diy solar

diy solar

200 W kit parallel panels?

So just to make sure we're all following along at home here:

Panel A is plugged in, the SCC shows 4.9a,
Panel B is plugged in, the SCC shows 4.9a,
Panels A+B are BOTH plugged in and the SCC shows 5.2a?

Any chance you have a DMM with DC amp clamp and can wrap the wires to see what it says? It almost sounds like the SCC is FUBAR and capping your throughput to 5.2a.

EDIT:
Either that or the batteries are just full and not absorbing anything more than that which would be about the max rate I see on my little 35Ah-ish battery setups. I could throw a 10KW solar array at it and it would still only suck about 5a into the battery. What's your battery on there?
 
PaulLyons said:
I will check with a meter in the morning.

the battery is the pair of 20ah from the kit wired in parallel.
Click to expand...
There's the problem then. Those batteries can only absorb so many amps at a time, so your SCC is probably putting out 10a, but the batteries can only absorb about 2.5a each (they're small), so there's only 5a of draw on the system.

Run the batteries down with a load for a bit and see if the amperage increases. I would suspect not but it's worth a try. Either that or if you have access to a car battery you can clip in, one of those should draw a lot more amperage kicking your SCC into higher gear.
 
The BMS may be capable of 30a, but I highly doubt those tiny cells are. Try running it down to half or so and see if your amperage comes up.
 
Can you run a hair dryer on low in full sun, or a small toaster and drag the batteries down some? 600W is 50A
I think you’re just full charged as others have said
 
I tried hooking up a 500W heater to the inverter but I got an error code E04 which is supposed to be output short.

I hooked up a couple of lights ~140W. it's reporting about 11A load. at 12.2V

it's about 830 and the solar panel input current is reporting 0.4A.
 
PaulLyons said:
I tried hooking up a 500W heater to the inverter but I got an error code E04 which is supposed to be output short.
Click to expand...
Yup, you just maxed out the little inverter, not surprising with a 500w load.
PaulLyons said:
I hooked up a couple of lights ~140W. it's reporting about 11A load. at 12.2V
Click to expand...
That's 134+ watts, 11a is going to be pretty much your max generation capabilities out of a PWM controller. Looks like everything works right there.
PaulLyons said:
it's about 830 and the solar panel input current is reporting 0.4A.
Click to expand...
It's early, let your setup get some coffee in it first. :) The more direct and clear the sunlight hitting it, the more amperage it will produce.

Looking at all that info, I'd say your whole problem was just that the batteries were pretty full and didn't need all the amps. Once you put the lights on there it started to actually WORK for its watts. PWM controllers are only ever going to give you the max amps of the panel @ battery voltage, or usually 70-ish watts out of a 100w panel. The only way to improve that is by stepping up to a MPPT controller which will gain you upwards of 95 watts potentially (weather conditions apply) per panel.

Pro tip: If the charge controller has USB ports and cost you less than $75, it's 99.999% of the time a PWM with a BS advertising sticker.
 
PaulLyons said:
hmm.

the user manual says 30a each

Click to expand...

Just because they say they can take 30A each, it doesn't mean that they can take 30A when full.

PaulLyons said:
I tried hooking up a 500W heater to the inverter but I got an error code E04 which is supposed to be output short.
Click to expand...

Might be a defective inverter. 600W should be able to handle 500W.

PaulLyons said:
I hooked up a couple of lights ~140W. it's reporting about 11A load. at 12.2V
Click to expand...

Good. Run this for a couple hours.

PaulLyons said:
it's about 830 and the solar panel input current is reporting 0.4A.
Click to expand...

You won't get peak solar until noon, and you need to tilt the panels perpendicular to the sun.

ISSUES:

It doesn't matter how much solar is available. If that battery is full or near full, it won't take any more current than the battery can accept.
PWM controller is going to limit your array to about 160W in PERFECT solar conditions.
 
Last edited:
I have a couple more dumb questions.

I can't find a spec for load current on the 1 page manual for the scc. does anyone know what it is?

should I hook the 600W inverter to the load output of the SCC or directly to the battery?
 
PaulLyons said:
I have a couple more dumb questions.

I can't find a spec for load current on the 1 page manual for the scc. does anyone know what it is?

should I hook the 600W inverter to the load output of the SCC or directly to the battery?
Click to expand...
The Load ports are usually only 5 or 10a, so 50-100-ish watts. Trying to run an inverter off those would be pretty disappointing. What you'll want for that is Battery -> 10a fuse -> Inverter.
 
www.eco-worthy.com

ecoworthy_12V_24V_30A_solar_charge_controller_PWM | ECO-WORTHY

ECO-WORTHY 20A 30A PWM LCD Display Solar Charge Controller can automatically manage the working of solar panel and battery in the solar system. Easy to set up and operate. Suitable for charging the DC lamp and phone, etc. It’s convenient to open and close the load by the switch. Over-current and...
www.eco-worthy.com www.eco-worthy.com

"Max loading current: 30A"
 
The load terminals are not for the battery charging. Terminals are also not for connecting to an inverter.

The inverter gets a fuse at the batt(+) and the inverter gets connected directly to the battery
 
Last edited:
Rednecktek said:
The Load ports are usually only 5 or 10a, so 50-100-ish watts. Trying to run an inverter off those would be pretty disappointing. What you'll want for that is Battery -> 10a fuse -> Inverter.
Click to expand...
did you mean 10a there.? I think I would need 50. and I am not sure any part of this kit has wires or connectors for 50 amp current.
 
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