Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing

rabbit_39
rabbit_39 Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Hello,
So here is the system's setup:
- about 5000 watts of panels in several strings of 74VDC
- flexmax 80 charger
- outback VFXE3048 inverter
- 1 bank of 24 x 2V/500Ah OPzV batteries

The inverter is working great, providing energy to the loads. Drawing down the batteries appropriately (as far as I can tell. There is grid input to the inverter but it is turned off to make sure the batteries are only getting charged by the solar CC.

But ever since day one, the charger has never harvested any energy. It sees input voltage as 74 VDC and output as battery voltage (according to charge state). It is always snoozing with the occasional wake up, tracking but immediately goes back to snoozing.

Brought it to hook up to a working solar system, still the same issue.

Any thoughts?

Thank you.
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Comments

  • petertearai
    petertearai Solar Expert Posts: 471 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing

    Sleeping means that pv voltage is less than the batt volts.
    Check the nominal volts is 48 volts and check the absorb and float settings.
    It may be something to do with the grid tie settings,but cant help with that side of things.
    2225 wattts pv . Outback 2kw  fxr pure sine inverter . fm80 charge controller . Mate 3. victron battery monitor . 24 volts  in 2 volt Shoto lead carbon extreme batterys. off grid  holiday home 
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  • rabbit_39
    rabbit_39 Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #3
    Re: Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing
    petertearai wrote: »
    Sleeping means that pv voltage is less than the batt volts.
    Check the nominal volts is 48 volts and check the absorb and float settings.
    It may be something to do with the grid tie settings,but cant help with that side of things.

    Yep, checked that. PV voltage is shown at or near what it should be 74+VDC. Battery voltage is shown as 49-52VDC. I also checked with a volt meter and tha'ts what they show.

    No grid tie settings as far as I know. We haven't received the hub/mate yet. So the inverter is still at factory default and the charge controller is at factory default. There is another setup identical to this and it's working just fine. getting about 11-13kwh/day because the loads aren't maxed out yet. Slowly adding more loads to the inverter's AC out.

    we have swapped the charger to the working system and it's still not working so it's the particular charger. Whether it's the settings or a faulty unit, we haven't determined that yet.

    Thank you.
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing

    FM80 and inverter are two different things. If the panels aren't charging the batteries it's the charge controller; nothing to do with the inverter settings.

    First thing to do is check what the controller's Voltage settings are for Absorb and Float. The default set-up is for a 12 Volt system. If the settings are lower than the battery Voltage it thinks they're charged and won't do anything. It should be displaying a "BATT FULL" message in this case.

    Another possibility is that there is something wrong with the PV wiring, and you're getting a Voc of 74 but when it tries to charge no current is found and it can't charge. With the batteries reading 52 Volts it probably doesn't think they need any. The Absorb setting ought to be around 57 Volts.

    How is the battery Voltage staying up if you're not getting any PV power and the inverter is not connected to the grid?
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  • rabbit_39
    rabbit_39 Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #5
    Re: Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    FM80 and inverter are two different things. If the panels aren't charging the batteries it's the charge controller; nothing to do with the inverter settings.

    First thing to do is check what the controller's Voltage settings are for Absorb and Float. The default set-up is for a 12 Volt system. If the settings are lower than the battery Voltage it thinks they're charged and won't do anything. It should be displaying a "BATT FULL" message in this case.

    Another possibility is that there is something wrong with the PV wiring, and you're getting a Voc of 74 but when it tries to charge no current is found and it can't charge. With the batteries reading 52 Volts it probably doesn't think they need any. The Absorb setting ought to be around 57 Volts.

    How is the battery Voltage staying up if you're not getting any PV power and the inverter is not connected to the grid?

    Well, the inverter is the Outback VFXE Inverter Charger, I wasn't sure if its charger would be charging the batteries and the CC is always seeing the battery full during the day. That's why I turned it off for a couple of days to ensure the only charging input is the solar.

    Yep, checked the settings, it's setup for 48V battery bank for absorb and float.

    PV wiring was suspected, but we swapped this CC to a system that's working (identical setup) and it behaves the same. Yes, I thought about the batteries always being full. So I made sure it's drawn down. Even with the batteries at 49.x Volts, it's still not charging.

    It's staying up because I only turned off grid input to the inverter/charger for a couple of days.

    Thanks!
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing

    Sound like you need to call Outback for an RMA. That may be a first for them. :roll:
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  • rabbit_39
    rabbit_39 Solar Expert Posts: 43 ✭
    #7
    Re: Outback flexmax 80 always snoozing
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Sound like you need to call Outback for an RMA. That may be a first for them. :roll:

    Sure sounds like it :). I checked the outback forum from their website. And it seems like there is an issue at least with one or two other people. Forgot to mention that this is a new unit, firmware 2.00. Too bad for the RMA. Will triple check the settings and do some more trouble shooting. But an 3.* sound like it is in order. :(
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