MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

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System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Even if I use my batteries to provide electric so that the MPPT goes down to 248, in the morning when the sun comes up and gets past the shadow problem the FLOAT light comes on in about an hour, well, no. Less than that if the sun is past the shadow.

Yesterday when I went in to check on how it was doing, the FLOAT light was blinking and the numbers were 289 and then it went to 223 and it went to some other numbers, in real rapid succession. And there was a sizzling noise.

I tried to take a picture of it later, but I was also afraid to let it happen again.

What do you think that sizzling noise means?

Do you think it's odd or normal for the numbers to jump around so much?

Do you think this has to do with the loose wire that's hanging down from the MPPT?

In order not to have the FLOAT I have to keep boiling water, and it takes all my time.

I'm afraid to let the FLOAT stay on if it does that sizzling noise... why would it do that?
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  • GreenerPower
    GreenerPower Solar Expert Posts: 264 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #2
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    Check the battery cables and PV cable connections at the charge controller. Tighten the lugs/screws if necessary. Those sizzling noise could be from the loose connections.
    GP
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #3
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on
    GreenerPower wrote: »
    Check the battery cables and PV cable connections at the charge controller. Tighten the lugs/screws if necessary. Those sizzling noise could be from the loose connections.
    GP


    And they only happen when the FLOAT light is on and the numbers are radically flipping around?

    (portion editted by niel) Thanks, though.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    karen,
    i do trust that you are not holding everybody on this forum as being responcible for your solar installation and its lack of performance. we do empathize and try to help when we can. maybe it is time you made the installer of your system responcible for what you complain of. i think it to be unfortunate that either your system is faulty or that you lack the intellectual responcibilty of being able to use it correctly or both. just because you have a problem does not allow you to extend the responcibilty of that problem to others that are not responcible for it, especially when many are trying to help you. we cannot say for sure what all is going on with your system, but in light of seeing the pvs mounted below the roof of i believe the garage enough that causes shading of your pvs that that shows to me an irresponcibility on the part of the installer and any number of other faults could be present that we may not be aware of or be able to confirm. even if we were know what's wrong we cannot make right what is wrong as we are not responcible for your system install.

    we feel your frustration, but you may need to go after the installer and/or hire another to make right what is wrong with it. you do at the very least need to educate yourself on the system you have and know what it is capable of and that entails the responcibility of properly operating it. if what you want is to just be an appliance operator and plug whatever you want into the system for unlimited time periods then you should never have ventured into solar as you need the a utility company to carry the responcibility for you and for that service you will be billed and as such the extent of your responcibility is to pay or do without entirely. if this is a legitimate problem for you then you should not be on your own and consider a nursing home or some other facility that can insure your safety and take that responcibility that you have troubles with.

    please do not feel anger towards any of us here on the forum for your problems as most here try to help if they can. i do hope you get the help that you need in whatever areas that may encompass and i am sorry that we could not have done more for you. i'm wishing you well and good luck with your efforts. if you so choose to come back and ask us more questions, you are very welcome to do so and if we can help, we will as long as you know that we are not responcible for you or your system install.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #5
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on
    niel wrote: »
    karen,
    i do trust that you are not holding everybody on this forum as being responcible for your solar installation and its lack of performance.

    Of course not.

    The installer did a faulty job. I can see that. I bought things to help me not make mistakes using my system and his electrician did not connect them right and now my batteries are ruined... in addition to the PV array being placed a few inches in the wrong place.

    we do empathize and try to help when we can. maybe it is time you made the installer of your system responcible for what you complain of. i think it to be unfortunate that either your system is faulty or that you lack the intellectual responcibilty of being able to use it correctly or both.

    I am perfectly capable of using my system. HOwever there were serious errors in installation: the placement of the pv array and the battery monitor which I bought becuase of my disability to make it easy for me not to ruin my batteries was not installed right. and I'm furious and I don't care to be this angry at him. because it is not good for my health. It's insulting to blame this on me.

    just because you have a problem does not allow you to extend the responcibilty of that problem to others that are not responcible for it, especially when many are trying to help you. we cannot say for sure what all is going on with your system, but in light of seeing the pvs mounted below the roof of i believe the garage enough that causes shading of your pvs that that shows to me an irresponcibility on the part of the installer and any number of other faults could be present that we may not be aware of or be able to confirm. even if we were know what's wrong we cannot make right what is wrong as we are not responcible for your system install.

    we feel your frustration, but you may need to go after the installer and/or hire another to make right what is wrong with it. you do at the very least need to educate yourself on the system you have and know what it is capable of and that entails the responcibility of properly operating it.

    Look, I bought the battery monitor. I watched it all the time, now I watch the numbres on the MPPT. But the batteries are very much ruined. Not totally, but they don't have much capacity. And they were expensive. Still I'm glad I have the system.

    if what you want is to just be an appliance operator and plug whatever you want into the system for unlimited time periods then you should never have ventured into solar as you need the a utility company to carry the responcibility for you

    the utility company endangered my life. I would prefer to have my own system. Which I now have. I see no reason I should not be able to buy it and use it. People bought cars and drove them away from showrooms after cars were invented without knowing how to drive. And if they hadn't there wouldn't be any car industry today.

    HOw many people who drive cars venture into buying them simply because they want to operate them, and without any knowledge of the workings?

    and for that service you will be billed and as such the extent of your responcibility is to pay or do without entirely.

    When I asked for two days to transfer the money and they shut me off instead I wasn't prepared like I am now for the cold. and it hurt my health. I will not pay them now if htye were so eager to hurt me then rather than accept their money in two days. MOre people should take a stand against unwarranted meanness.

    if this is a legitimate problem for you then you should not be on your own and consider a nursing home

    give it up. My gosh. what an insult.

    or some other facility that can insure your safety and take that responcibility that you have troubles with.

    please do not feel anger towards any of us here on the forum for your problems as most here try to help if they can.

    I began writing the part at the bottom which explains exactly where I think the personal responsibility is lacking and the misleading approach that I find less than attractive.

    i do hope you get the help that you need in whatever areas that may encompass and i am sorry that we could not have done more for you.

    The help with the wires was good. I just don't like to see praise lauded on someone who didn't keep his word, and then it be made to seem as if I have a problem, not the word breaker.

    i'm wishing you well and good luck with your efforts. if you so choose to come back and ask us more questions, you are very welcome to do so and if we can help, we will as long as you know that we are not responcible for you or your system install.


    I object to a moderator lauding praise on a member of the forum who did not keep his word and then making it sound as if I were the one who behaved badly.

    I'm just so tired of this kind of thing. I have this frustrating FRUSTRATING brain injury and I'm heating with candles and it's because I could not get accommodation in court, nor due process.

    I'm just fed up and I'm not going to be polite about being treated this way anymore. I wasn't treated this way when I didn't have a disability... I don't know how my disability can affect so many things, maybe I don't check the way I used to, I don't know.

    But it is wrong for me to have worked decades paying for my condo and for it to have been built over a privy pit that caused toxins inside and then for me to fix it and have it foreclosed an sold without any notice to me ... AFTER I answered. It's just wrong and it's going to be 3 degrees tonight, and ...

    Here's my avocado page, where more of it by far than not is pretty positive:
    http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com/Avocado-Compost-and-Tinfoil.html
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #6
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    Very well said Niel. The time had come when it needed to be said. Thank you.
    Sorry you feel that way Karen, the members here may not always tell people like yourself what they want to hear, but at the same time they will not intentionally steer anyone wrong.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    karen,
    from you,
    "I object to a moderator lauding praise on a member of the forum who did not keep his word and then making it sound as if I were the one who behaved badly."

    i am not praising or deploring anybody on this forum, but i must reiterate that we are not responcible for your dilemmas. you do make inference that some of us on this forum are responcible for you and your setup and i wish for you to stop such inferences of that nature. there will not be any arguement over this. i will deem anymore inferences posted by you to be false and harassment. any arguement to the contrary or with me may be addressed to me in a pm. failure for you to do so and it being subsequently reported to me will result in said post or portions thereof being deleted.
    now stick to the subjects without your adlib comments directed at other members here.
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  • crewzer
    crewzer Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    NOTICE: The post below is a purely technical answer to a technical question. I hope it’s technically valid, and that it’s useful to the OP as well as to other members. It’s possible that my assessment and/or recommendation may not solve any problem, either real or imagined, described by the OP. Any use of the information presented here, or any consequences of the use, misuse, or misunderstanding of said information, is the responsibility of the user. Any off-topic response by the OP will cause this post to be deleted.
    MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on
    Even if I use my batteries to provide electric so that the MPPT goes down to 248, in the morning when the sun comes up and gets past the shadow problem the FLOAT light comes on in about an hour, well, no. Less than that if the sun is past the shadow.

    Yesterday when I went in to check on how it was doing, the FLOAT light was blinking and the numbers were 289 and then it went to 223 and it went to some other numbers, in real rapid succession. And there was a sizzling noise.

    I tried to take a picture of it later, but I was also afraid to let it happen again.

    What do you think that sizzling noise means?

    Do you think it's odd or normal for the numbers to jump around so much?

    Do you think this has to do with the loose wire that's hanging down from the MPPT?

    In order not to have the FLOAT I have to keep boiling water, and it takes all my time.

    I'm afraid to let the FLOAT stay on if it does that sizzling noise... why would it do that?
    Believe it or not, I think the controller’s “sizzling noise” may well be a good sign. I suspect that the noise is the mechanical resonation of the controller circuit’s PWM operation to maintain the target FLOAT voltage. The BZ MPPT 500 controller uses the FLOAT name to describe what is generically referred to as the absorb stage. Here’s the relevant section from the user manual:
    "The float voltage of the MPPT 500 is calibrated to 14.1 volts. When the battery voltage reaches 14.1 volts the red Float LED turns on. At this point, charge current to the battery will gradually diminish to maintain the 14.1 float voltage. As soon a load is turned on, maximum charge current is applied to the battery."
    The 14.1 V reference of course applies to a nominal 12 V system. For a 24 V system, the corresponding value (reference a battery temperature of 77 F) would be 28.2 V (or 282 on the display). Assuming my assessment is correct, the noise may mean that the controller is in generic absorb mode (fixed target voltage, current limiting) and that the batteries are being recharged to some degree.

    I have no explanation for the various numbers (289 and 223; clouds? electric burner cycling?), but 289 looks good to me if the FLOAT light is on and temp comp is included. Additionally, I find it telling that adding loads (i.e., boiling water) turns off the FLOAT mode. This behavior suggests to me that the inverter load is exceeding the array current, which in turn causes the controller to return to bulk mode, which turns off the “noisy” current limiting behavior.

    Based on info in the BZ manual and assuming the controller is properly configured, FLOAT mode is a good thing for the batteries. In fact, two or three hours a day of FLOAT mode would be great. Ideally, once the controller has been in FLOAT mode for twenty or thirty minutes, small loads might be applied as long as they don’t cause the controller to drop out of FLOAT mode.

    On-topic technical comments are encouraged and welcome.

    Regards,
    Jim / crewzer
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #9
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    Jim, I agree with both your technical assessment and disclaimer. In fact the very first technical thoughts that came to mind, on reading the original question, were identical to yours. That type of noise was a regular thing when I was using a TS-60 in the Absorb, or Float modes. The noise was a simple by-product of the PWM switching circuits in the controller, doing their job.
    The MX-60 I’m now using, is silent in that regard. A different design in a different installation.
    I hereby declare that the disclaimer attached to Jim’s posted answer, also applies to this posted answer of mine. I make no warranties of any kind, in any way, shape or form to any person/s, business, group, or organization. It is simply my personal educated opinion.
    Regards.
    Wayne
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  • Ralph Day
    Ralph Day Solar Expert Posts: 1,019 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    I for one, think it's extremely unfortunate that after all the advice and opinions that have been given, in good faith, a moderator has to preface a posting with a "discalimer"!

    If we can't play in our sandbox without this type of behavior being a necessity (on the part of a moderator, visitor or member), maybe we should just take our shovels and pails and go home.:cry:

    ralph
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #11
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    Re: MPPT made a sizzling noise yesterday when FLOAT was on

    Yes, it's very unfortunate, but bare in mind that this is a very isolated case in the great history of this awesome form. Hopefully "common sense" will prevail in the future and disclaimers will once again prove unnecessary.
    Cheers to all
    Wayne
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