Solar powered Polaris Gate opener

marcalbea

Hi all.  I'm doing my best to troubleshoot a problem I'm having with my solar powered Polaris gate opener.  Here's the scenario.

I've got a 20 watt solar panel hooked up to a Polaris 500 gate opener system.  I'm using 2, 12v 7amp AGM Duracell batteries.  Supposedly the Polaris already has a solar charging controller built in.  I live in Texas in the Houston area so I get plenty of sunlight.  However I've gone through 2 set of batteries in less than a year and am about to install a 3rd set.  I "suspect" over charging is what's killing the batteries but I'm not sure how to verify that or how to verify that the charge controller is operating properly.

The gate opener works just fine during the day for the amount of gate openings we use but at night the gate opener fails and will not start working again until the sun comes up and starts shining on the solar panel.  

At 80 bucks a pop for a new set of batteries I would really rather not have to replace them every 2 or 3 months.  

Would love to hear about any troubleshooting tips you might have regarding the charging controller, batteries or possibly adding a solar charging controller (assuming the installed one is allowing for an over charge and is killing my batteries)

Thanks in advance for any information you might share.

Marc

Dave Angelini

Here is a tip. Use a voltmeter and record the voltage in the morning and the afternoon. You really have not said anything in your post other than it does not work at night. The gate openers I have used have a regular sized car battery sized and reccomended by the gate opener.

BB.

Sears sells a "good enough" for our needs $60 DC Current Clamp DMM... you can measure the charging current (from solar panel, to battery bank) and see there is really current flowing:

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-digital-clamp-on-ammeter/p-03482369000P

Your 20 Watt panel should give you a maximum charging current of (20 watts / 18 volts Vmp 1.1 amps (high noon, panel directly pointed at sun, clear day).

For the batteries, fully charged and no load is ~12.7 to 13.0 volts (may be higher with "surface charge")... If they are at ~12.0 volts, they are 50% state of charge. For charging you want to see somewhere around 13.6 to 14.4 volts (batteries will be fully charged around 14.2 to 14.4 volts). If you see > 14.4 volts for minutes/hours at a time--That is too high of charging voltage and will fairly quickly (weeks/months) kill AGM/Sealed batteries.

For those types of batteries--If they last 1-2 years, that is usually doing well.

Other things that can kill batteries include high heat (~95F average battery temperature is 1/2 battery design life).

-Bill

Johann

Make sure your panel is not in the shade.
You may want to check, if your panel needs cleaning.
Check the voltage of your panel at daytime, check the voltage of your battery at day and at night again.
Check the the direction the panel is pointed and check the tilt of the panel.
Check the connections for corrosion.

How much power do those gate opener use and how many times do you operate the gate per day?

$80 bucks for two of those batteries?
I need to ask the parts guy at work where he gets our batteries because we only pay about $13 a piece for a 12 volt 12ah battery that is used for our alarm systems and emergency lights.

For $80 bucks you can get a 12 volt 35 ah wheel chair battery that has a warranty for 1 to 2 years.