Help! Solar Panel Not Charging Battery.

[Sjacko20]

We are off to France tomorrow for 3 weeks, largely off grid. I just noticed the battery voltage had dropped so thought i’d check the Victron and the app shows the above. It was charging this morning according to the history but now the blue led is slow flashing indicating it’s not charging now. It is sunny and about 25deg.

Does anyone have any advice what is happening?

 

[Dellmassive]

looks like the charger state is "OFF"

go into settings/battery/charger and switch it on.

the the state should be bluk/absor/float

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[Loz]

Battery state is OFF, check that Charger enabled is on in the settings?

 

[Sjacko20]

Thanks, just checked and it is on.

 

[Dellmassive]

oh . . . .?

have you tried setting off, then back to on?

tried disconnecting the panel and reconnecting?

tried a reset? (panel & battery disconected)

max bulk timer enabled?


slow blue light is "charger off" either from app setting, or low PV like at night time.

is the PV panel ok . . . . ?

got a few more pics or screen shots?


MPPT Solar Charger Error Codes [Victron Energy]


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[Loz]

charger disconnected from battery

 

[Sjacko20]

oh . . . .?

have you tried setting off, then back to on?

tried disconnecting the panel and reconnecting?

tried a reset? (panel & battery disconected)

max bulk timer enabled?


slow blue light is "charger off" either from app setting, or low PV like at night time.

is the PV panel ok . . . . ?

got a few more pics or screen shots?


MPPT Solar Charger Error Codes [Victron Energy]


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[Sjacko20]

charger disconnected from battery

It is showing battery voltage so is there something else which should be connected?

 

[Sjacko20]

Just been reading and I think it is not charging because the panel voltage isn’t high enough but it is in good light. Any idea how to check the panel or if there is a way? Normally shows 25v or more in these conditions but isn’t now

 

[Dellmassive]

Just been reading and I think it is not charging because the panel voltage isn’t high enough but it is in good light. Any idea how to check the panel or if there is a way? Normally shows 25v or more in these conditions but isn’t now

Your history reading look very poor . . . . has the van been in a garage? . . . . only 5w on most days!!!


The victron should start to charge if its 0.5v above the battery voltage (provided there is enought sunlight)

to check the panel you need to disconnect the PV leads from the controller and use a multimeter.

check the direct volatge coming from the panel in volts ( ie VOC 25volts)

and use the AMPS setting to test the Current. ISC (ie ISC 6amps)

like these:

************************************************************
Solar panel specifications:

• Peak power: 130W
• Maximum power voltage: 16.62V
• Maximum power current: 8.02A
• Open circuit voltage: 20.04V
• Short circuit current: 8.41A
• Dimensions: 1339 x 673 x 2 mm
• Weight: 3.1 kg
  .

***********************************************************

depending on how good the panel is you should read good volts and amps in direct sunlight.


Sometimes dodgy or faulty panels will read good voltage, but will generat next to no current . . . . =[

 

[Dellmassive]

heres some history for you to compare . . . .

 

[Dellmassive]

it looks like your PV P-max looks good . . . . . but your battery max volts look a bit odd.

Have you got a VSR or DC-DC on that leisure battery?


Maybe your panel is not producing the power you need, but the victron is detecting the Leisure battery charge voltage from the Engine via a VSR or DC-DC?

 

[Sjacko20]

There is a dc-dc charger so it charges when the vehicle is running, when the mains is plugged in or the solar does it. The leisure battery has not been used in the history you can see other than the last 48hrs.
Multimeter showed 14ish volts from the panel and 2amps whereas normally it would be showing in the what you can see in the history. It was fine this morning but the voltage from the panel has suddenly dropped this afternoon. Is it possible for part of a panel to be damaged by heat of something?

 

[Dellmassive]

14v@2a solar should be enough for the MPPT to start charging the battery up. (FYI w=v*a so 14v*2a = 28watts so your MPPT should be showing something?, if the battery is below float voltage)

solar panels are very delicate, the bond wires between the individual cells are like tin foil. . . . its possible the panel is faulty.

any idea what panel you have . . . or its spec.?

and what happened today on your history? . . . . .5w each day all week, then 140w today?


those battery readings will be off due to the DC-DC + EHU feeding power into the battery that the Victron MPPT will detect and report the Battery voltage.

your battery is showing min-12.9v most of the week which might explain the low solar yeild as the battery is already charged.

but today was different min-12.2v so the solar charger kicked in (140w at some point)

 

[Dellmassive]

have you got a spare backup panel . . . ?

mobile solar suitcase or a fold-out one . . . to plug into the MPPT to see what happens.

running out of day light now.

 

[Dellmassive]

this is what im getting now . . . .

 

[Sjacko20]

Not sure what was going on but this is what is showing now. I haven’t done anything other than take readings and plugged the van in to the mains to charge, maybe it just fancied a break A huge thanks @Dellmassive and @Loz for taking the time to assist, this is what is great about the forum!!

 

[Sjacko20]

Just a further update to this, the panel never seemed to work when things heated up so I have taken recordings of the panel in operation showing it basically halves its voltage when the roof temperature gets above 20deg.:




I have been in contact with the manufacturer who are looking at it.
Without the ability to monitor that the Victron has, I would have got nowhere as I would be unable to prove the problem without large investigation.

 

[andys]

Just a further update to this, the panel never seemed to work when things heated up so I have taken recordings of the panel in operation showing it basically halves its voltage when the roof temperature gets above 20deg.:

View attachment 49661


I have been in contact with the manufacturer who are looking at it.
Without the ability to monitor that the Victron has, I would have got nowhere as I would be unable to prove the problem without large investigation.

There’s definitely something wrong, mine regularly hits 200W in the recent red hot temperatures and hit its record in Slovenia when the temperature was 34 degrees!

 

[Dellmassive]

looks like a similar problem as this one > Solar Panel; Toast?

basically the solar panel output was dropping off when it heated up.

The conclusion was that there must have been micro cracks on the foil bond wires between the individual solar cells due to the continued expansion/contraction that was causing high resistance or just total failure.

end result was new panel required.

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got any pics of your solar panel and setup for us Photo Geeks.?

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