Charge Controller Not Charging Batteries

[mconnell61]

Hello,

I have an Epever 200v/100amp charge controller that doesn't seem to be charging my batteries.

I have eight Renogy sealed gel 200ah batteries connected in a combination of series/parallel to produce a 48v output to my two 5kva inverters.

I have eight 700 watt panels connected to the charge controller(5600 watts).

During the mid-day sun I check the voltage input to the charger with a voltmeter and it says 134 volts. However, when I check the output voltage of the charger it only reads 3 volts? Research tells me that it should be between 10-14 volts.

I also took a voltage reading of each battery and they only read 11 volts each instead of 12.5 volts.

It seems like the charge controller is not charging the batteries.

My two inverters also show green and red error lights that seem to be indicating that the batteries aren't charged enough.

On the left side of the charge controller face a green error light flashes on and off for a few seconds then stops for a short period of time, then comes back on and flashes on an off again before turning off for a while again. I checked the error codes in the controller manual and it seems like this green flashing light is indicating that the batteries are over-discharged.

A red error light is on constantly on the right side of the controller housing face.

A battery symbol in the settings window shows an empty battery and 0.0 amps.

There is also a light bulb symbol in the settings window that shows the light bulb not emitting light. The manual says the light bulb symbol should be lines of light from it when solar charging is occurring.

Can you please tell me what my problem is that I am having with my charge controller not charging my batteries and how I can fix this problem?

Any information would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Sent from AOL on Android

 

[seneysolar]

Hello,

I have an Epever 200v/100amp charge controller that doesn't seem to be charging my batteries.

I have eight Renogy sealed gel 200ah batteries connected in a combination of series/parallel to produce a 48v output to my two 5kva inverters.

I have eight 700 watt panels connected to the charge controller(5600 watts).

700w panels? Pic?

During the mid-day sun I check the voltage input to the charger with a voltmeter and it says 134 volts. However, when I check the output voltage of the charger it only reads 3 volts?

Output of charger should read battery voltage unless its disconnected. Fuse or breaker blown?

Research tells me that it should be between 10-14 volts.

If your system is 48v nominal. Whay are you expecting 10-14v?

I also took a voltage reading of each battery and they only read 11 volts each instead of 12.5 volts.

Batteries are indeed dead

It seems like the charge controller is not charging the batteries.

My two inverters also show green and red error lights that seem to be indicating that the batteries aren't charged enough.

Low voltage cutoff most likely

On the left side of the charge controller face a green error light flashes on and off for a few seconds then stops for a short period of time, then comes back on and flashes on an off again before turning off for a while again. I checked the error codes in the controller manual and it seems like this green flashing light is indicating that the batteries are over-discharged.

A red error light is on constantly on the right side of the controller housing face.

A battery symbol in the settings window shows an empty battery and 0.0 amps.

There is also a light bulb symbol in the settings window that shows the light bulb not emitting light. The manual says the light bulb symbol should be lines of light from it when solar charging is occurring.

Can you please tell me what my problem is that I am having with my charge controller not charging my batteries and how I can fix this problem?

Any information would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Sent from AOL on Android

Pictures of your system would help. Particularly batteries arrangement and charge controller connection.

The charge controller may be designed to not charge dead batteries, try disconnecting and charging them by themselves.

 

[pollenface]

The light bulb symbol is your load relay, likely batteries are below LVD set point, so light bulb is off.

 

[mconnell61]

700w panels? Pic?

Output of charger should read battery voltage unless its disconnected. Fuse or breaker blown?

If your system is 48v nominal. Whay are you expecting 10-14v?

Batteries are indeed dead

Low voltage cutoff most likely

Pictures of your system would help. Particularly batteries arrangement and charge controller connection.

The charge controller may be designed to not charge dead batteries, try disconnecting and charging them by themselves.

This is a picture of one 700 watt panel in my string of eight panels.

 

[mconnell61]

Here is a picture of the charge controller Input voltage reading 131 volts.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

This is a picture of one 700 watt panel in my string of eight panels.

That is NOT a 700W panel.

A 700W panel is LARGER than a 4x8' sheet of plywood.

I'm guessing that some POS 100W you bought off Vevor, ebay or ali.

Flexible panels flat mounted to a surface are certain to get cooked and fail pretty quickly.

So many ads are flat out false.

 

[mconnell61]

Here is a picture of the charge controller output reading only 3 volts.

 

[seneysolar]

This is a picture of one 700 watt panel in my string of eight panels.

Theres your problem.... as mentioned those flexible panels are 100w at best, probably more like 60w in the real world.

Time to upgrade

 

[mconnell61]

Here is a picture of my battery bank wired in a combination of series/parallel giving me 48 volts. The red positive wire on the far right is connected to my 80 amp GFDI breaker. The black negative wire on the top right is connected to my negative bus bar.

This is my first solar power system that I have ever built so I may have a connection wrong on something. I don't think so, but it is possible.

That is NOT a 700W panel.

A 700W panel is LARGER than a 4x8' sheet of plywood.

I'm guessing that some POS 100W you bought off Vevor, ebay or ali.

Flexible panels flat mounted to a surface are certain to get cooked and fail pretty quickly.

So many ads are flat out false.

I bought them on Amazon.com and the listing clearly says each panel is 700 watts.

So you are saying that my panels are only 100 watts each instead of 700 watts like the listing claims?

As for how they are mounted I have six 1" thick by 6" square blocks under each panel to allow air flow and prevent them from burning out.

 

[mconnell61]

Theres your problem.... as mentioned those flexible panels are 100w at best, probably more like 60w in the real world.

Time to upgrade

How can I know what the actual wattage is on these panels?

 

[mconnell61]

How can I know what the actual wattage is on these panels?

Also, I am reading 131 volts coming in to my charge controller from the panel string that is wired in series? How much should the voltage be with eight (supposed) 700 watt panels wired in series?

 

[mconnell61]

700w panels? Pic?

Output of charger should read battery voltage unless its disconnected. Fuse or breaker blown?

If your system is 48v nominal. Whay are you expecting 10-14v?

Batteries are indeed dead

Low voltage cutoff most likely

Pictures of your system would help. Particularly batteries arrangement and charge controller connection.

The charge controller may be designed to not charge dead batteries, try disconnecting and charging them by themselves.

Here is a picture of the charge controller, breakers and connections to the batteries and bus bars.

 

[mconnell61]

This is the 80 amp GFDI wiring connections.

The red positive wire on the top right connects to the positive terminal on the first battery in the bank.

The red positive wire on the bottom right connects to the 80 amp breaker that is in between the charge controller and the GFDI breaker.

The white negative wire is connected to the negative bus bar and the green ground wire is connected to the ground bus bar.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

How can I know what the actual wattage is on these panels?

In meters:

Length * width * 200W.

In inches:

Length * width * 200W / 1540

Note that the numbers you will calculate from the above are the MAX if the panel is 20% efficient. Many aren't that efficient. Many that claim to be that efficient, or even more efficient, often aren't.

Amazon link?

and those blocks won't do much. You want 4"+ clearance to allow airflow to get underneath it.

 

[400bird]

Measure the entire battery string. If you have 4 batteries in series at 11 volts each, that should be around 44 volts. But you are only seeing 3 volts at the charge controller battery connection. You've got an open between the charge controller and batteries.

 

[400bird]

View attachment 246776
This is the 80 amp GFDI wiring connections.

The red positive wire on the top right connects to the positive terminal on the first battery in the bank.

The red positive wire on the bottom right connects to the 80 amp breaker that is in between the charge controller and the GFDI breaker.

The white negative wire is connected to the negative bus bar and the green ground wire is connected to the ground bus bar.

Pull hard on all your crimps, the wires shouldn't be able to slip out. If you can pull the red wire out of those ring terminals, they aren't crimped well enough and are not making a good connection.

 

[mconnell61]

In meters:

Length * width * 200W.

In inches:

Length * width * 200W / 1540

Note that the numbers you will calculate from the above are the MAX if the panel is 20% efficient. Many aren't that efficient. Many that claim to be that efficient, or even more efficient, often aren't.

Amazon link?

and those blocks won't do much. You want 4"+ clearance to allow airflow to get underneath it.

Here is the Amazon link for the panels I bought.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D4J1VRNZ?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[sunshine_eggo]

View attachment 246766
Here is a picture of my battery bank wired in a combination of series/parallel giving me 48 volts. The red positive wire on the far right is connected to my 80 amp GFDI breaker. The black negative wire on the top right is connected to my negative bus bar.

I'm sorry, but this is a horrible installation.

Top string, you have two short interconnects and what appears to be one long one.
Bottom string, you have three long interconnects.

All six should be the exact same length within reason (allowing for slight measurement and cutting errors).

You also have both your primary terminals on the top string.

As it stands, your top string has about 1/2 the wiring resistance as the bottom string, so it will take the lion's share of the load and the lion's share of the charge. Those four batteries will wear out first.

The only way to make this right in the current orientation is to:

Make the three interconnects in the top string the same length as the bottom string.
Move the (-) from the top string to the bottom string OR
Move the (+) from the top string to the bottom string.

Alternatively and likely with lower total resistance:

Flip the bottom string around, connect with short interconnects like the top string (shorten the one long one) and then use long wires to parallel the two strings and then place main leans on opposite strings.

 

[mconnell61]

Measure the entire battery string. If you have 4 batteries in series at 11 volts each, that should be around 44 volts. But you are only seeing 3 volts at the charge controller battery connection. You've got an open between the charge controller and batteries.

Pull hard on all your crimps, the wires shouldn't be able to slip out. If you can pull the red wire out of those ring terminals, they aren't crimped well enough and are not making a good connection.

I checked every crimp connection 3 times before connecting them. None of them can be pulled out.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Here is the Amazon link for the panels I bought.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D4J1VRNZ?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Completely fraudulent listing. Sometimes, you can figure out how they weasel-word a crazy number in there, but I can't see it.

45.66"L x 22.83"W

45.66 * 22.83 / 1540 * 200W = 130W panels... which means they're probably not even 20% efficient.

 

[mconnell61]

I'm sorry, but this is a horrible installation.

Top string, you have two short interconnects and what appears to be one long one.
Bottom string, you have three long interconnects.

All six should be the exact same length within reason (allowing for slight measurement and cutting errors).

You also have both your primary terminals on the top string.

As it stands, your top string has about 1/2 the wiring resistance as the bottom string, so it will take the lion's share of the load and the lion's share of the charge. Those four batteries will wear out first.

The only way to make this right in the current orientation is to:

Make the three interconnects in the top string the same length as the bottom string.
Move the (-) from the top string to the bottom string OR
Move the (+) from the top string to the bottom string.

Alternatively and likely with lower total resistance:

Flip the bottom string around, connect with short interconnects like the top string (shorten the one long one) and then use long wires to parallel the two strings and then place main leans on opposite strings.

I wired these eight batteries in a combination of series/parallel to get 48 volts. I used a diagram from a solar power website as a reference.

So you are saying that I did not wire it properly to have a series/parallel setup?

 

[mconnell61]

Completely fraudulent listing. Sometimes, you can figure out how they weasel-word a crazy number in there, but I can't see it.

45.66"L x 22.83"W

45.66 * 22.83 / 1540 * 200W = 130W panels... which means they're probably not even 20% efficient.

"Completely fraudulent listing"? What do you mean they "weasel word a crazy number in there"? If you are talking about the wattage of each panel they very clearly state that each panel is 700 watts.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I wired these eight batteries in a combination of series/parallel to get 48 volts. I used a diagram from a solar power website as a reference.

I see three possibilities:
1) the diagram was incomplete
2) the diagram was wrong
3) you failed to faithfully execute the diagram.

I would be happy to review the diagram and provide input.

So you are saying that I did not wire it properly to have a series/parallel setup?

There are right and wrong ways to connect batteries. You have ensured that your 48V strings will NOT equally share the loads, and the top string of four batteries will wear out faster.

I have detailed the mistakes you made and the ways they can be corrected.

I have also offered to review the diagram you used for accuracy and/or execution errors.

If doing things correctly is not your concern, feel free to ignore me. You won't hurt my feelings at all.

If you'd like to learn "best practices" for this and other wiring, check link #6 in my signature. I'm not making this stuff up.

 

[mconnell61]

Also, can you please answers my previous question about whether or not the 131 volts that I am reading at the charge controller input is normal for the eight (supposed) 700 watt panels that are attached to it in series?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

"Completely fraudulent listing"? What do you mean they "weasel word a crazy number in there"? If you are talking about the wattage of each panel they very clearly state that each panel is 700 watts.

It is a completely fraudulent listing. No question - for the reason you gave.

In some cases, an outlandish claim is supported by the maximum output of the controller or some such nonsense. Example: Those controllers are capable of outputting 80A total. If you multiply that by peak 24V system voltage, they could output 80 * 28.8V= 2304W. You can sometimes find where the silly number came from. You simply got ripped off.

Again, a 700W panel is larger than a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and typically weighs on the order of 100 lb.