If you are missing the voltage reading at the terminals from the battery I would check all your connections from the battery to the MPPT controller.  It could be a bad crimp connector etc.  Let us know what you find.

Thanks, good advice. I actually have 2 sets of terminals on the 100/30 controller. 



I can take a photo, tomorrow, but in short:

1.  From the Controller positive to the battery positive. The battery shut off goes from positive battery to switch.

2  From controller negative to the shunt load/charger side of Victron BMV 700 battery monitor. 

3.  Both of the above connections were connected via fused Anderson connectors from the controller to their respective locations as I plan to put the controller out of the elements for travel.

4.  I connect from the panels with mc4 cables. I have mc4 cables as quick connects connected to the controller. I run a fuse via a Renogy mc4 fuse on the positive cable between the panel and the pigtail.

dhauf

jkjenn said:

dhauf said:

@jkjenn looks like you have a Victron MPPT solar controller.  Your controller should be reading your state of charge on the battery regardless of if the battery is 100% charged or not.  The wattage coming in from the panel will change according to the discharge demand on the battery.  It looks like you are getting voltage from the panels according to your read out on the app.  Can you send a picture of how you have everything hooked up?  Also do your panels have MC4 connectors?  I believe the controller has 3 sets of terminals, one for the solar panels labeled PV, one for the battery and one for the load side(load is usually left unhooked).  I would also start by taking a voltage reading directly at the terminals on the solar controller with a multimeter set on DV volts.  Check the voltage on the PV terminals, next check to see if you have voltage present on the battery terminals at your controller.  If you are missing the voltage reading at the terminals from the battery I would check all your connections from the battery to the MPPT controller.  It could be a bad crimp connector etc.  Let us know what you find.

Thanks, good advice. I actually have 2 sets of terminals on the 100/30 controller. 



I can take a photo, tomorrow, but in short:

1.  From the Controller positive to the battery positive. The battery shut off goes from positive battery to switch.

2  From controller negative to the shunt load/charger side of Victron BMV 700 battery monitor. 

3.  Both of the above connections were connected via fused Anderson connectors from the controller to their respective locations as I plan to put the controller out of the elements for travel.

4.  I connect from the panels with mc4 cables. I have mc4 cables as quick connects connected to the controller. I run a fuse via a Renogy mc4 fuse on the positive cable between the panel and the pigtail.

Hmm ok, interesting.  Thats a pretty nice solar controller.  If you have a voltmeter I would check right at the terminals on the battery side of your controller and see if you get voltage. I would also try attaching it to the negative right at the battery instead of the current shunt of the voltage monitor.  I kind of wonder if the current shunt is messing up the charging.

jkjenn

dhauf said:

jkjenn said:

dhauf said:

@jkjenn looks like you have a Victron MPPT solar controller.  Your controller should be reading your state of charge on the battery regardless of if the battery is 100% charged or not.  The wattage coming in from the panel will change according to the discharge demand on the battery.  It looks like you are getting voltage from the panels according to your read out on the app.  Can you send a picture of how you have everything hooked up?  Also do your panels have MC4 connectors?  I believe the controller has 3 sets of terminals, one for the solar panels labeled PV, one for the battery and one for the load side(load is usually left unhooked).  I would also start by taking a voltage reading directly at the terminals on the solar controller with a multimeter set on DV volts.  Check the voltage on the PV terminals, next check to see if you have voltage present on the battery terminals at your controller.  If you are missing the voltage reading at the terminals from the battery I would check all your connections from the battery to the MPPT controller.  It could be a bad crimp connector etc.  Let us know what you find.

Thanks, good advice. I actually have 2 sets of terminals on the 100/30 controller. 



I can take a photo, tomorrow, but in short:

1.  From the Controller positive to the battery positive. The battery shut off goes from positive battery to switch.

2  From controller negative to the shunt load/charger side of Victron BMV 700 battery monitor. 

3.  Both of the above connections were connected via fused Anderson connectors from the controller to their respective locations as I plan to put the controller out of the elements for travel.

4.  I connect from the panels with mc4 cables. I have mc4 cables as quick connects connected to the controller. I run a fuse via a Renogy mc4 fuse on the positive cable between the panel and the pigtail.

Hmm ok, interesting.  Thats a pretty nice solar controller.  If you have a voltmeter I would check right at the terminals on the battery side of your controller and see if you get voltage. I would also try attaching it to the negative right at the battery instead of the current shunt of the voltage monitor.  I kind of wonder if the current shunt is messing up the charging.

The shunt shouldn't be messing it up. I ran it through the shunt, before and they are the same brand. The battery mo ir will not be able to measure the charge of it is not run through the shunt. 

Yes, the multimeter is coming with me, today for testing, although I am seeing some decent cloud cover this AM.

jkjenn

Here are my current battery settings

jkjenn

I turned on the TV, fan, and fridge to DC to get this reading  

jkjenn

The plot thickens....when I look at my history, it tells me that I was getting some charge, even though my app is telling me otherwise. 



And I was also getting a charge while on my trip



I used the fridge on DC to drop my SOC and it is bot showing any watts or amps to the battery.



I did test the battery voltage at the solar controller and got the correct reading.

Michigan_Mike

This is my new solar set-up from nuCamp and has the new 190W single panel on top and without any visible wiring as it sits beneath the panel for a clean look.  



A shot of my VE Direct app this morning.  

jkjenn

Now I am getting an error....running 2 50w in parallel.


I am running the MC4 cables from the panels directly to the controller.

Michigan_Mike

Have you re-programmed your solar controller?  I know that the controller in AZ was tweaked to the two fixed 235W panels I have there.  

dhauf

@jkjenn  For testing purposes can you bypass all the fuses and connect the solar panels directly to the controller, next bypass the shunt for the time being and connect your wires directly to the battery.  If you get similar readings with none of those things in the way then I would suspect your solar charge controller is messed up and you may need to swap it out.  Thats good you are reading the battery voltage directly on the terminals and it is correct.  I realize you need to be going through the shunt so the battery monitor can do its thing.  I would eliminate everything else as a possibility first.  If it works then start adding one item into the mix unit you get the problem again, this way you can figure out exactly what is going on.

If memory serves me correct there is also a relay on the shunt.  If its open, which I see on your app it is, charging will not take place.

ChrisK

What are the LEDs telling you? They should change based on what state the charge is in. 

ChrisK

That error makes it seem like it is either wiring or a controller fault. Maybe something is amiss with the shunt? The system seems to be charging but just not reporting properly on the BVM. Maybe it is confusing the monitor. 

It also seems odd that your charge state is shown as Off on the monitor even though you are clearly getting a charge. 

One more thing. When in doubt, remove and reinstall the app.

jkjenn

Michigan_Mike said:

Have you re-programmed your solar controller?  I know that the controller in AZ was tweaked to the two fixed 235W panels I have there.  

Yes, it's pretty easy to do that through the, app, thankfully  Good question  though. Thanks for posting your screen shot.

dhauf said:

@jkjenn  For testing purposes can you bypass all the fuses and connect the solar panels directly to the controller, next bypass the shunt for the time being and connect your wires directly to the battery.  If you get similar readings with none of those things in the way then I would suspect your solar charge controller is messed up and you may need to swap it out.  Thats good you are reading the battery voltage directly on the terminals and it is correct.  I realize you need to be going through the shunt so the battery monitor can do its thing.  I would eliminate everything else as a possibility first.  If it works then start adding one item into the mix unit you get the problem again, this way you can figure out exactly what is going on.

If memory serves me correct there is also a relay on the shunt.  If its open, which I see on your app it is, charging will not take place.

Yeah, I actually did that this AM.  The relay on the shunt is for the low voltage alarm. Even when I turn those off, it still says they are on. Also, @M@Michigan_Mike's screen shot tells me the relay is not the issue.

ChrisK said:

What are the LEDs telling you? They should change based on what state the charge is in. 

Good question, Chris. I get the blink every 3 seconds on bulk. Maybe it is the way the clouds are moving, today. We just do not get bluebird days here in Pittsburgh  very often, especially when I am at home to test. But, even when overcast, before I would see something. I am beginning to wonder if it was both the panels and controller that were bad. 

jkjenn

Michigan_Mike said:

Have you re-programmed your solar controller?  I know that the controller in AZ was tweaked to the two fixed 235W panels I have there.  

Yes, it's pretty easy to do that through the, app, thankfully  Good question  though.

dhauf said:

@jkjenn  For testing purposes can you bypass all the fuses and connect the solar panels directly to the controller, next bypass the shunt for the time being and connect your wires directly to the battery.  If you get similar readings with none of those things in the way then I would suspect your solar charge controller is messed up and you may need to swap it out.  Thats good you are reading the battery voltage directly on the terminals and it is correct.  I realize you need to be going through the shunt so the battery monitor can do its thing.  I would eliminate everything else as a possibility first.  If it works then start adding one item into the mix unit you get the problem again, this way you can figure out exactly what is going on.

If memory serves me correct there is also a relay on the shunt.  If its open, which I see on your app it is, charging will not take place.

Yeah, I actually did that this AM.  The relay on the shunt is for the low voltage alarm. Even when I turn those off, it still says they are on.

It has to he either wiring or a bad controller. Although, I got pretty much the same thing when I tried the other controller.

ChrisK said:

That error makes it seem like it is either wiring or a controller fault. Maybe something is amiss with the shunt? The system seems to be charging but just not reporting properly on the BVM. Maybe it is confusing the monitor. 

It also seems odd that your charge state is shown as Off on the monitor even though you are clearly getting a charge. 

One more thing. When in doubt, remove and reinstall the app.

I uninstalland reinstalled the app. I cleared the history of the solar controller, too. The shunt appears to be functioning as it should. 

Here is a quick video walk through of my wiring. FYai, I have tried every possible combination of wiring the panels except for all 4 in parallel.

https://youtu.be/9aomoio9YJ8

rfuss928

Have you tried just one panel?

jkjenn

rfuss928 said:

Have you tried just one panel?

Yes

rfuss928

I am not familiar with the controller particulars but....

If the shunt was not wired correctly, the current would not be measured.

The voltage readings shown all seem reasonable.

I would think wiring the panels in parallel would be the only choice!?

jkjenn

rfuss928 said:

I would think wiring the panels in parallel would be the only choice!?

Why?

rfuss928 said:

I am not familiar with the controller particulars but....

If the shunt was not wired correctly, the current would not be measured.

Agrred. 

Ratkity

@elbereth said the same thing I was going to say. My state on the Victron unit and the app states Float (currently). I've never had a negative number on my app. I can see where the controller let the battery discharge a bit (because I don't have a shunt) and then you see all three states (bulk, absorption  and float) in the history and the battery state is always on one stage. I wanted to take a picture of the app, but couldn't.

jkjenn

I sold my 100/20 prematurely. 8 was getting this with my flexible panels and the 100/20

It was my controller, not my panels that were not working.

ChrisK

Is that what its doing now or what the old controller was doing?

dhauf

@jkjenn thanks for the video.  You can certainly do what you did and wire the panels in series, this will increase the voltage from the panels.  I usually use MC4 splitters and wire them in parallel myself.  The reason is if one panel is shaded the other panels will drop off as well.  For me I want whatever panel has the most sunlight to keep providing the most wattage possible.  There is plus and minuses to either config, I don't think this is a problem on your set up though.  On the Victron voltage monitor current shunt there is one side that only goes to the negative terminal on your battery and then a load/charge side that everything else is wired too.  I wasn't too clear from the video how that was wired in.  It looks like you have two 6V cells also in series from what I can see.  I am not sure what Victron monitor you currently have but here is a wiring diagram that shows how it should all be laid out

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/562bc73de4b0908330f67ee0/t/5ace5bd3562fa7a9dc968701/1523473365285/AMS+MPTT+30A+Victron+Core+with+BMV+712.pdf

It looks like you have it all set up correctly from what I can see thus far.  I am starting to suspect you may have a faulty solar controller.  Since you bypassed everything else it would seem that the current sensing part of the controller may be faulty.  May be worth a quick call or email to Victron to confirm.  Perhaps your solar controller is still under warranty?

jkjenn

ChrisK said:

Is that what its doing now or what the old controller was doing?

I bought a Victron 100/20 Smartsolar before when I thought the problem was the controller. I now believe it is the controller. I sold it because I saw the small output it was creating, I thought the problem was actually the panels. I am now less confident that my flexible panels were a problem. 

dhauf said:

@jkjenn thanks for the video.  You can certainly do what you did and wire the panels in series, this will increase the voltage from the panels.  I usually use MC4 splitters and wire them in parallel myself.  The reason is if one panel is shaded the other panels will drop off as well.  For me I want whatever panel has the most sunlight to keep providing the most wattage possible.  There is plus and minuses to either config, I don't think this is a problem on your set up though.  On the Victron voltage monitor current shunt there is one side that only goes to the negative terminal on your battery and then a load/charge side that everything else is wired too.  I wasn't too clear from the video how that was wired in.  It looks like you have two 6V cells also in series from what I can see.  I am not sure what Victron monitor you currently have but here is a wiring diagram that shows how it should all be laid out

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/562bc73de4b0908330f67ee0/t/5ace5bd3562fa7a9dc968701/1523473365285/AMS+MPTT+30A+Victron+Core+with+BMV+712.pdf

It looks like you have it all set up correctly from what I can see thus far.  I am starting to suspect you may have a faulty solar controller.  Since you bypassed everything else it would seem that the current sensing part of the controller may be faulty.  May be worth a quick call or email to Victron to confirm.  Perhaps your solar controller is still under warranty?

Thanks. I followed a pretty good installation diagram when I installed it, so I do not really believe that the shunt was the issue. I believe it is the controller. The controller is 3 years old. If it is bad, the fault is mine as I have had it exposed to the elements. Lesson learned. 

It has been such a headache to test this over the past month as we have had predominantly overcast weather and even the sun we get has been mostly obscured with partial clouds, especially on weekends when I was free. 

Thanks to everyone who chimed in to help - it is greatly appreciated!

ChrisK

One last possibility. Shunts are directional. Are you certain you are wired the correct direction?

jkjenn

ChrisK said:

One last possibility. Shunts are directional. Are you certain you are wired the correct direction?

Good question - I checked that, today.

dhauf

jkjenn said:

ChrisK said:

Is that what its doing now or what the old controller was doing?

I bought a Victron 100/20 Smartsolar before when I thought the problem was the controller. I now believe it is the controller. I sold it because I saw the small output it was creating, I thought the problem was actually the panels. I am now less confident that my flexible panels were a problem. 

dhauf said:

@jkjenn thanks for the video.  You can certainly do what you did and wire the panels in series, this will increase the voltage from the panels.  I usually use MC4 splitters and wire them in parallel myself.  The reason is if one panel is shaded the other panels will drop off as well.  For me I want whatever panel has the most sunlight to keep providing the most wattage possible.  There is plus and minuses to either config, I don't think this is a problem on your set up though.  On the Victron voltage monitor current shunt there is one side that only goes to the negative terminal on your battery and then a load/charge side that everything else is wired too.  I wasn't too clear from the video how that was wired in.  It looks like you have two 6V cells also in series from what I can see.  I am not sure what Victron monitor you currently have but here is a wiring diagram that shows how it should all be laid out

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/562bc73de4b0908330f67ee0/t/5ace5bd3562fa7a9dc968701/1523473365285/AMS+MPTT+30A+Victron+Core+with+BMV+712.pdf

It looks like you have it all set up correctly from what I can see thus far.  I am starting to suspect you may have a faulty solar controller.  Since you bypassed everything else it would seem that the current sensing part of the controller may be faulty.  May be worth a quick call or email to Victron to confirm.  Perhaps your solar controller is still under warranty?

Thanks. I followed a pretty good installation diagram when I installed it, so I do not really believe that the shunt was the issue. I believe it is the controller. The controller is 3 years old. If it is bad, the fault is mine as I have had it exposed to the elements. Lesson learned. 

It has been such a headache to test this over the past month as we have had predominantly overcast weather and even the sun we get has been mostly obscured with partial clouds, especially on weekends when I was free. 

Thanks to everyone who chimed in to help - it is greatly appreciated!

Sorry we couldn’t come up with a better solution.  It did look like you wired everything good and had it set up pretty well.  Unfortunately it does look like the controller is suspect at this point.  The MPPT controllers are more efficient than the PWM types so even in some cloud cover the controller will boost the voltage to help compensate for this, so you should be seeing some output back to your battery.  You could use the amps setting on your multimeter and see if your getting anything into the battery, just disconnect the battery negative from the controller and put your meter in series with the negative.  This will tell you if anything is going back into the battery.  On the plus side if you do need an new controller you can get the 75/15 here for cheaper since your only running 200w of panels it should be more than sufficient.  Victron SmartSolar Charge Controller with Built-In Bluetooth – MPPT 75/15 – 75 Volts, 15 Amps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075NQQRPD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_RVHGBbD3WXN4X

ChrisK

I'm running out of ideas. Are the cables between the controller and the battery new? If not, old cables can get internal breaks which will cause high resistance which makes things act weird. Replace them with brand new ones and eliminate the shunt and the bus bars for testing. Heck, even if they are new, replace them to test. If it still fails after that, probably bad controller. If that works, first, just connect the shunt only and check. If that works, connect it through the bus bar with no other loads hooked up. If that works, one by one, start connecting other items to the load and test after each one. 

Sharon_is_SAM

@jkjenn, just catching up reading this entire thread.  Now my turn😀

1.  Have you rearranged any wiring since the last time the SCC worked normally?  

2.  I may have missed this, did you check the voltmeter readout on the SCC at the panel input?

3.  The shunt load side and SCC battery negative are both attached at the bus bar, correct?  And the SCC battery positive is direct to the battery?  

4.  Do you have a separate dongle for the SCC?

The error 21 code - Current sensor malfunction would certainly explain the lack of panel output reading.

Check your PM.

Ratkity

Aw man.. it's the controller???!? That's the last thing. There's nothing else, girl! Everything has been excluded except the controller.

The small output on the other could have been the flex panels still. OMGosh. Sorry you went through such headaches and questioning your own solar experience to find out it was the controller.