diy solar

diy solar

Parallel epever controller not charging

O

off.the.grid

New Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2021
Messages
144
Is there any trick to getting these controllers to charge alongside each other?
All my controllers are using the same settings but one controller in particular stops charging after a couple of hours, while the rest keep working throughout the day.
Was putting out 150w this morning and then shut off.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20240616_113842_Solar Guardian.jpg
    Screenshot_20240616_113842_Solar Guardian.jpg
    57.7 KB · Views: 9
Read this a couple times:

diysolarforum.com

Charging from multiple sources

One can have as many independent charging sources running concurrently as they like provided they are programmed properly for the voltage of one's battery bank. Examples (some or all at once, even multiples of a single type, different brands, etc.): Solar PV via MPPT Solar PV via PWM AC-DC...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com

Let it sink in. Come back with any questions.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
Read this a couple times:

diysolarforum.com

Charging from multiple sources

One can have as many independent charging sources running concurrently as they like provided they are programmed properly for the voltage of one's battery bank. Examples (some or all at once, even multiples of a single type, different brands, etc.): Solar PV via MPPT Solar PV via PWM AC-DC...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com

Let it sink in. Come back with any questions.
Click to expand...
Ok, that might explain why my largest array of panels at times is putting out less current than one of my smaller ones.
But after disconnecting those arrays and this controller still doesn't put out anything, so makes me wonder if it's developed a fault perhaps?
It appears to cut out when the voltage increases, I'm sure it will be back on again in the morning.
It cut out close to 29v, but the disconnect voltage is 30v.
That screenshot was taken early in the day and was still in the bulk charge stage, it's an AGM bank and needs a fair bit of time in the absorbtion stage to fully charge up.
We are in mid winter now and my bank went flat the other day when we had cloud.
It looks like this array has not been putting out much juice most of the time.
I have just installed the wifi dongle so I can monitor things easier.
I'm not sure if having all 3 on the wifi together will assist them in charging any better? I know the large models can be daisy chained together so they talk to each other.
 
I had a lot of trouble when I was running Epever SCCs. They would give very random behaviour and miss a lot of good solar production.

The best thing I ever did was replace all my Epevers with Victron SCCs.
 
off.the.grid said:
Is there any trick to getting these controllers to charge alongside each other?
All my controllers are using the same settings but one controller in particular stops charging after a couple of hours, while the rest keep working throughout the day.
Was putting out 150w this morning and then shut off.
Click to expand...
Yes .
Some epever you can connect together.
By the link systeem.
Wat model do you have ?

www.epever.com

PAL-ADP-50AN Parallel Adapter

PAL-ADP-50AN is an EPEVER parallel adapter for adjusting the charging current of multiple controllers connected to the battery in parallel.
www.epever.com www.epever.com

 
KnobCountry said:
Is that the issue where they fix on a voltage early in the morning and then never adjust as it gets brighter?

I returned an epever new in box the second I read that in an older thread.
Click to expand...
Meer info over it ?
I use epever and do not have a problem.
I do know that epever adjust on volt are not that graden for custom program.

Epever you can only adjust 0.1volt up or down.
Wel Victron do 0.01 volt adjust in the program.
 
Ive been running a pair of 4215bn's for years attached to a common battery bank.

Ran them at 24v at the old house and I'm using then with a 12v battery bank at the newer house.

Works fine. A member on here who had newer versions of the 4215bn controller flashed a new firmware to solve a charging issue. My old ones have the original firmware from back in the day.

I'm not familiar with any of the other mppt controllers epever makes.

One trick I use is bulk charge duration to make sure the batteries get fully charged first thing in the morning. Basically it makes the controllers more aggressive for x amount of time when they crank up in the morning for the duration you set it too at least from my experience with them.
 
Suijkerbuijk said:
Yes .
Some epever you can connect together.
By the link systeem.
Wat model do you have ?

www.epever.com

PAL-ADP-50AN Parallel Adapter

PAL-ADP-50AN is an EPEVER parallel adapter for adjusting the charging current of multiple controllers connected to the battery in parallel.
www.epever.com www.epever.com

Click to expand...
My main controller is a 6420AN and I have a couple of small 2210AN units.
It's one of the 2210AN's that's giving me the trouble.
I will look into those units, can it still let you connect them all together on the wifi?
Crowz said:
Ive been running a pair of 4215bn's for years attached to a common battery bank.

Ran them at 24v at the old house and I'm using then with a 12v battery bank at the newer house.

Works fine. A member on here who had newer versions of the 4215bn controller flashed a new firmware to solve a charging issue. My old ones have the original firmware from back in the day.

I'm not familiar with any of the other mppt controllers epever makes.

One trick I use is bulk charge duration to make sure the batteries get fully charged first thing in the morning. Basically it makes the controllers more aggressive for x amount of time when they crank up in the morning for the duration you set it too at least from my experience with them.
Click to expand...
Is bulk charge the same as boost charge? I think maximum is 180 minutes which it's set to.
 
Regardless of others poo-pooing EPEVER, they work well, and work well paralleled. In my case across multiple 4210AN's using multiple firmware versions.

I would not, however, mix different models as you have done. That is probably why you aren't getting good results.

Another thing that you need to take into account, and this issue is shared by ALL equipment, regardless of mgfr, is that two identical pieces of gear may have small differences btwn. them that manifests as small voltage offsets. One might read your battery bank at, say 25V, the other at 25.2V. Esp. with LFP, where a small V difference is a big SOC difference, it can matter.

Use a known accurate DVM (yep, those have inaccuracies too) to check. Then simply add or subtract the error when programming params.

You ARE programming the settings individually with an EPEVER app or via MODBUS right? Not using the built-in presets? Manual programming is necessary. And don't expect to get it right first go. It'll take several days of making small changes.
 
v_green57 said:
Regardless of others poo-pooing EPEVER, they work well, and work well paralleled. In my case across multiple 4210AN's using multiple firmware versions.

I would not, however, mix different models as you have done. That is probably why you aren't getting good results.

Another thing that you need to take into account, and this issue is shared by ALL equipment, regardless of mgfr, is that two identical pieces of gear may have small differences btwn. them that manifests as small voltage offsets. One might read your battery bank at, say 25V, the other at 25.2V. Esp. with LFP, where a small V difference is a big SOC difference, it can matter.

Use a known accurate DVM (yep, those have inaccuracies too) to check. Then simply add or subtract the error when programming params.

You ARE programming the settings individually with an EPEVER app or via MODBUS right? Not using the built-in presets? Manual programming is necessary. And don't expect to get it right first go. It'll take several days of making small changes.
Click to expand...
Yes I programmed using the app and the wifi module.
Set the battery parameters on all of them to the specs on the battery datasheet.
Everything seemed OK to begin with.
All the other controllers appear to be working fine.
The reason I'm using different models is because I'm not going to use the same large and expensive controller that connects to several 400w panels when these 2 smaller arrays are only bout 4-500w or so each.
I have never noticed any differences in the voltage readout either.
My DVM was not far off the readings either.
Regarding SOC, I think it's getting this wrong.
Says it's only 38% which can't be right.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20240617_084511_Solar Guardian.jpg
    Screenshot_20240617_084511_Solar Guardian.jpg
    54.9 KB · Views: 3
  • Screenshot_20240617_093558_Solar Guardian.jpg
    Screenshot_20240617_093558_Solar Guardian.jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 3
The EPEVER SOC is nothing but an arbitrary "best guess" and no stock should be taken in it.

If one of them stops charging and the other(s) don't, I found that was because the one that didn't thought that the batteries were fully charged and stopped charging. That was usually due to the voltage discrepancies described above - the "other" SCC's pushed the voltage high enough that the "disconnecting" one didn't see the need to keep charging and stopped.

"It cut out close to 29v, but the disconnect voltage is 30v."

The other SCC's may be pushing the voltage higher than the config app and SCC itself is reporting if the ACTUAL voltage is lower.

To be sure it's not a SCC issue with the "problem" device, temporarily take it out of the mix and set it up separately, with it's own panel and battery.
 
v_green57 said:
The EPEVER SOC is nothing but an arbitrary "best guess" and no stock should be taken in it.

If one of them stops charging and the other(s) don't, I found that was because the one that didn't thought that the batteries were fully charged and stopped charging. That was usually due to the voltage discrepancies described above - the "other" SCC's pushed the voltage high enough that the "disconnecting" one didn't see the need to keep charging and stopped.

"It cut out close to 29v, but the disconnect voltage is 30v."

The other SCC's may be pushing the voltage higher than the config app and SCC itself is reporting if the ACTUAL voltage is lower.

To be sure it's not a SCC issue with the "problem" device, temporarily take it out of the mix and set it up separately, with it's own panel and battery.
Click to expand...
Ok, so if I set the charge voltage parameters slightly higher than the rest it should correct this?
What I do know is if I switch off all the other charge controllers, this one still won't turn back on.
Anyway so far it's still running this morning, but it's more of a cloudy day. Around this time the other day it had completely switched itself off, but I was getting 150w out of it, whereas today it's barely hitting 20w.
I've really only been able to see what's going on after installing the wifi module. I know I had issues a while back on this unit but thought I had addressed it.
I'm thinking it will be a good idea to add a wifi module to all of them to compare combined output.
 
off.the.grid said:
Ok, so if I set the charge voltage parameters slightly higher than the rest it should correct this?
What I do know is if I switch off all the other charge controllers, this one still won't turn back on.
Anyway so far it's still running this morning, but it's more of a cloudy day. Around this time the other day it had completely switched itself off, but I was getting 150w out of it, whereas today it's barely hitting 20w.
I've really only been able to see what's going on after installing the wifi module. I know I had issues a while back on this unit but thought I had addressed it.
I'm thinking it will be a good idea to add a wifi module to all of them to compare combined output.
Click to expand...

From the link I provided, it's important to remember that multiple chargers only benefit when in bulk mode (before absorption/boost voltage). If you're already at the boost/absorption voltage, the battery won't accept any more power/current than is needed to maintain that voltage as it fills.
 
off.the.grid said:
Ok, so if I set the charge voltage parameters slightly higher than the rest it should correct this?
What I do know is if I switch off all the other charge controllers, this one still won't turn back on.
Anyway so far it's still running this morning, but it's more of a cloudy day. Around this time the other day it had completely switched itself off, but I was getting 150w out of it, whereas today it's barely hitting 20w.
I've really only been able to see what's going on after installing the wifi module. I know I had issues a while back on this unit but thought I had addressed it.
I'm thinking it will be a good idea to add a wifi module to all of them to compare combined output.
Click to expand...

I know it's a hassle, but to really, really find out what's going on:

"To be sure it's not a SCC issue with the "problem" device, temporarily take it out of the mix and set it up separately, with it's own panel and battery."

It may be that the SCC really does have a problem. In which case it'll be harder to find when connected with a bunch of other stuff.

This:

"Anyway so far it's still running this morning, but it's more of a cloudy day. Around this time the other day it had completely switched itself off, but I was getting 150w out of it, whereas today it's barely hitting 20w."

fits with what we've already touched on as that means your other SCC's aren't pushing the battery voltage as high as well.
 
off.the.grid said:
Is there any trick to getting these controllers to charge alongside each other?
All my controllers are using the same settings but one controller in particular stops charging after a couple of hours, while the rest keep working throughout the day.
Was putting out 150w this morning and then shut off.
Click to expand...
Many people (myself included) have had trouble with epevers getting "stuck" at battery volts and not charging. Usually when a cloud goes over or first light startup. It has happened to me many times while not paralleling. Reseting the string gets them going but who wants to sit around everything a cloud goes by to restart their charge controller?

I sent mine back to Amazon and bought Victron SCCs.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
From the link I provided, it's important to remember that multiple chargers only benefit when in bulk mode (before absorption/boost voltage). If you're already at the boost/absorption voltage, the battery won't accept any more power/current than is needed to maintain that voltage as it fills.
Click to expand...

Don't forget about what's directly going to the loads and not charging the battery...if you're at float, and you kick the toaster oven on, you're less likely to fall out and go into "re-boost" if all the SCC's can contribute.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
From the link I provided, it's important to remember that multiple chargers only benefit when in bulk mode (before absorption/boost voltage). If you're already at the boost/absorption voltage, the battery won't accept any more power/current than is needed to maintain that voltage as it fills.
Click to expand...
Im pretty sure it was still in the bulk stage, it was still mid morning and the battery had a way to go before charging, i will keep an eye on it next time it drops out.
Today we had a fair bit of cloud and the battery was pretty much in the bulk stage all day, the battery may have only gotten to 80% or so, not too sure, but the bank was down to just over 25V after the sun went down and currently its at 24.8V
 
off.the.grid said:
Im pretty sure it was still in the bulk stage, it was still mid morning and the battery had a way to go before charging, i will keep an eye on it next time it drops out.
Today we had a fair bit of cloud and the battery was pretty much in the bulk stage all day, the battery may have only gotten to 80% or so, not too sure, but the bank was down to just over 25V after the sun went down and currently its at 24.8V
Click to expand...

Installation issues are always in play. Any time you're having "odd" things happen, it's always a good idea to triple check that you've used the correct wire gauge, connections are properly torqued and crimps are of high quality, etc.
 
Last edited:
sunshine_eggo said:
Installation issues area always in play. Any time you're having "odd" things happen, it's always a good idea to triple check that you've used the correct wire gauge, connections are properly torqued and crimps are of high quality, etc.
Click to expand...
Yes the system was in bad shape when I moved in, corroded terminal connectors exposed in the weather among other things, i was surprised it was charging at all, replaced all the cables, installed waterproof MC4 connectors installed new controllers and got rid of the old PWM units, added a new array of panels and replaced the batteries.
The existing panels do still put out the stated output on a sunny day, so im confident something is just up with this controller.
Im tempted to replace the battery bank with lithium prismatic cells next on the list so want to make sure these controllers are working properly.
 
off.the.grid said:
Yes the system was in bad shape when I moved in, corroded terminal connectors exposed in the weather among other things, i was surprised it was charging at all, replaced all the cables, installed waterproof MC4 connectors installed new controllers and got rid of the old PWM units, added a new array of panels and replaced the batteries.
The existing panels do still put out the stated output on a sunny day, so im confident something is just up with this controller.
Im tempted to replace the battery bank with lithium prismatic cells next on the list so want to make sure these controllers are working properly.
Click to expand...

It would be better to figure out what's going on now, while you have the AGM. They are far more tolerant of weirdness.

Once again:

"To be sure it's not a SCC issue with the "problem" device, temporarily take it out of the mix and set it up separately, with it's own panel and battery."

To that I would add: Pick one of the presets for AGM and let it overwrite all your manually entered settings. It might not be as "tweaked" as you want, but it will be as close to a reset as you will get. If that works, "tweak" from there.
 
sunsurfer said:
I was running 5 EpNevers but.....I had the SAME problem running just one. I started a post way back when with a youtube video of someone having the same issue.

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/14v-low-light-epever-software-bug-or-back-feed-issue.46479/
Click to expand...
I do not have that problem with both of my epever
Wat i do have its that the float charge for lipo4 have to set on 14 volts or i do not have float charge .
Normal you set that on 13.6volt but than i have slow charge about 30%.
So the battery is stuck on 80% .

For the rest it charge now easy the max amps even in the morning.
Clouds a lot this last 3 weaks but i do have almost 10a Charge on the day. (Max is 16a)

But i have to say one epever is not the other epever .
Even if you program both the same way .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Outputs not matching
Replies
2
Views
164
MIKEY-W
M
G
Issue with EPEVER controller
Replies
4
Views
448
Glamper
G
M
Epever Controller Not Going From Float back to Bulk Charging
Replies
5
Views
521
Mark Schultz
M
A
No load, not using - dropping voltage - CC off overnight
Replies
18
Views
685
Checkthisout
C
A
EPEVER MPPT Problem
Replies
9
Views
362
Aleander
A

diy solar

diy solar
Back
Top