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Epever Tracer 4210AN max pv power input

meccip

meccip

New Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2020
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11
Hello,

I have at this moment 4 PV 320w - 2s2p. In full sun i have 1024w and the controller (Epever Tracer 4210AN) is working ok. My system is at 24v.
I want to add 2 more panels, that is another 500w in full sun. In total will be 1500w into 4210AN.

My question is :: Someone is useing the controller at 1500w pv input on 24v system ?

I read that controller have current limitation, if is to much power from the pv will slow down drawing current from pv.
 
Yes. Thank you for this link but I read the manual of my controller. (pv max 1560w-24v)

My question is if somebody is using the controller at 1500w - 24v
 
You want to know if someone is doing something that the user manual says you can do? I guess I am just not understanding the question. Hope someone else can decipher for you that owns this SCC.

Tracer.jpg

tracer 2.jpg
 
Last edited:
I HAD a 4215BN! "died a few weeks ago"
I did what you are asking and over paneled it to 1500w but i used 3 series 2 parallel,
Voltage was about 110V dc and it GOT HOT at FULL SUN! This was for a 24v battery

I never tried with 2 series 3 paralel like you plan to do. Which will increase amps and may be better since in my case it had to downconvert from 110v.

The good is that it would hit 40Amps charging really fast.
The bad, is this may have been what killed mine! LOL
Every EXTRA input watt seems to be converted to HEAT....
Hope this helps!
 
I had a 1210AN connected to over 500watt of panels on a 24v battery. The output to the battery would set t 10amps (max rated output). So charging at 10amps and 26v-28v is still under the rated 390w for the 1210AN. With the current limited like it appears to be, I am not sure how you could approach the power limited condition.
 
MisterSandals said:
Uh, in the pic in post #4 it says max input voltage is 100v.

Its pretty much guaranteed to blow when you exceed the input volts limit (and most other limits too).
Click to expand...
I thought the same thing at first, but Sunny Days had a 4215BN. The max input voltage for that model is 138V at 25C and a 3120W max array PV power for a 24V battery bank, so it shouldn't have been killed by that.

1597517710621.png

This is not the first time I've seen threads here discussing Epevers dying when operated within specs for max PV open circuit voltage and max PV array power but higher than the rated charge power. Not clear whether this is typical of Epevers in general or you tend to hear about the bad cases more than the good.
 
Yup! Mine was the 4215 BN wich should of been good with 150v!
But it never liked 110v and would overheat and restart, this was the begining and what i believe caused it to fail. I even put a fan on it just to see, it did help some.
 
I have 1030w on my roof all parallel, so that's only 40v open circuit. They all feed my 4215 AN, and it's running fine.. 12v system. Actually 13.4v always, using Valence lithium batteries. This setup is seriously over the watt limit in the manual for a 12v system, and it is all running perfect. Like for this whole summer so far. Of course the charger stops climbing at 40a (+/- 2) because it's a 40 amp charger, but the low light charging is amazing, and the controller temp is 36c. I have a fan on it switched at 36.5c, and it cycles 10% maybe when I'm actually charging in full sun at 40a, nothing is overheated at all.
This thread makes me wonder if using a very high voltage like 100+ is the failure point.. maybe going down in open voltage is going to make the charger last longer. Not sure. But it sure doesn't have any problem with over 1000w.
 
UPDATE to the post....

I added two more panels to my 24v system, 1500w (2s3p 320w/panel). The 4215AN is only drawing 1030w - 40A, the same as before with 4 panel. The difference is when is no sun. So, i think if you dont exceed 80v, the controller is running fine drawing only 1kw from a 1,5kw system.

So, this takes me to the next question. What if I add two more panels to get 2kw and i add one more 4215AN to the same wire line (in paralel with the other controller) (The same wire line because is hard to get a new set of wire to the controller). Every controller will draw 1kw from the panel line.
Is this possible ?
 
Test with some caution and attention. When there is plenty of sun, this should work as you are expecting it to. When there is less solar power available each of the controllers will try to load to circuit with a load to give best power. In other words they will create a load that will pull the panel voltage down and when the panel voltage drops to much, the controller will reduce the load. The controllers will have some delay in the way they sample the load/voltage, load the panels, re-sample, react, etc, it might be possible that they become confused and can't hold a steady load. Think how it is hard for two people to balance one thing when they don't know what the other is doing, are you reacting to an out of balance condition or reacting to what the other person is doing because they think they are acting to an out of balance condition. I would expect it to work okay but look at the input voltage under different sun conditions and see if the voltage is going up and down when the solar condtions are steady.
 
The voltage never exceed 70v.
I dont use controller load output, I have an inverter.
 
Generis said:
The controller loads the panels. Not 'loads' as in consumption. I agree with DThames, I would not be doing 2 controllers on a single input line.
Click to expand...
I would actually like to test that. I have two little MPPT boards and have thought about testing it. I doubt these cheap ones are dynamic in finding the max power point.
 
meccip said:
nice. I'm waiting for your test result.
Click to expand...
The MMPT boards that I have are somewhat dumb. Your Tracer is more advanced when it comes to actively finding the best power point. Because it is actively loading and testing the results of the loading, two of them could do wonky things together, but I don't think would be harmful. I think the charging current would be up and down, up and down.

I am not sure when I will be able to test. I do have a day job and lots of stuff around the house going on.
 
I've had a 4215BN fed with 2 kw of panels since last fall with no issues. I set up the array as 2S4P. Voc is about 70v and the unit barely gets warm even at its self-limit of 40a output. The overpaneling usually gives me 10a or more into the 24v batteries even on cloudy days. Unfortunately I have no experience with model 4215AN.
 
Fred S said:
I've had a 4215BN fed with 2 kw of panels since last fall with no issues. I set up the array as 2S4P. Voc is about 70v and the unit barely gets warm even at its self-limit of 40a output. The overpaneling usually gives me 10a or more into the 24v batteries even on cloudy days. Unfortunately I have no experience with model 4215AN.
Click to expand...
is the same. BN have a big radiator and no display.
tnx for reply.
 
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