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My negative experience with my solar charger Epever Tracer10415AN and a warning for using it with Lithium Battery

falgsc-al said:
I have changed my parameters, except for system voltage, several dozen times and never disconnected sufficient to call it a reboot until I made a wiring change. Making small changes to the charging parameters took instantly upon upload or saving from the MT50 before I started running them in parallel. When I changed them during the solar day the unit would zero out and build back up to the mppt point.
Click to expand...

I believe that's been my experience as well with the Epever units I've tested with. (Tracer1210AN/Tracer3210AN/Tracer4210AN/Tracer8420)
 
Symbioquine said:
I believe that's been my experience as well with the Epever units I've tested with. (Tracer1210AN/Tracer3210AN/Tracer4210AN/Tracer8420)
Click to expand...
How often are your chargers moving out of Boost Charge Phase? (mine never has, it’s never come close to fully-charging my battery because I drain it every night, so it wakes up every morning in boost and stays there until the sun goes down…)
 
This was during the summer:

1632963090106.png

fafrd said:
How often are your chargers moving out of Boost Charge Phase? (mine never has, it’s never come close to fully-charging my battery because I drain it every night, so it wakes up every morning in boost and stays there until the sun goes down…)
Click to expand...

I have relatively small fixed loads on the system (12v Pb chemistry in this case) that graph above is from so there's plenty of sun during the summer to get past the boost phase - though not really an ideal amount of float charging...

What were you hoping to learn from this question though?
 
Symbioquine said:
This was during the summer:

View attachment 66935



I have relatively small fixed loads on the system (12v Pb chemistry in this case) that graph above is from so there's plenty of sun during the summer to get past the boost phase - though not really an ideal amount of float charging...

What were you hoping to learn from this question though?
Click to expand...
Oh, there’s another thread from Epever AN owners where he had difficulty getting new settings to have effect and he came to the conclusion that new settings he had downloaded only took effect once his Epever AN-Series exited Boost Mode.

Seems like you completed a Boost Charging Phase every day (and early at that), so unless you ever changed settings early in the day while you were still in boost and verified that the new settings took immediate effect, your experience may not nail the question shut.

My situation is the opposite of yours.

I’ve got a 14kWh battery that I drain to 10% every night and right now I’m only getting 5-6kWh of power from my PV/SCC during the day, so my battery pretty much barely makes it to ~50% SOC on a good day and my SCC never gets out of boost…

Whether it’s a fundamental issue with all AN-Series Epever SCCs or I just managed to trigger a bug that hit me into some stuck state, rebooting as Epever recommended finally solved my issue, so I’ll make a practice of going through that simple depower/repower sequence whenever changing any voltage settings…
 
fafrd said:
Oh, there’s another thread from Epever AN owners where he had difficulty getting new settings to have effect and he came to the conclusion that new settings he had downloaded only took effect once his Epever AN-Series exited Boost Mode.

Seems like you completed a Boost Charging Phase every day (and early at that), so unless you ever changed settings early in the day while you were still in boost and verified that the new settings took immediate effect, your experience may not nail the question shut.

My situation is the opposite of yours.

I’ve got a 14kWh battery that I drain to 10% every night and right now I’m only getting 5-6kWh of power from my PV/SCC during the day, so my battery pretty much barely makes it to ~50% SOC on a good day and my SCC never gets out of boost…

Whether it’s a fundamental issue with all AN-Series Epever SCCs or I just managed to trigger a bug that hit me into some stuck state, rebooting as Epever recommended finally solved my issue, so I’ll make a practice of going through that simple depower/repower sequence whenever changing any voltage settings…
Click to expand...

Ah I see, interesting...
 
Symbioquine said:
Ah I see, interesting...
Click to expand...
I’m actually very impressed with the capability and quality of these budget Epever AN-Series SCCs, but the documentation is absolute crap (as is the software, perhaps a smidge better).

My assessment is solid engineering but lousy product marketing…
 
fafrd said:
I’m actually very impressed with the capability and quality of these budget Epever AN-Series SCCs, but the documentation is absolute crap (as is the software, perhaps a smidge better).

My assessment is solid engineering but lousy product marketing…
Click to expand...
The PC software is not clever in dealing with the USB connection to the RS-485, on a PC which is coming in and out of sleep, I think. The human interface design is... meh. That said, I've been using it, and getting reasonable results.
 
Well. This, combined with my own experience (involving a different reseller) with a Tracer AN 20A and Tracer AN 40A (both have dead displays, at least, the 40A is running, and the reseller sent me an MT-50, which, BTW, does not play nice on RS-485 with the USB converter and the PC software. The 20A might run- I did not test it thoroughly, I just swapped in the 40A which I had already purchased for another application and set it aside), do not inspire confidence. That said, they work OK, with no more than 400 nominal watts of panels so far. Also they demanded quite a lot of time for climbing the learning curve on configuration.
Which brings up a question that's bugging me- why can't I find replacement display assemblies in a quick internet search? The reseller said he can't give me those. I haven't asked Epever about this. Maybe that should be next.
 
NPhil said:
Well. This, combined with my own experience (involving a different reseller) with a Tracer AN 20A and Tracer AN 40A (both have dead displays, at least, the 40A is running, and the reseller sent me an MT-50, which, BTW, does not play nice on RS-485 with the USB converter and the PC software. The 20A might run- I did not test it thoroughly, I just swapped in the 40A which I had already purchased for another application and set it aside), do not inspire confidence. That said, they work OK, with no more than 400 nominal watts of panels so far. Also they demanded quite a lot of time for climbing the learning curve on configuration.
Which brings up a question that's bugging me- why can't I find replacement display assemblies in a quick internet search? The reseller said he can't give me those. I haven't asked Epever about this. Maybe that should be next.
Click to expand...
Where did you purchase from?

Epever support is pretty responsive and they clearly have a lot of different product generations with a lot of stale inventory in various ‘bargain’ internet channels.

Especially when wanting support for Lithium batteries (including LiFePO4), it’s best to purchase from whatever channels Epever Support recommends and be sure you get a box with the special new markings related to newest product generation with Lithium support…
 
fafrd said:
Oh, there’s another thread from Epever AN owners where he had difficulty getting new settings to have effect and he came to the conclusion that new settings he had downloaded only took effect once his Epever AN-Series exited Boost Mode.

Seems like you completed a Boost Charging Phase every day (and early at that), so unless you ever changed settings early in the day while you were still in boost and verified that the new settings took immediate effect, your experience may not nail the question shut.

My situation is the opposite of yours.

I’ve got a 14kWh battery that I drain to 10% every night and right now I’m only getting 5-6kWh of power from my PV/SCC during the day, so my battery pretty much barely makes it to ~50% SOC on a good day and my SCC never gets out of boost…

Whether it’s a fundamental issue with all AN-Series Epever SCCs or I just managed to trigger a bug that hit me into some stuck state, rebooting as Epever recommended finally solved my issue, so I’ll make a practice of going through that simple depower/repower sequence whenever changing any voltage settings…
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if there's models/settings which do require a power cycle to take effect, but I just tested and confirmed that the boost voltage setting on a Tracer1210AN does take effect almost immediately even in boost mode. Happy to provide a screen capture if you want proof, but what I did is hook up a 24v power supply to the battery connection and my bench power supply to the solar input, then changed the boost voltage setting back and forth between 27v, 27.5v and 28v with my multimeter on the battery terminals of the SCC. In that test the voltage updated both in the SCC's own readings and on my multimeter within about 3 seconds. (No reboot/power-cycle was involved.)
 
Symbioquine said:
I wouldn't be surprised if there's models/settings which do require a power cycle to take effect, but I just tested and confirmed that the boost voltage setting on a Tracer1210AN does take effect almost immediately even in boost mode. Happy to provide a screen capture if you want proof, but what I did is hook up a 24v power supply to the battery connection and my bench power supply to the solar input, then changed the boost voltage setting back and forth between 27v, 27.5v and 28v with my multimeter on the battery terminals of the SCC. In that test the voltage updated both in the SCC's own readings and on my multimeter within about 3 seconds. (No reboot/power-cycle was involved.)
Click to expand...
No need for a screen capture, I believe you.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I performed that exact same test with a PSU before installing my AN 6420 (which exacerbated my confusion later when things worked differently).

Testing with a PSU, there is no charge current flowing, so it’s conceivable that actual charging underway is a requirement for this ‘lockout’ mode (if that’s what it actually is).

But in any case, I think the conclusion is that anytime you become concerned new settings may not have taken effect, take a minute to depower/repower (or always, if you want to be safe).
 
fafrd said:
Testing with a PSU, there is no charge current flowing, so it’s conceivable that actual charging underway is a requirement for this ‘lockout’ mode (if that’s what it actually is).
Click to expand...

Reasonable hypothesis anyway... :unsure:

fafrd said:
But in any case, I think the conclusion is that anytime you become concerned new settings may not have taken effect, take a minute to depower/repower (or always, if you want to be safe).
Click to expand...

(y)
 
When we buy goods from 12,000 miles away, just buy a new one and stock this one for spare parts. Better yet, buy a midnite classic and then you’ll have someone in the USA to fix it.
 
fafrd said:
Where did you purchase from?

Epever support is pretty responsive and they clearly have a lot of different product generations with a lot of stale inventory in various ‘bargain’ internet channels.

Especially when wanting support for Lithium batteries (including LiFePO4), it’s best to purchase from whatever channels Epever Support recommends and be sure you get a box with the special new markings related to newest product generation with Lithium support…
Click to expand...
Off the top of my head, I can't remember the name, but it was the cheapest price I saw that looked like an actual reseller for a Tracer AN 20A (and later, 40A). I couldn't figure out the lithium support vs. non-lithium support noise at that time (over a year ago), so I took a shot. They both have blue buttons, and charged lithium iron phosphate batteries well enough, as far as I can measure.
 
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fafrd said:
I gained no insight into what was causing my issue - did you?

If anyone thinks they’ve got a reliable and repeatable reset / reconnect sequence that starts an Epever AN SCC off correctly in a way that is is responsive to all user settings, it would be great to document that somewhere.

But my guess is that even Epever themselves may not understand causes these ‘ghosts’ in their AN-Series products (and hence may not know how they can reliably be avoided).
Click to expand...
Will has videos explaining connecting and disconnecting. Really informative videos.
 
Whew! I'm planning on a 4x200W system and recently stumbled on the Epever TRIRON 4215N 40A Solar Controller.
Per all my readings on the Triron, a 24V series/parallel panel config appears to fill my dreams.
Per the Amazon product seller's page, the Triron definitely supports LiFePo4 batts. I was planning on 3x100Ah ExpertPower lithiums.

Apparently this is not the case, a pipe dream that can turn into a nightmare.

My new search is now leaning toward the OUTBACK FLEXMax 60A. I'm not into China bashing, but having dealt with Amazon, middle-man distributers, et all, I figure the Outback at twice the cost is insurance against frustration, down time, and lost wages.

Thanks to all for your replies to this post, your opinions matter... onward and upward.
 
I have the EPEVER Tracer 4215BN, which does not include the "Li" in the list of usable chemistries. It has "user" and I was expecting to be able to program it for my 24v 280ah LiFePo4 battery. Should I be looking to purchase a different SCC?
 
aklb43 said:
I have the EPEVER Tracer 4215BN, which does not include the "Li" in the list of usable chemistries. It has "user" and I was expecting to be able to program it for my 24v 280ah LiFePo4 battery. Should I be looking to purchase a different SCC?
Click to expand...
You can set the user settings for lithium charging. If you scroll down the manual in the attached link if give you a list of the settings to use.
EPEver manual with Lithium settings

Any controller that has user settings that are able to be modified to these parameters is suitable.

Tim
 
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Tim Tim said:
You can set the user settings for lithium charging. If you scroll down the manual in the attached link if give you a list of the settings to use.
EPEver manual with Lithium settings

Any controller that has user settings that are able to be modified to these parameters is suitable.

Tim
Click to expand...
That is not the correct model. If you read through this comment thread, you notice that EPEVER told the guy that started this post, that if his model did not say it supported Lithium chemistry, it was not supported under the warranty. The model that I have is the EPEVER Tracer 4215BN, and it does not say anywhere that it supports Lithium chemistry. Here is a link to the correct manual. I'd rather spend more money and get one that's going to work than figure out its not while I'm off-grid.
 
I had an epever die on me too. Fortunately I got a 3rd party protection plan & they replaced it with a bit more out of pocket to get another. Epever is notorious for dying for no apparent reason but I decided to by so called Cadillac Victrons & damned if I've had more problems with them as bad as epever. I don't think anyone is making a quality charger anymore. Anybody having good service from another brand?
 
aklb43 said:
That is not the correct model. If you read through this comment thread, you notice that EPEVER told the guy that started this post, that if his model did not say it supported Lithium chemistry, it was not supported under the warranty. The model that I have is the EPEVER Tracer 4215BN, and it does not say anywhere that it supports Lithium chemistry. Here is a link to the correct manual. I'd rather spend more money and get one that's going to work than figure out its not while I'm off-grid.
Click to expand...
The manual I showed you also does not have a dedicated setting for lithium batteries, this is because there are numerous types of lithium batteries which require different charge rates. Instead you have to choose the user setting and nominate the values listed under the correct lithium type. The main issue is the equalisation charge which because you cant turn it off it is set to become a regular absorption cycle.

Yes, they now say that the charger is lithium compatible but that is just marketing and to say that the charger failed because it was used on a lithium battery is totally incorrect and simply a way to get out of warranty. Take a good search and you will find the answers.

In the end if you don’t feel comfortable changing the settings under the user profile then that is your decision and I am not going to go against what you feel comfortable with. I’m just explaining to you and the OP that where you have a user profile in which you are able to change the settings then you can set it up to control lithium batteries.

Good luck in what ever you decide to do.

The manual I attached was just to show you the user setting profile for a lithium battery.

Tim
 
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Tim Tim said:
The manual I showed you also does not have a dedicated setting for lithium batteries, this is because there are numerous types of lithium batteries which require different charge rates. Instead you have to choose the user setting and nominate the values listed under the correct lithium type. The main issue is the equalisation charge which because you cant turn it off it is set to become a regular absorption cycle.

Yes, they now say that the charger is lithium compatible but that is just marketing and to say that the charger failed because it was used on a lithium battery is totally incorrect and simply a way to get out of warranty. Take a good search and you will find the answers.

In the end if you don’t feel comfortable changing the settings under the user profile then that is your decision and I am not going to go against what you feel comfortable with. I’m just explaining to you and the OP that where you have a user profile in which you are able to change the settings then you can set it up to control lithium batteries.

Good luck in what ever you decide to do.

The manual I attached was just to show you the user setting profile for a lithium battery.

Tim
Click to expand...
The manual you posted does have setting for LifePo4.

I don't have a problem changing the user settings as long as it will work properly.

I can see that they may want to get out of a warranty by saying that, but what if there was something that is different between their SCCs that allows some to charge lithium correctly, and others not.

What are you referring to when you say, "The main issue is the equalization charge which because you cant turn it off it is set to become a regular absorption cycle."?
 
aklb43 said:
The manual you posted does have setting for LifePo4.

I don't have a problem changing the user settings as long as it will work properly.

I can see that they may want to get out of a warranty by saying that, but what if there was something that is different between their SCCs that allows some to charge lithium correctly, and others not.

What are you referring to when you say, "The main issue is the equalization charge which because you cant turn it off it is set to become a regular absorption cycle."?
Click to expand...
Lithium batteries do not require equalisation but under the user profile it is unable to be turned off so it is set to 14.6 or lower so it becomes like part of the absorption cycle.

At the bottom set absorption time to 0 mins.
Tim
 
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Etrain said:
I brought this charger Evpever Tracer 10415AN 12v,24v,48v 100amps solar charge controller, $412 w/ taxes, from a seller called Y-Solar on amazon back in May 2019 and after a year, I finally got my system set up and running in May this year. It was powering my 48v lithium ion battery bank and an AIM 5000watt 48v pure swine inverter. It was running great with no trouble until I decided to take my system offline so I can do some cleaning, and add a plexiglass door to the cabinet where I housed my system. I turned on my system accordingly, breaker to the battery first than breaker to the panel, inverter off.
Nothing. The charger would not turn on. Just blank.
I tested the terminals and there are adequate power from both the battery and solar. The 100amp fuse is good. I opened up the machine (seller requested pictures), nothing is loose or any visible signs of damage. I have a M50 attached to the charger and that is off also so it's not a broken LCD. All the wires are tight.
View attachment 26192View attachment 26193View attachment 26194View attachment 26195View attachment 26196View attachment 26197
On the amazon listing, the seller stated that the product is warranty for 2 years. So I contacted the seller about my issues, I sent them pictures and videos about the broken product. Hoping I send them the defective item and they send me a working one.
I was wrong.
First of all, the seller emphasized the fact that the charger doesn't support lithium ion battery. So I emailed the manufacture, at first that said
"
Hi,
Thank you for contacting us.
Yes, lithium battery is supported.
Have a nice day,
EPEVER Support
"
After I send the rebuttal to the seller, out of the blue, I got a follow up from Epever Support a few days later...
"
Tracer10145AN manufactured in the second half year of 2019 supports Lithium battery, products manufactured earlier do not support lithium battery. The quickest way to check whether the product received supports lithium battery or not is to check the label sticker that sticks on the product.
Texts "12V/24V/36V/48V" on the label means it does not support lithium battery.
Texts "12V/24V/36V/48V/Li" on the label means it supports lithium battery.
When I received your email, I thought you had not purchased the Tracer10415AN yet.
Have a nice day,
EPEVER Support
"
I had the charger set up as "user", I manually put in all the parameters correctly and it was working perfectly for months. I believe the solar charger was working fine with the lithium battery bank but the manufacturer claims mine doesn't supports lithium. The seller also send me an email echo what the manufacture said and saying this ....
"
Sorry I can't replace a new one to you. I provide you with 3 plans, see which one you can accept.
This product has 2 years of free repair service, you can choose to return to the factory for repair, but you need to pay for the return shipping. The time is about 30-45 days.
The second option is that after you send the product to our overseas warehouse address (shipping is paid), we will refund you $100.
The third option is that after you send the product to our overseas warehouse address (shipping is paid by yourself), pay an additional $200 to us, and we will send you a new 10415AN controller (this is an upgraded version that supports lithium batteries)
"
So to get the free repair, it seems like in any case, you will need to ship it to china and pay for the return shipping which can cost hundreds and on top 30-45 days for you to get it back! The other 2 options are just as ridiculous. Since its broken and just sitting at my house taking up space, fine, I decided to go with option 3. I asked for the address and if they can give me an invoice or receipt for this transaction. They replied:
"
I'm very sorry, we can only reissue 10415AN to you after resend the 10415 and 200 US dollars. （MT50 and No need to send other accessories）
You can receive the goods as soon as possible by sending them as soon as possible. There are still a few units in stock in the United States, otherwise we will have to wait for the next batch of shipping.
Overseas warehouse address:
Guxinghua GuXingHua
6215 NE 92nd Dr
C/O TPD112
Portland, Oregon, 97253
US
503-894-8090
Please send us the shipping certificate and tracking number after shipping.
We are very sorry that there is no invoice for this transaction.
"
I googled the address they gave me and it's for a company called USZCN INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS and these are the reviews for this place:
-"These people hacked my amazon account somehow and ordered an Apple Pencil. I saw I’m not the first person they did this to. Use your own money."
-"like others have said, they hacked my amazon acct to ship an apple pencil to themselves. oddly though, they did not use one of my cards. it is some random visa but they used my name as the 'name on card' so i'm very confused."
... and 9 other reviews claiming their Amazon acct got hacked by them.
Also they will not provide me with an invoice.
I also thought of the scenario of what happens if the "newer" lithium one is defective? Am I going to have to ship it to china to get it fix?
For $460 on a higher specs solar charger, I thought I would get a better product and customer service. Not in this case.
I decided to take my losses and ordered a 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller DC 12V24V48V Auto Battery Regulator PV 150V Input MPPT Charge Controller for Lithium, Sealed, Gel, and Flooded Batteries by OneSolar for $178, deliever in 2 days, plus if it broke within a year, Im just going to have Amazon deal with it.
Hopefully this post helps. Thanks for reading.

If anyone have any idea what could be the problem with my Tracer and troubleshoot it. Please let me know. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Did you ever find out the issue ?
Do you still have the unit.. I do electronics work.. maybe i could check it out for you..
You just pay the shipping..If i can't fix it,,, no charge.. If i can, i'll tell you 1st..
I like a challenge.
 
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