Did I damage my 30 Amp MPPT Renogy controller?

[douglas0239]

I have been happy with the 400 watt system I set up on my boat, Renogy Rover 30 amp and the system has a 2500 watt Aims inverter and a 3000 watt generator for heavy load use. Its all connected to a bank of lead acid, two trojan 105 six volts and an 8D lead acid which is about 280 AH in parallel, then also a starting battery for the boat's engine. And I have a mechman alternator that puts out a nice charge at very low RPM and use this to charge the system in the early morning when its down to 11.8 or so from running refrigeration all night.
Its been great and I was able to operate my washing machine from the solar panel charge output which would vary from 9 or 10 up to 18 amps at times through the controller. And the batteries would charge to a nice 14.5 on a sunny day.
Now suddenly Im getting less than two amps and yet the panels still put out their rated voltage according to the volt meter. (Im not sure how to read the amp output) I did some heavy work with the generator going and the inverter going full blast, pressure washing my decks. There were likely power surges. Ive also had the inverter make a horrible jackhammer sound and go into error shutdown because of low battery. Then it comes back on after it cools and resets itself, and I find these Aims inverters are a bit sketchy and do not tolerate low voltage.
Ive been very careful to NEVER disconnect the batteries with the solar panels connected to the charger but seeing the current low output Im rather sure the controller is messed up. No error codes. Just next to nothing being sent to the batteries and the panels show just under 30V, two pair of 100amp Renogy panels connected in series, then into the controller through a combiner fitting.
Where did I mess up? (No fuses in the system, I really didnt see the need for them, other than a high amp battery cable protection fuse) Ive watched the controller floating around between one and 0 amps just seeming to not know what to do. Mostly just sits at zero now. 5PM and the sun is low but still very clear and bright. Panels still showing 25/30 volts.
Thanks in advance!

 

[MichaelK]

Couple of things. What are the Ah ratings of each battery string? They should be more or less identical, or there will be balancing issues.

The jackhammer noise I have no idea. Sounds like both your battery capacity, and the amount of solar to charge it are too low to keep what you want going.

For the controller, I'd suggest a full shutdown. First disconnect the solar input. Then disconnect the inverter. Finally disconnect the controller. Disconnect means disconnecting the power cable, not just shutting it off. Allow everything to stay completely off for several minutes.

After the waiting period, reconnect the battery terminals ONLY to the controller. Confirm there is voltage with a voltmeter. Check to see if the controller is booting up properly and if it displays the correct voltage. Next, reconnect the inverter, but don't turn it on yet. Lastly, reconnect the solar connections. Check to see if power is coming into the controller.

At this point, you might now turn on the inverter, and put a load on it somewhat larger than your total solar capacity, say something along the lines of 400-500W. Maybe an electric drill? Now look at the controller display and see how many watts are coming into the system. When under load, the controller will display the maximum your panels are capable of producing at that time.

At this point, if all does not look well, additional troubleshooting needs to start.

 

[Bud Martin]

OP: Ive been very careful to NEVER disconnect the batteries with the solar panels connected to the charger but seeing the current low output Im rather sure the controller is messed up. No error codes. Just next to nothing being sent to the batteries and the panels show just under 30V, two pair of 100amp Renogy panels connected in series, then into the controller through a combiner fitting.

Please clarify, two pair of 100A panels? Do you mean 100W panels?
Two pairs connected in series, do you mean 2s2p? Are you using combiner box or the Y adapter for the panel wiring?
Do you have clamp-on DC Amp meter to check the current being drawn from each string of panel?