Chasba
New Member
Hi, I'm a solar power newbie and I'm trying to set up a small system to power grow lamps in my greenhouse. The system is powered by a 12V 30Ah LifePo4 battery, charged by a Renogy 100W 12V solar panel, both connected by MCB's to an Easun MPPT 6048 60 amp solar charge controller. The load is a set of 4 LED grow lamps strips consuming in total 36W at 12V, and have an in-line hand controller for on/off, timer (3,6,12Hr), dimmer and on/off for each grow lamp strip.
When the system is set to run without activating the grow lamp timer, everything works perfectly. The same is the case if I activate the 3 hour setting, after which the lamps switch off correctly after 3 hours.
The problem arises when I set the system to run for 12 hours overnight. The following morning before the 12 hours have elapsed, I wake up to find the grow lamps are no longer lit and cannot tell when they went out. When I check the grow lamp controller, it is unresponsive. If I check the voltage across the charge controller load connections, little or no voltage is registered. Also the battery state of charge is still 75%+ and the battery voltage 12.5-13.0 volts. But if I then turn off the MCB linking the solar panel to the charge controller, everything springs to life, 12.5-13 volts are available at the charge controller load terminals and all the functions on the grow lamp controller work perfectly.
I don't have enough technical knowledge to work out what's causing this problem, but i can only guess it's either some issue with the charge controller or the grow lamps controller (it isn't an expensive piece of kit and again the manufacturer's instructions are no help). I entered the charge controller settings as I understood them from the manufacturer's (rather cryptic) instructions and it's not a cheap unit.
Can anyone please give me a clue about what I might be doing wrong or what may be causing this issue? I really don't want my first DIY solar project to be a failure ;-) Many thanks.
When the system is set to run without activating the grow lamp timer, everything works perfectly. The same is the case if I activate the 3 hour setting, after which the lamps switch off correctly after 3 hours.
The problem arises when I set the system to run for 12 hours overnight. The following morning before the 12 hours have elapsed, I wake up to find the grow lamps are no longer lit and cannot tell when they went out. When I check the grow lamp controller, it is unresponsive. If I check the voltage across the charge controller load connections, little or no voltage is registered. Also the battery state of charge is still 75%+ and the battery voltage 12.5-13.0 volts. But if I then turn off the MCB linking the solar panel to the charge controller, everything springs to life, 12.5-13 volts are available at the charge controller load terminals and all the functions on the grow lamp controller work perfectly.
I don't have enough technical knowledge to work out what's causing this problem, but i can only guess it's either some issue with the charge controller or the grow lamps controller (it isn't an expensive piece of kit and again the manufacturer's instructions are no help). I entered the charge controller settings as I understood them from the manufacturer's (rather cryptic) instructions and it's not a cheap unit.
Can anyone please give me a clue about what I might be doing wrong or what may be causing this issue? I really don't want my first DIY solar project to be a failure ;-) Many thanks.