Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
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Raven
Registered Users Posts: 15 ✭
Hi. New to the forum and am happy to find a place to pose my questions. I recently upgraded from one to three Kyocera 12v 135 watt panels. In addition I upgraded my controller to the 60 amp Tristar (non mppt) controller. I also bought 4 - 6 volt Deka 200+ amp hour batteries that I tied together in series for 2 - 12 volt batteries tied in parralel. I'm pretty sure I have double the capacity now with something like 400+ amp hours with this new set up. I turned the system on last week and have been monitoring it. We've had a pretty cloudy week but I can't seem to get past the yellow light on my controller. Some sunny days the light will turn yellow/green and even green then go in PWM mode with the flashing green light but invariably once the sun goes down it goes back to yellow. The voltage has gone up from 12.2 at the beginning of the week to 12.9 now, which it is holding at. My questions is do I not have enough panels for the battery capacity I'm trying to fill or does it simply take a while to initially charge them up the first time? Is there a classic newbie mistake that is emblematic of this symptom? I should also say that I haven't hooked up any loads on the system yet. It has simply been charging batteries with no draw thus far. Any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks. ~Raven
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Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceHi. New to the forum and am happy to find a place to pose my questions. I recently upgraded from one to three Kyocera 12v 135 watt panels. In addition I upgraded my controller to the 60 amp Tristar (non mppt) controller. I also bought 4 - 6 volt Deka 200+ amp hour batteries that I tied together in series for 2 - 12 volt batteries tied in parralel. I'm pretty sure I have double the capacity now with something like 400+ amp hours with this new set up. I turned the system on last week and have been monitoring it. We've had a pretty cloudy week but I can't seem to get past the yellow light on my controller. Some sunny days the light will turn yellow/green and even green then go in PWM mode with the flashing green light but invariably once the sun goes down it goes back to yellow. The voltage has gone up from 12.2 at the beginning of the week to 12.9 now, which it is holding at. My questions is do I not have enough panels for the battery capacity I'm trying to fill or does it simply take a while to initially charge them up the first time? Is there a classic newbie mistake that is emblematic of this symptom? I should also say that I haven't hooked up any loads on the system yet. It has simply been charging batteries with no draw thus far. Any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks. ~Raven
You have, effectively, a 400AH 12 volt battery bank, and the basic rule of thumb (panel watts greater than or equal to 12 volt battery bank AH) states that a nominal 400 watts of panel should be able to handle this large a battery bank.
But if the batteries started out at significantly less than full charge and the weather has not allowed anywhere near full panel wattage, the initial charge will take several days.
But you need to measure the current actually going into the batteries to confirm that you are getting the output you need. With a PWM controller, the current to the batteries will be no greater than the current from the panels. You do have the panels wired in parallel rather than in series, don't you? Also disconnect the panels from the CC and make sure that the open circuit voltage (Voc) is at least 18 volts to make sure that those 12 volt panels are really suited to charging a 12 volt battery bank.SMA SB 3000, old BP panels. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Welcome to the forum.
The KD135's Vmp is 17.5, so no worries there. They put out 7.5 Imp, so with a PWM type controller your maximum charge current will be roughly 30 Amps, well below the TriStar's maximum capacity, so no worries there either. 30 Amps peak current into 400 Amp hours of battery is a maximum charge rate of 7.5%, so again no worries; should work.
Worries: battery Voltage is at <12.75 most of the time. Sounds like they were not fully charged to begin with and aren't getting there due to inclement weather.
Check the battery wiring, first of all. It should correspond to method #2 here: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html (Differences being they show four in parallel instead of two, and only one battery instead of a string of two).
What to do: disconnect half the batteries (one string) so that the other two get full charging benefit. They should come up fully in one day if you get reasonable amount of sun. Do the same for the other half the next day. If you can not get enough sun on them, you need a supplemental charging source to Bulk those batteries up ASAP. This means either utility power or generator + battery charger. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Thanks for the homework. i will try that. I didn't mean to say that the batteries voltage is now lower than 12.75. What I meant was that the batteries started at 12.2 or so and in the course of the last week they've come up to, and stayed at, 12.9 at night and up to 14.4 during sunny periods. It sounds like I just need to be patient and wait for some sun. Maybe November in Wisconsin isn't the ideal time to fire up a new system! -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
With the advise of the good folks at Backwoods Solar I bought a combiner box and use that to combine the solar panel wires together. That to say they're not wired in series. I was wondering about a way to check that all of the panels are working and it sounds like this is my answer. So if I understand, disconnect the panels from the system and use a volt meter to check that the open circuit voltage on the positive post of each panel is 18 volts. Would I need to wait for sun to do this, or will it sit at 18, cloudy or sunny? Thanks for the advise! -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Voc isn't much of a check for solar panels. Defective panels can sometimes produce 'proper' Voc. You'll find it's about 22 Volts on those panels, and it will show up with almost any amount of illumination.
Panels are a current source (which is difficult to understand). The best way you can check to see if they're working is to test each one's short-circuit current (Isc). This is slightly over 8 Amps on those panels if I recall correctly. To do this you need an Ammeter capable of at least 10 Amps and bright sunlight. The best type of meter is a DC clamp-on Ammeter, but those are $70+ and you probably don't have one. A digital multimeter will usually handle it: connect the leads from the panel to the meter and nothing else; the meter forms a current path from (+) to (-). In bright sun you should get something close to full Isc.
This does not mean that all the wiring from the panels to the controller are correct and good. To test the combined current you would have to have one of the expensive meters, as four panels would be around 40 Amps combined.
Usage draws batteries down. If the charging can't stay ahead of the usage then the batteries will drop. This is why it's important to know your usage when designing a system, and why it's important to have a back-up generator for those occasions when the sun doesn't shine for days. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
i'm not so sure something is actually wrong. i am not familiar with the leds on the cc, but from your description of the batteries going up to around 14.4v and then down suggests it reached the absorb voltage and then most likely went to float afterward if the drop was during when the sun was still out. a lack of sunlight can also cause it to drop out of absorb and only you know for sure at what stage it was in by my description.
me, i like volt meters rather than idiot lights, but once you know what the leds represent as far as that voltage goes, it can also give a reliable general indication. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceCariboocoot wrote: »The KD135's Vmp is 17.5, so no worries there. They put out 7.5 Imp, so with a PWM type controller your maximum charge current will be roughly 30 Amps, well below the TriStar's maximum capacity, so no worries there either. 30 Amps peak current into 400 Amp hours of battery is a maximum charge rate of 7.5%, so again no worries; should work.
Did I read the OP right that he has 3 of these panels? If so doesn't 3 X 7.5 Imp mean 22.5 amps max? This would be a charge rate of 5.6% which is a bit on the low side isn't it? This could explain his charging difficulties - especially given the cloudy conditions.
Maybe I'm misreading his OP - wouldn't be the first time... -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Nope; you weren't misreading. I added "one to three".
So the charge rate is a bit low at 5.6% maximum. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceCariboocoot wrote: »Nope; you weren't misreading. I added "one to three".
So the charge rate is a bit low at 5.6% maximum.
Yes I have 3 total panels. One of which is the older model 130 Watt Kyocera... or maybe even 125 Watt. Not sure about the wattage of the previous generation model. I originally purchased that one about 5 years ago and found that, since then, Kyocera has upped that model to 135W, of which I bought two earlier this year. All 12 Volt. Sounds as though with that missing bit of info, the diagnosis that I'm a bit undersized on the panel side would be correct. Sounds like my only options right now is to either buy another panel or disconnect two of the batteries and lower my capacity. Does that sound correct? This forum is wonderful. Thanks for all the great info. I appreciate any further advise y'all may have. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
What is the ideal charge rate? I assume the 5.6% you refer to, means my max current from my panels of 22.5 Amps is 5.6% of my total Ah capacity of something like 400Ah... correct? -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Maximum charge rate is the maximum charge potential current * 100 / Amp hour capacity. 5% is a minimum, and only works well when there are no loads drawing while charging. 10% works better, because the net charge rate is the amount going in minus the amount going out to run loads. 13% is the "practical limit" in most cases because above that you spend even more money on panels, controllers, wiring, et cetera and will not need to use the potential most of the time. In some circumstances, however, it would be welcome and perhaps even a bit more. The particular batteries will have a maximum limit too, beyond which they can be damaged. As a rule AGM's can take more current than FLA's.
For 400 Amp hours 5% (no load) would be 20 Amps, 10% would be 40, and 13% would be 52. If you try for 10% and get 7% net or 12% net that is fine. At 5.6% it's pretty borderline. I'd add another panel if I were you. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceCariboocoot wrote: »Maximum charge rate is the maximum charge potential current * 100 / Amp hour capacity. 5% is a minimum, and only works well when there are no loads drawing while charging. 10% works better, because the net charge rate is the amount going in minus the amount going out to run loads. 13% is the "practical limit" in most cases because above that you spend even more money on panels, controllers, wiring, et cetera and will not need to use the potential most of the time. In some circumstances, however, it would be welcome and perhaps even a bit more. The particular batteries will have a maximum limit too, beyond which they can be damaged. As a rule AGM's can take more current than FLA's.
For 400 Amp hours 5% (no load) would be 20 Amps, 10% would be 40, and 13% would be 52. If you try for 10% and get 7% net or 12% net that is fine. At 5.6% it's pretty borderline. I'd add another panel if I were you.
One more question. I ask this because after a number of sunny days the controller light still settles back to yellow after blinking green and saying it's at "Float" all day. When I was installing my batteries way back two weeks ago, I had all of the parallel connections done and was working on the final negative connection in my final series string when the end of my wrench touched the positive on an adjacent battery in the other string. It was connected for about two seconds (enough to heat the wrench up considerably), there was a spark or two, and I knocked it away using a handy piece of 2x2. Could this incident have somehow damaged the battery such that it won't charge fully? I would think that if this was the case I would get a funny voltage reading or a fault in my controller's handy fault display. Neither of these are the case. The controller says no faults or alarms and the voltage has held at least 12.8, and during float up to 14.4, for over a week now. Just something that has been in the back of my head and the longer the system charges without achieving and sustaining the green light, the more I wonder about it. Thanks. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Check the battery/cabling connections... Hopefully the short did not damage the batteries (if shorted too long, it can overheat/damage the plates/battery internals), but it may have damaged wiring connections. Use a DMM set to 2 volts (or 200 mV) and measure the drop across each connection/length of cable when battery bank is under heavy load/charging.
Also, measure each battery/cell for resting voltage (3 hours or more, of no current flow). And measure the battery/cell voltages under load/charge (you are looking for differences between "good" and possibly "bad" cells).
What is the battery voltage (and is the battery discharging or not) when the yellow light blinks. Are you drawing lots of current?
How long does the controller hold 14.4 volts? It should hold it for 2-4 hours or so to fully charge the batteries.
Are the batteries sealed/agm or can you measure the specific gravity?
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceCheck the battery/cabling connections... Hopefully the short did not damage the batteries (if shorted too long, it can overheat/damage the plates/battery internals), but it may have damaged wiring connections. Use a DMM set to 2 volts (or 200 mV) and measure the drop across each connection/length of cable when battery bank is under heavy load/charging.
Also, measure each battery/cell for resting voltage (3 hours or more, of no current flow). And measure the battery/cell voltages under load/charge (you are looking for differences between "good" and possibly "bad" cells).
What is the battery voltage (and is the battery discharging or not) when the yellow light blinks. Are you drawing lots of current?
How long does the controller hold 14.4 volts? It should hold it for 2-4 hours or so to fully charge the batteries.
Are the batteries sealed/agm or can you measure the specific gravity?
-Bill
If the short lasted longer than a few seconds or really got the wrench red hot or melted areas of the battery posts, then you may have drained enough charge from that battery to justify running an Equalize cycle on the bank, or else removing that battery and connecting it to a separate charger to bring it back to match the others. But any such need would show up in the resting voltage comparisons that Bill suggested.
If one battery is very low relative to the others, you may be reaching the Float voltage by overcharging the rest of the batteries, creating a temporary higher voltage ("surface charge") which will decline rapidly when the batteries rest or are loaded.SMA SB 3000, old BP panels. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceIf the short lasted longer than a few seconds or really got the wrench red hot or melted areas of the battery posts, then you may have drained enough charge from that battery to justify running an Equalize cycle on the bank, or else removing that battery and connecting it to a separate charger to bring it back to match the others. But any such need would show up in the resting voltage comparisons that Bill suggested.
If one battery is very low relative to the others, you may be reaching the Float voltage by overcharging the rest of the batteries, creating a temporary higher voltage ("surface charge") which will decline rapidly when the batteries rest or are loaded.
I'm running an Equalization cycle this morning. When doing this should my amperage show the max possible my panels can produce in full sunlight. In theory I should be able to produce something like 22 Amps on a sunny day like today and right now it's been between 7 and 11. While I'm equalizing should it be higher or does my Tristar 60 temper the amperage for one reason or another? My (amateur) thought was that during equalizing the controller would just open up and let the full power of my system just pour into the batteries but maybe I'm mistaken and 7-11 Amps is normal equalizing amperage for a system like mine.
2 Kyocera 135 Watt 12V panels/ 1 older Kyocera 130 Watt 12v Panel -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Equalization needs to be done after a full charging cycle. The EQ will not show max Amps because it isn't about current; it's holding the Voltage above normal Absorb level for an hour or two to try and force more sulphur off the plates and back into the electrolyte. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Hi Bill. The batteries are flooded Deka DC15 6 Volt batteries. It's already been established previously in this thread that I'm a bit undersized on the panel side for the 400+ Ah of battery capacity I have. The controller is up to 14.4 Volts during the day when the sun is shining, from maybe 10:00am until 3:00pm or so. It reaches the float stage as is should most days. The problem is when the sun sets it settles at 12.8 volts (not necessarily a problem) and the light goes back to yellow (this is the troubling part for me). I haven't hooked any load up to the system yet. I started the system a few weeks ago and I've simply been trying to get the light to stay green over night before setting up output systems (inverter/lights etc...). I'm following inetdog's advice this morning and running an equalize cycle as it's a nice sunny day and I don't have the DMM or the specific gravity battery tester. I plan to borrow these things and do your tests this week. I'm wondering about your advice of testing cells under heavy charging. Do you mean for me to open the cells while the betteries are charging and use the SG battery tester? Can the cells be opened while being charged and while load is being drawn? Is that safe? Just making sure I understand you correctly before I burn my face off or something! Thanks. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Oh OK. Got it. So not a sign that I have a faulty panel or two. Thanks. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceI'm following inetdog's advice this morning and running an equalize cycle as it's a nice sunny day and I don't have the DMM or the specific gravity battery tester.
If you don't have a hydrometer for checking specific gravity it's going to be impossible to do a proper EQ. You need to check the SG before and after the EQ cycle to see if there's been any improvement.I'm wondering about your advice of testing cells under heavy charging. Do you mean for me to open the cells while the betteries are charging and use the SG battery tester?
I believe Bill was referring to watching the Voltage when a heavy load is applied; it will go down. If it goes down too much either the load is too heavy for the battery capacity or the capacity is diminished from spec. Possibly too short of an Absorb time is coming in to play here.Can the cells be opened while being charged and while load is being drawn? Is that safe? Just making sure I understand you correctly before I burn my face off or something! Thanks.
Safe is a relative term. They will bubble and gas and even spit acid a bit. It's also flammable, should you short a terminal with a wrench while the H & O are bubbling forth. You can indeed check SG while charging; just beware that it is nasty stuff that is bad for your and your clothes and all the metal around. Most of the time it will just be a bit of mist, but have some damp rags handy to wipe any spills on anything - including yourself. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceHi Bill. The batteries are flooded Deka DC15 6 Volt batteries. It's already been established previously in this thread that I'm a bit undersized on the panel side for the 400+ Ah of battery capacity I have. The controller is up to 14.4 Volts during the day when the sun is shining, from maybe 10:00am until 3:00pm or so. It reaches the float stage as is should most days. The problem is when the sun sets it settles at 12.8 volts (not necessarily a problem) and the light goes back to yellow (this is the troubling part for me).
If your batteries drop to ~12.7 volts after ~3+ hour of resting (no charge/no discharge)--that is fine and ~100% full.
I am not sure why go to yellow (what brand/model of charge controller?) at that voltage. Do they explain the yellow light and what it means in detail?I haven't hooked any load up to the system yet. I started the system a few weeks ago and I've simply been trying to get the light to stay green over night before setting up output systems (inverter/lights etc...).
I would only "worry" if the battery voltage dropped to below ~12.2 volts (resting after loading) or below ~11.5 volts under heavy load. If you are getting 14.4 volts into your battery bank for more than 2-4 hours per day (especially if not loaded yet)--You are doing fine (assuming no parasitic loads such as an idling AC inverter to address).I'm following inetdog's advice this morning and running an equalize cycle as it's a nice sunny day and I don't have the DMM or the specific gravity battery tester. I plan to borrow these things and do your tests this week.
Yep--without these tools, you are flying blind with the yellow LED...
If you can justify and have a US Sears nearby--I would highly recommend the DC Current Clamp+DMM meter for ~$60. And that hydrometer (almost everyone needs two--A backup because sooner or later the first hydrometer will roll off a flat surface and fall/break).I'm wondering about your advice of testing cells under heavy charging.
I recommend using a DMM to measure cell (or battery) voltage while charging. If you have access to cell bus bars or because you are using 6 volt batteries and can measure battery +/- voltage--you are looking for differences. Cells/batteries with higher voltages (fully charged, open cell, bad cable connection, bad cable) or lower than "other battery" voltages (low charge cell, shorted cell, poor current sharing between parallel strings, etc.). Basically, looking for anything unusual and trying to figure out that if that "unusual reading" needs to be addressed (cleaning connection, equalization, etc.).Do you mean for me to open the cells while the betteries are charging and use the SG battery tester?
Usually, you really do not want to open the caps while charging--bubbling electrolyte will make a mess (as always, use goggles/face guard to keep acid from eyes/face, remove jewelery, insulate the metal handles of tools with electrical tape, etc.). Hydrogen gas present--no sparks.
You should check/log all the cells' SG after charging (variations > ~0.015 to 0.030 would suggest equalization is needed). And log the temperature corrected SG readings.
Equalization should be around 5% of the AH rating maximum (100 AH battery bank, ~5 amps maximum current needed). Check cell SG readings every ~30 minutes--Stop when all cells stop rising or if battery > 120F (log temp. corrected readings--this is your new "full charge" SG readings).
Always make sure plates are covered before charging / equalization--Only fill to "fill level" after batteries have been charged/equalized (about 1/2 full--don't fill when cold, electrolyte expands and bubbles from charging can spit electrolyte out of cell onto battery top).Can the cells be opened while being charged and while load is being drawn? Is that safe? Just making sure I understand you correctly before I burn my face off or something! Thanks.
Done correctly (with goggles/face shield, no exposed metal tools, necklaces, wearing old clothes, etc.)--Yes it is safe. My suggestion is to leave the caps resting on cell to keep splatter down--Others here, with more experience than I, can give you better suggestions. One good suggestion I have seen is to use a small battery powered head lamp (batteries are usually in a dark corner somewhere).
Note--If you use a cotton rag to wipe of the acid--Neutralize with water+baking soda (you should keep a bottle of water next to you in case you need to rinse your face). It is possible for a cotton rage with acid to catch fire when tossed in garbage.
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceCariboocoot wrote: »Welcome to the forum.
The KD135's Vmp is 17.5, so no worries there. They put out 7.5 Imp, so with a PWM type controller your maximum charge current will be roughly 30 Amps, well below the TriStar's maximum capacity, so no worries there either. 30 Amps peak current into 400 Amp hours of battery is a maximum charge rate of 7.5%, so again no worries; should work.
Worries: battery Voltage is at <12.75 most of the time. Sounds like they were not fully charged to begin with and aren't getting there due to inclement weather.
Check the battery wiring, first of all. It should correspond to method #2 here: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html (Differences being they show four in parallel instead of two, and only one battery instead of a string of two).
What to do: disconnect half the batteries (one string) so that the other two get full charging benefit. They should come up fully in one day if you get reasonable amount of sun. Do the same for the other half the next day. If you can not get enough sun on them, you need a supplemental charging source to Bulk those batteries up ASAP. This means either utility power or generator + battery charger.
Hi Cariboocoot. I was reading the above response from you and was checking out method #2 at the link you provided and was having a bit of trouble making heads or tails. I understand the idea that you want to be drawing load from opposite ends of the battery system so as to have an even distribution of drawdown, but had trouble relating that idea to my set up. I then had the idea to take a photo to show you. It is attached with (hopefully) helpful notes from me. Not my best work in Illustrator but hopefully sheds light on anything I could do better in my wiring. One question I had is should I move my Negative connection from the controller to the batteries down, to the negative on the lower right hand battery. I tried to ask this in my image as well. Let me know if it's too confusing, or if you (or anyone else) have some insight. Thanks. Hmm... trying to get the attachment function to work and it won't accept my .jpg. I've tried making it smaller (2 or so Mb) and I've tried another format. Let me know how I can get this image to you. Thanks again.
Error Message: The following errors occurred:
Battery Layout.jpg: Upload of file failed. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
Thanks for all the info. It seems like the only problem may be the yellow LED, or something with the controller because by your description above, the readings and batteries behave as thought they're full. Like I said I haven't actually drawn anything from them so don't have the benefit of seeing how they behave under load but they haven't rested as low as 12.2 since the first day I hooked them up and began charging them. The lowest I've seen them is 12.8 for about a week now. The controller is a Morningstar Tristar 60 (non MPPT). I've double and triple checked the settings and connections for the controller (DIP switches and all that) and it seems to be functioning perfectly except for that dern yeller light. Maybe I just gots me a bad light! I'll be investing in the SG and the DMM this week to be sure. Thanks. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
The "TS" family has a place you can connect a "remote battery voltage sense lead" to more accurately measure battery voltage--A really nice thing--But not required and does not sound like an issue for your system at this point.
You may have to call MorningStar customer support and ask them the question--There are sometimes issues with configuration/problems with the hardware.
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
I don't know why your jpg won't load. Did you try the "basic uploader" to add the file?
Reading through the TriStar manual I see that the LED indicators SOC functioning is dependent on the LVD setting and I wonder if this is what is giving you the yellow light; LVD set high. SW1 should be "OFF" to read charging rather than LVD. Since "autosense" may also give false readings, SW2 should be "OFF" and SW3 should be "ON". You've probably checked this 20 times already. :roll:
Also, do you have the separate 'battery sense' wires attached? That will give the controller more accurate information about battery Voltage. It's a two screw terminal block to the right of the large (+) connections. The remote temp sensor is the block next to the (-) connections. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceCariboocoot wrote: »I don't know why your jpg won't load. Did you try the "basic uploader" to add the file?
Reading through the TriStar manual I see that the LED indicators SOC functioning is dependent on the LVD setting and I wonder if this is what is giving you the yellow light; LVD set high. SW1 should be "OFF" to read charging rather than LVD. Since "autosense" may also give false readings, SW2 should be "OFF" and SW3 should be "ON". You've probably checked this 20 times already. :roll:
Also, do you have the separate 'battery sense' wires attached? That will give the controller more accurate information about battery Voltage. It's a two screw terminal block to the right of the large (+) connections. The remote temp sensor is the block next to the (-) connections.
I do have the battery sense wires and the remote temp sensor. I tried both the basic uploader and the other one. I have checked the manual quite a few times. I don't think I've thought of the SOC/LVD relationship though. I will explore further. Thanks. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
I think I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery BalanceI do have the battery sense wires and the remote temp sensor. I tried both the basic uploader and the other one. I have checked the manual quite a few times. I don't think I've thought of the SOC/LVD relationship though. I will explore further. Thanks.
Alright. I feel a bit stupid. I should first say that my old controller was the Morningstar Proline, which controlled both the charging and the load. It has three little lights just like my new controller. On the old one they refer to the State of Charge. Green = full, Yellow = Yield, and Red = Stop and look both ways, because your batteries are dead/dying. I assumed this was the case with my new controller. Shame on Morningstar for not making this terribly clear in the step by step instructions, but also shame on me for not reading the entire booklet down to the last three pages where the Tech Specs are. There is a little section that tells exactly what the lights mean and they simply refer to the voltage of the batteries not the state of their charge. This is why it would light up green during the day and settle back down to yellow at night. If I were using it as a load controller it would function the other way, telling me the State of Charge and using the lights the way my old controller did. I'm pretty sure there are multiple lessons to be learned here, and I'm sure they will dawn on me all day today at work, but the main thing is that I'm grateful that I found this forum, and this (non) problem forced me to learn more about what I was dealing with. I plan on using my old Prostar as a load controller and I'll bet dimes to doughnuts as soon as I hook it up the little green light goes on. The learning can hurt Thanks again and you can bet this will be my first stop next time I think I have a problem! ~Raven -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balance
i can guarantee the old cc leds were not the soc of the batteries and only rough voltage indications from the batteries. -
Re: Recently Upgraded Wondering About Panel/Battery Balancei can guarantee the old cc leds were not the soc of the batteries and only rough voltage indications from the batteries.
Which is what the manual of the TriStar says about them. It's more or less V +margin to indicate SOC. Not very accurate in either case.
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