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Post by floatbit on Nov 9, 2016 13:31:57 GMT -8
Hi all,
My batteries are charged to 13.49v and the light on battery of the charge controller is green. When I turn on the inverter, the light instantly turns orange. This is at night. Is that behavior normal?
I've got a laptop, a monitor, and light hooked up to the inverter.
Setup:
Charge Controller - 20 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller
Batteries - 2x6v = 12v in series
Solar Panel - 2 x 100w in parallel
Inverter - 1000w pure sine
Thanks for reading!
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Post by jsb2000 on Nov 10, 2016 7:22:33 GMT -8
I'm betting that the controller is seeing the quick "surge" dip in voltage when you turn on the inverter and interpreting it as an "under-voltage" situation. What voltage are you seeing when you turn on the inverter? Does the battery light return to green if you turn off the inverter?
If the light remains orange and/or the voltage reads low (in the 12.2-ish area) then your batteries may not have enough capacity to handle your inverter.
Oh, and you are running that inverter directly from the batteries and not through the load terminals on the controller, right? Just checking...because the latter is a no-no according to the manual and can certainly cause issues.
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Post by rabird on Nov 10, 2016 11:25:43 GMT -8
ASSUME 100watt laptop and 100 watt light = 200 watts, is the monitor extra?
ASSUME 80% inverter eff or 200/.8 = 250 watts.
250 watts / 12v = 21A
ASSUME 2x6v = 230 ah capacity
21A is just about 10% of the ah capacity, I would not expect that load to draw the batteries down below the under voltage warning of 12v.
old batteries? Fully charged?
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Post by floatbit on Nov 11, 2016 13:39:24 GMT -8
jsb2000: Before inverter turned on: 13.4v After inverter is turned on: 13.2v then as time passes (~30 or so minutes) goes down to 12.7 then I shut inverter off. The light does not turn green when inverter is turned off from 13.4v. Yes, inverter is connected to battery  rabird: I measured the wattage of the entire system and it's at 130w. The batteries are brand new - purchased them 3 weeks ago, and they are fully charged to 13.4v - at least that's what I'm assuming fully charged is. Batteries: www.batteriesplus.com/battery/golf-cart/e=z=go/txt-freedom-le-golf-cart/electric/na/sligc1252 of them connected in series Charge controller battery type is set to 3 for Flooded battery type. Just measured the batteries and they're at 13v, inverter is off, orange light is still on. Is the charge controller defective? Do I need a smaller inverter for this system? Thanks for the replies, guys. |
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Post by jsb2000 on Nov 12, 2016 7:05:23 GMT -8
Well, your battery voltages are certainly VERY healthy. Even 12.7VDC after 30 minutes is just fine. 12.73VDC is where a fully charged 12V battery system sits under no load or charge! Your voltages, being in the 13V range most of the time, are superb. I suspect though that this is due to the controller keeping them floated...which is exactly what it's supposed to be doing. A couple other questions: Is the controller wired relatively close to the batteries? Are you measuring the voltage at the batteries or at the controller? The reason I ask is that maybe the controller isn't seeing the true battery voltage for some reason and thinks that they are lower than they actually are? Is the charge controller defective? There's a saying that I use often: "A difference which makes no difference is no difference." In your case, your battery voltages are fine, indicating that the controller is doing what it's supposed to be doing. Personally, I only use the lights on my controller as a VERY GENERAL indication of what's going on. I rely on actual voltage/current/power readings from my meters for specifics. In other words...don't sweat the yellow light if your voltages look good! Do I need a smaller inverter for this system? The size of your inverter usually isn't a concern unless you run it constantly and worry about draining the batteries when the devices you're powering with it aren't on. Larger inverters tend to draw more "idle current" than smaller ones. What is a concern is the combined power needs of what you're connecting to the inverter, and whether the inverter, batteries, and solar panels can handle it under normal usage. So far, based on what you've listed, that doesn't seem to be a problem. |
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