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Help with EPEVER TRACER SCC..??

Rbertalotto

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 26, 2019
Messages
394
I recently replaced my Bogart PWM solar charge controller with an EPEVER Tracer 4210AN / 40A MPPT in anticipation of upgrading to LiPo soon. I have 420w of solar / (3) 140w-12v panels / parallel..... Two 105Ah AGM batteries in parallel.....With batteries fully charged, as soon as the sun comes up, I'm seeing 14.7v on my battery voltage meter. I have 12V TVs that do not like anything above 12.5V. I have installed "Buck Converters" on the TVs to limit voltage to 12V.......But I wonder if this high voltage is doing damage to other 12V devices?

Here is what the MT-50 solar monitor is showing
Solar Panel Output - 20.6V / 1.2A
Battery - 14.7V / 1.7A input

Here are the settings I currently have on the EPEVER Tracer:
Batt Type - User
Batt Ah - 200Ah
Rated Voltage - Auto
Over Volt Disc -16.0
Charge Limit - 14.8
Over Volt Rec - 15.0
Equalization Chg - 14.6
Boost - 14.4
Float - 13.5
Boost Rec - 13.2
Low Volt Rec - 12.6
Under Volt Rec - 12.2
Under Volt Warn - 12.0
Low Volt Disc - 11.1
Discharge Limit - 10.6
Equalization Time - 60 min
Boost Time - 120 min

I set "Boost" and "Float" as instructed by the Duracell AGM battery charging parameters.

Can anyone tell me if this all looks right or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!
 
Your high voltage is a result of a lengthy and high voltage "Equalize" cycle, and I think that you ARE doing something wrong with these paramters..

Your first parameter choice, from the MT-50 controller/monitor, is to choose between battery types - flooded cell, AGM, and "User". If you had chosen "AGM", then most of these parameters would have been corrected for you, although the "Boost Voltage" might have been lower than you want to use. But you can also leave the setting as "User", and correct three individual parameters.

You do not want to be charging AGM with voltages that high. AGM batteries should also never be "equalized", you can prevent that by setting "Equalize charge" Voltage to be the same as your "Boost" Voltage, 14.4 Volts. For added assurance, you can also set "Equalize Time" down to zero minutes.

I'd also set the separate "Charge LImit" parameter down to just 14.5 Volts.
- - -
You could go even lower with those parameters - for example, with "Boost" charging at 14.2 Volts, the batteries would take longer to charge - but they would maybe last a bit longer, with the more "gentle" charging scheme.
 
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Also, check out the Tracer manual section 2.2 PV Array Requirements. I believe you may get a little better performance by putting your panels in series. The tradeoff (in my understanding) is that you lose a bit of efficiency at peak in terms of making the SCC do extra work to drop the voltage down, but gain more usable time in the morning/evening (and on cloudy days) when the MPPT algorithm can function.
 
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!...I plan on experimenting with the panels in series and parallel......This system is on top of my RV and I'm concerned a little bit about shading of one panel by the AC unit. In series, my understanding is this would degrade the total output? But I'll experiment with this a bit.
 
I agree with above, use your AGM setting, when you go to lithium then use your User settings.
 
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