Epever charge controller dropping out of MPPT mode
- Thread starter morningcoffee
- Start date
Tomthumb62
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2022
- Messages
- 1,871
BatteryCablesUSA.com is my go to for high quality high strand count pure copper cables for a fair price and cheap shipping. They don’t sell on eBay or Amazon in order to keep their prices low. I have bought from them I think 5-6 times now. Shipping from I think Alabama or Georgia to the Pacific Northwest has only taken a few days, 5 at most.
Everything I’ve bought Victron as New from inverters r us has come in a retail box. And of the three Victron items I’ve bought from them in their Victron b-stock section, only one didn’t come in a retail box.
In any case, good to hear that Pike is a reputable dealer.
My experience with customer service with Inverters R Us has been top notch. Even Dexter at Current Connected has spoken highly of them and that they used to purchase from them until they got big enough to get their own dealer account direct from Victron.
The Victron Smartsolar 100/30 charge controller that I bought from Inverters R Us in September for $192 (retail was $207), is now listed for $128 on their website. Free shipping and returns and I don’t believe they charge sales tax, at least they didn’t last time or the quote already included it.
GXMnow
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
- Messages
- 3,365
I just looked at Amazon here. The 150 volt 35 amp unit dropped 40% to just $184.45 USD with free shipping. I just might have to give it a try.
I have 2 nearly identical arrays that are parallel feeding my BougeRV 40 amp controller. If I split them across the two controllers, I will be able to see very quickly if the MPPT tracking in the Victron is that much better than the BougeRV one. While the Bouge never got stuck like the EPever complaints, it does seem to miss track a fair bit. My maximum power has never topped 26 amps for any length of time. I have seen peaks show a maximum power hitting 1,800 watts, which suggests about 34 amps. I think the Victron 35 amp rating should be just fine if I put all the panels on the one controller, even if it is better at pulling current from the panels. Or should I go up to the 45 amp version?
I have 2 nearly identical arrays that are parallel feeding my BougeRV 40 amp controller. If I split them across the two controllers, I will be able to see very quickly if the MPPT tracking in the Victron is that much better than the BougeRV one. While the Bouge never got stuck like the EPever complaints, it does seem to miss track a fair bit. My maximum power has never topped 26 amps for any length of time. I have seen peaks show a maximum power hitting 1,800 watts, which suggests about 34 amps. I think the Victron 35 amp rating should be just fine if I put all the panels on the one controller, even if it is better at pulling current from the panels. Or should I go up to the 45 amp version?
AlpineJoe
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2022
- Messages
- 297
Thanks for the input on BatteryCablesUSA.com !
lexio
feel the balance 3.65
blue tooth
AlpineJoe
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2022
- Messages
- 297
And then to a raspberry pi?
We have rain coming up next week and I’d like to see what I can produce or not produce on cloudy days.
In other news - my two 4215BNs came up okay again today. So far still good.
Tomthumb62
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2022
- Messages
- 1,871
I have only bought their "extreme" version, which as far as I know, the main difference is the rubber insulation is much thicker than the other two versions. All versions are high strand count and rated for 105C. For the small lengths I am purchasing, it was a no-brainer to pay a little extra for the Extreme version.
You can customize your cables exactly how you want: length (to the inch), terminals (or bare end) and if you need something special like 90-degree lugs, you can put a note in the comment section and they will do so at no extra charge. No one offers this level of customization on an easy to use website at this price, to my knowledge. WindyNation is another good source, but they don't customize like this unless you engage in an email conversation or phone call and their prices are a bit higher.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Is there a trick to finding this unit on the Epever website? Is it too old and off their support/acknowledgement list?
I am helping someone and looking for software/firmware updates and cannot get ANY hits on 4215BN or even 4215.
My google-fu not successful either.
Not sure. I have had the same issue at times looking up info on it. Seems half the time it looks discontinued and then pops back up.
AlpineJoe
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2022
- Messages
- 297
I had the same problem yet the ones I bought had support for LFP and LCO batteries natively showing they’re still making updates to the FW.
What I don’t know is if the internals didn’t change. Tech support asked me for a picture of the serial numbers on my units. I’m thinking they used that to know what FW file to send me.
Last edited:
Thanks. Can't see BT working for me with multiple (and spread out) regs.
lexio
feel the balance 3.65
sorry for the confusion. The blue tooth connection is between the ssc and the shunt to get a accurate voltage reading
and tail current .
not between 2 ssc this wrong
you need to have a cerbo for that ( i think)
you can connect 2 ssc as per the manual
Synchronised charging - All chargers in the network will act as they were one large charger. One of the chargers in the network
will assume a master role and the master will dictate the charge algorithm the other chargers will be using. All chargers will
follow the same charge algorithm and charge stages. The master is selected randomly (not user settable) so it is important
that all chargers use the same charge settings. During synchronised charging each charger will charge up to its own maximum
charge current setting (it is not possible to set a maximum current for the whole network). For more information see the
VE.Smart manual located on the VictronConnect app product page
Last edited:
Ah - ok.
I don't need hugely accurate readings - mostly just to keep an eye on the multiple systems to make sure they are working correctly.
I use a combination of Wifi, UTP and fibre to allow my regs to be interrogated simultaneously over a wide area (and from anywhere with internet)
Both the Victron and networking are OT for this thread, so perhaps we should take these topics elsewhere.
try this
Charge Controller or the new (beta) Solar Guardian should both work. (SG is a bit half baked at this stage, but looks promising)
For firmware, you need to contact support directly and ask
Softwares
Best MPPT solar charge controllers, Inverters & Hybrid Inverter Chargers. EPEVER, EPSOLAR charge controllers.
www.epever.com
I've noticed older/less popular lines disappearing - the XTRA with the replaceable/customizable comms modules have evaporated.
AlpineJoe
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2022
- Messages
- 297
My two 4215BN controller continue to work fine without me having to power cycle the panels. We're supposed to get rain Wednesday through the weekend. That will be a good test to see if they get stuck in cloudy days - though I don't have a good way to see that other than to monitor my Smart Shunt's logging.
In other news, the used CALB 180 cells are now hooked up to the 4 100AH Redodo's. The person that gave me the cells said they had 140AH useable life left, so my total AH at 24V is now 480 AH or 11.5 KWH. This will be a good test to see how many days I can go with overcast/rainy days.
In other news, the used CALB 180 cells are now hooked up to the 4 100AH Redodo's. The person that gave me the cells said they had 140AH useable life left, so my total AH at 24V is now 480 AH or 11.5 KWH. This will be a good test to see how many days I can go with overcast/rainy days.
Brucey
Velcro Man
I ended up going with the 150/35 from Pike because I had a hard limit of $200 on a specific Amazon payment method. However the extra output of the 150/45 seems like it's worth the extra bucks if you can stretch the budget..
Hello !
help me please .
My Tracer 3210AN has a similar problem.
please tell me how to flash it?
what equipment should I buy?
where can I get the firmware file?
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
You really should start a new thread (with an appropriate title) to work on YOUR issue. You can add links to posts in this thread if you think that helps. But this is someone else's thread for HIS issue.
Still good 11 months later? I wonder if you've noticed precisely what it's doing differently than before?
I bought a Epever G3 3210AN along with the MT50 in Nov 2023. This is in a camper with 2 100AH 12V LiFe batteries in parallel. Charging is from a 200W portable panel.
I think it was likely that it failed MPPT earlier, but since the panel was wired for 12V, I didn't notice. Before the last trip I wired the panel for 24V and it became glaringly obvious, since when it drops the panel input to ~14V I'm only getting about half the charge I should be. I don't have a logger, so the following involves a bit of guesswork... observations from when I was watching it.
1) If amperage is low (I've read that <1.5A will cause it to lapse into PWM mode), it will drift down to ~14-15V for the panel input. Not instantly, but after some minutes.
2) A fairly substantial cloud is enough to make it drop out of MPPT, if this cloud persists for some amount of time (several minutes?).
3) After it goes into PWM mode, if it is then sunny again it seems that the MPPT will eventually start working, but the sun must persist for a good amount of time. I'm not sure how long that is.
4) In cloudy conditions or say... alternating between cloud and sun every 10-20 minutes... it seems to stay in PWM mode and delivers ~half the power it could be.
5) Cycling the panel does not always work. I've seen it step right through the optimal point on it's way to PWM even in full sun. There may be a time factor involved... ie it will stay in PWM for a certain amount of time regardless.
6) I haven't noticed the controller ever reseting itself (open curcuit, then track), except on start up. Someone reported early in this thread that it would do so once per hour, and that Victron would do this every 10 minutes. Maybe I just didn't notice.
7) The controller seems to work great when it's functioning correctly (good tracking and good output)... it just so often isn't.
8) If this is so common across many Epever models, why the hell isn't this common knowledge, and why haven't they fixed it? This is completely unacceptable behavior IMO. I think I'd be happy if the logic included a lower voltage limit of say 75% of the open curcuit voltage, but I don't know if there is a hardware reason why that wouldn't work.
Yes, my two model 'BN' controllers are still working great. I do not recommend the 'AN' models, they have lots of problems. I can't personally answer for EpEver failures to offer better support. My BN controllers appear to rescan for optimum voltaqe every 10 minutes or so,
If you have the '24v' mode enabled with any sort of 'automatic parameter' setting, I recommend that you set battery type = 'user'', and all voltage settings explicitly.
The BN's are built like tanks. I'm not sure how old my oldest one is but the newest one I own is from 2016 so 8 years old. Many a watt has come in from these chargers and they have never given me a moment of trouble. Like mentioned I see people complaining about the AN's all the time.
Love my 4215BN chargers.
Love my 4215BN chargers.
Thanks for the feedback and recommendations! My options with the MT50 are "12V" "24V" and "Auto". These must be battery settings. I've tried them all and they seem to behave the same. Currently it's on 12V. The batteries are 12V and the panels are 24V.
The charge settings are "User", defined by me. LiFe batteries.
I guess a 10 min rescan would help, but if it's cloudy then that alone won't fix the issue for me. If MPPT truly fails at 1.5A, then a fairly solid cloud will still send it into PWM mode... which will be ~1/2 the power the panel can produce. That isn't a good scenario on a cloudy day when you need everything you can get!
If you are producing enough current in cloudy conditions to keep the amperage going into the charger above 1.5A, then maybe you'd be fine. Is this true? Maybe the only issue you had was the charger being stuck in PWM too long in the mornings?
Yes, that setting refers to the overall battery bank voltage . Leave it marked as "12V", do not allow it to become confused via the "auto" setting when LFP batteries are present. (They have slightly higher voltage than most lead-acid types, in most situations).
If your "idle but ready to charged" battery voltage is around 13.0 volts, 200 watts (nominal) of panels @ 25 volts would be creating 8 amps under nearly perfect "standard" conditions (June, good orientation, solar noon). You're more likely getting getting less than 4A under bright conditions, and might fall to low under moderate clouds. In the early morning, my own "BN" controlller lies to stay in PWM until I do a pushbutton reset. (Camping, but way more panels than you have - about 600 watts "nominal").
Similar threads
