Epever Controller Not Going From Float back to Bulk Charging

[Mark Schultz]

First post in this forum, thanks in advance for any assistance. My 200Ah LiFePO4 gets down to around 50% SOC after night time usage (Trimetric Monitor) and the following day my Epever controller never goes back into Bulk mode to take advance of the 40A MPPT with two grid-tie panels. It seems go back to Boost mode and then the maximum Boost time of 3 hours is over in the morning or early afternoon. This leaves me in Float mode at the peak charging window, which tapers the amps when it could be filling the batteries in full sunlight all afternoon. I have to shut off at the batteries to reboot the controller to restart the full Bulk cycle, the the amps jump way up to where they should be and it works fine again that day. It's a hassle I should not have to do every day while camping, plus I'm not always around to reboot during the day. This is wasting the capacity of my 750W panels on sunny days. I've tried adjusting the Float and Boost reconnect voltages, nothing seems to work to get it to go back into Bulk Mode on its own. Any ideas?

 

[mikefitz]

Any ideas?

With 750 watts of panels and a 40 amp controller replacing 100Ah should not take long. If you have loads during the day perhaps increase float volts to a higher level than present.
The issues with Epever controllers 'getting lost' is common and reported on this forum.

There are no similar problems where Victron controllers are used.

 

[Mark Schultz]

Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I've seen similar posts for these Epever controllers but also a few issues with Victron but they seem to have resolved. Not impressed with Epever. I'll try bumping up the Float voltage a couple tenths and keep the Boost reconnect 0.1V below that. Maybe that will trigger it to come out of float mode and use the abundant sunshine available. I can get a pretty steady average range of 15-20Amps or so but that means I need 5-7 hours and I can't waste it.

As a work-a-round, I'm planning to install a switch, or perhaps a timer, to just reboot the controller instead of rebooting my entire 12V system. When I reboot the entire system I loose my SOC% on my Trimetric, which is normally pretty accurate, and then I'm as lost as the controller is. Maybe I'd be better off just upgrading the controller?

 

[McKravitts]

I had to set up my EPEVER to user settings and input the correct data for LiFePO4 and not the default LiFePO4 settings.
It is behaving fine now.

 

[Mark Schultz]

I had to set up my EPEVER to user settings and input the correct data for LiFePO4 and not the default LiFePO4 settings.
It is behaving fine now.

Same, I started with user settings per AIMS battery parameters, always kept the Boost at 14.4V and just played with duration (120-180 mins), varied the Float (13.6-13.8V) and Boost reconnect voltages (0.1-0.2V less than Float). One other clue, I have a second 100Ah battery that is a different brand than AIMS. That mixture might be causing some issues perhaps with conflicting BMS, but I doubt that would be the problem. Perhaps someone has experience to share about that?

 

[Mark Schultz]

I had to set up my EPEVER to user settings and input the correct data for LiFePO4 and not the default LiFePO4 settings.
It is behaving fine now.

Can you share you settings for Boost, duration, Float and Boost reconnect and model of Epever.