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Post by jeralmac on Jun 24, 2015 8:12:45 GMT -8
Hello all, new to the forum and solar in general. Just received my Renogy kit in the mail last week and have been slowly setting it up and testing before we take it out on the road. Basic setup to keep deep cycle 12v battery charged in our Jayco travel trailer. I have the panel on the rear part of the roof with a 10gauge wire running down the reefer vent, ultimately ending up below the reefer where the house connections are made. The charge controller is installed there, right next to the house panel. I have the charge controller battery terminal wired in to the back of the panel in the same bus as where the house battery connects. Everything seems to work great..until:
Problem - once battery starts to top off after sitting in the sun, the over voltage light starts to flash on the CC. When this happens, our LED lighting starts to pulse/flicker and additionally, you can hear a popping noise in direct cadence with the flicker of the LED lights. If I pull an LED bulb out and put in a incandescent, that particular bulb is steady with no flicker.
My first thought was the possibility that the LED lights don't like voltage much above 12v and they were flickering due to the fact that I was at around 13. However, when I pulled the fuse that I have in the panel line (basically removing the panel charge), the flickering went away. Also, when I turned shoreline power on, causing the house DC to go even a little higher (roughly 13.3), the lights still didn't flicker, nor was there any popping in our radio's speakers.
Has any one out there experienced anything like this or does any one have any tips for me to continue trouble shooting? The reality is that we probably won't use lights until the sun goes down but I'd love to feel like I'm getting 'clean' power to the house DC circuit, not to mention the poor audio condition.
Thanks!
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Post by Admin on Jun 25, 2015 9:07:00 GMT -8
Hello Jeralmac,
Does the first LED light on the charge controller flash green? Do you have the LED lighting connected to the load terminals on the charge controller or directly to the battery?
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Post by jeralmac on Jun 26, 2015 3:54:18 GMT -8
Thanks for your response - it's the left hand green light, with the solar panel icon that start to flash. According to the manual, the flashing indicates "Over Voltage" which I'm not sure I understand. Doesn't the CC prevent over voltage?
To answer your connections question, there is nothing connected to the load terminals of the CC, I'll likely not be using that. The lighting is factory installed and connects to the back of the DC/fuse panel of the camper - so to answer your question, yes, the lights are ultimately hooked directly to the battery. Simply put, nothing in the camper is modified and I have simply connected the charge controller's battery port to the positive and negative bar on the bank of the campers' DC panel (which is directly connected to the 8 gauge stranded copper wire which runs directly to the battery approx 15 feet away). Let me know if this helps and thanks again!
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Post by Admin on Jun 26, 2015 9:11:16 GMT -8
Hello Jeralmac,
The issue seems to be the charge controller that first LED light should not be flashing with just one panel connected. Can you please give us a call at (909) 517-3598 so we can get that replaced. Thank you.
O.C
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Post by jeralmac on Jul 13, 2015 9:19:20 GMT -8
So I have replaced the charge controller and the lights no longer flicker so that seems to have solved that problem. However, I still have some follow up questions:
What is the normal voltage range on the solar side of the connection? Even in bright sun, when I put my volt meter on the solar connection, it's reading the same as the battery side - generally just above 12 volts. Shouldn't it read higher? We just got back from a week long camping trip and I'm not convinced we got much charge from our panel. Even if I charge a battery, the solar CC won't take the battery over 12.5v.
That leads me to another question - can someone recommend an amp meter? It would be nice to see how much power is coming in at any given moment.
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Post by Admin on Jul 14, 2015 8:05:45 GMT -8
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Post by jeralmac on Jul 14, 2015 9:35:17 GMT -8
Thanks OC, I was able to figure out the problem. I had installed a switch on the positive lead of the solar connection. I did this so I can easily disconnect solar (to change my battery if necessary), without having to crawl on the roof of my camper to disconnect the panel. However, I learned with some testing that the switch itself is interfering somehow. Long story short, when I remove the switch, the incoming solar voltage comes up to 13 as you indicate and starts to charge the battery so it seems I can't use that particular switch. So, can anyone recommend a DC switch so I can break my solar connection at will? I do have a fuse holder which I can use but that is installed behind the master panel and would require removal every time I wanted to turn off solar (again, to swap out battery). I'd also like to know if anyone can recommend an "always on" ammeter display to monitor incoming current. Such as this one (not sure if this would work or not): www.amazon.com/Ammeter-Current-Amperage-Resistor-Automotive/dp/B00BYQSXPI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436894900&sr=8-1&keywords=dc+ammeter |
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Post by jsb2000 on Jul 14, 2015 13:50:03 GMT -8
I'd also like to know if anyone can recommend an "always on" ammeter display to monitor incoming current. I use two of these: GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer Battery Consumption Performance MonitorI have one between the battery and loads and another between the controller and the battery. The former shows me the current drain from the battery. The latter shows me the current flow from the solar into the battery. Both show me the voltage of the system, along with all the supply/consumption stats I could ever want. |
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Post by jeralmac on Jul 15, 2015 7:03:11 GMT -8
I'd also like to know if anyone can recommend an "always on" ammeter display to monitor incoming current. I use two of these: GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer Battery Consumption Performance MonitorI have one between the battery and loads and another between the controller and the battery. The former shows me the current drain from the battery. The latter shows me the current flow from the solar into the battery. Both show me the voltage of the system, along with all the supply/consumption stats I could ever want. Thanks jsb2000, really appreciate your feed back - I'll check it out! |
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Post by weijing3333 on Jul 20, 2015 0:52:11 GMT -8
IS there any posibility that LED lights have problems? |
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