diy solar

diy solar

Inverter going off and back on

Just thinking out loud - no great insights.

10 awg is good for 30 amps so 300 - 400 watts.

Sometimes entry level inverters throw some RF backward into the DC supply side and cause cross talk. For fun you could try to make some longer 10 awg wires and make them into a few tight coil loops (both + and - ) and see if this has any effect. This is completely speculation.
 
Just a heads up - I talked to Renogy and they say sounds more like possible faulty connection somewhere in the system. Tomorrow I'm going to check each terminal and connection for any problems. Wanted to rewoute some cables and wires anyways may be a good time to do this.
That's the plan - thanks to all for your input
S
 
A couple of speculations:

1) Sometimes the battery BMS can turn off if it measures a high enough voltage. On an budget battery setup, maybe the BMS voltage reading is slightly off and it is triggering / chattering as it gets to that upper limit.

Maybe try setting the charger so that it never goes over 14.0 volts and see what happens.

2) Impedance / resistance

Your system might actually have too low of resistance / impedance. I know that sounds odd but I have built a power system before with ultra low impedance like this and it was unstable. I had to add fuses for each component to make it run in a stable manner.

As an example, consider the idea of using a fuse block for all of the connection points instead of the bus bars.

Here is a good quality example - try to avoid going cheap on these fuse blocks:



Just use 30 amp fuses for all of your items listed.

Run everything, including the batteries to a fused connection point.

If you can, run the wires as twisted pairs when possible, especially from the solar charger to the fuse block.


3) Renogy controller failing

- I have seen those fail commonly in van power systems that customers bring in.
- I replace them with the Bogart controller

Just set the external pin to 12 volts and AGM and it will work just fine. No need for anything else.

It will self limit to 30 amps no matter what your panels are doing.


 
A couple of speculations:

1) Sometimes the battery BMS can turn off if it measures a high enough voltage. On an budget battery setup, maybe the BMS voltage reading is slightly off and it is triggering / chattering as it gets to that upper limit.

Maybe try setting the charger so that it never goes over 14.0 volts and see what happens.

2) Impedance / resistance

Your system might actually have too low of resistance / impedance. I know that sounds odd but I have built a power system before with ultra low impedance like this and it was unstable. I had to add fuses for each component to make it run in a stable manner.

As an example, consider the idea of using a fuse block for all of the connection points instead of the bus bars.

Here is a good quality example - try to avoid going cheap on these fuse blocks:



Just use 30 amp fuses for all of your items listed.

Run everything, including the batteries to a fused connection point.

If you can, run the wires as twisted pairs when possible, especially from the solar charger to the fuse block.


3) Renogy controller failing

- I have seen those fail commonly in van power systems that customers bring in.
- I replace them with the Bogart controller

Just set the external pin to 12 volts and AGM and it will work just fine. No need for anything else.

It will self limit to 30 amps no matter what your panels are doing.


Excellent suggestions. Thank you
 
Just thinking out loud - no great insights.

10 awg is good for 30 amps so 300 - 400 watts.

Sometimes entry level inverters throw some RF backward into the DC supply side and cause cross talk. For fun you could try to make some longer 10 awg wires and make them into a few tight coil loops (both + and - ) and see if this has any effect. This is completely speculation.
I read today 1ft vs 3ft in 10awg is nominal loss so I will do that. Thanks
 
I read today 1ft vs 3ft in 10awg is nominal loss so I will do that. Thanks

Yes - there isn't any downside.

Longer term, you will want a way to separate each battery from the system, either with a fuse or breaker.

One reason is for safety - as your set up is perfectly capable of evaporating those wires and that can be exciting.

The other less obvious reason is that inside of most LiFe consumer batteries is a BMS that trips it off when it detects conditions that it isn't happy with.

The way that these are re-set is to disconnect the battery from the circuit. You can do this using tools but sometimes it is nice to just flip a breaker switch or pull a fuse.

___________

Here is an example of twisted pair wiring in case anyone needs it for a reference in the future.

 
Yes - there isn't any downside.

Longer term, you will want a way to separate each battery from the system, either with a fuse or breaker.

One reason is for safety - as your set up is perfectly capable of evaporating those wires and that can be exciting.

The other less obvious reason is that inside of most LiFe consumer batteries is a BMS that trips it off when it detects conditions that it isn't happy with.

The way that these are re-set is to disconnect the battery from the circuit. You can do this using tools but sometimes it is nice to just flip a breaker switch or pull a fuse.

___________

Here is an example of twisted pair wiring in case anyone needs it for a reference in the future.

I do have fuses inline on all 3 batteries.
 
I do have fuses inline on all 3 batteries.

In that case, try pulling each of them - one at a time for 10 seconds and re-install.

It might be that one of the battery BMS is acting up and this will re-set it.

Keep it all live through this process if you can.

It could be that one of those fuse holders is acting up in the heat. It happens.
 
Update: I found loose negative terminal to inverter on bus bar and 2 crimps that were bad. Today is dark, overcast, and rain so ran TV for 30 min and shut down to maintain charge - no problems.
This might have solved my problem.
Thanks to all who offered help.
J
 
Update: I found loose negative terminal to inverter on bus bar and 2 crimps that were bad. Today is dark, overcast, and rain so ran TV for 30 min and shut down to maintain charge - no problems.
This might have solved my problem.
Thanks to all who offered help.
J

It is not so easy to make good crimps - at least for me.

First I purchased $15 crimpers - and failed to make consistent crimps on 10 awg wire. Actually failed to make very many good ones at all.

Then I purchased $75 crimpers - and failed to make 100% consistent crimps on 10 awg wire. Really still pretty terrible.

Then I purchased $350 crimpers - and now I have really 100% consistent crimps on 10 awg wire and can teach anyone to make consistent crimps in 15 minutes.

This is the challenge with wire crimping - doing low volume does not really allow for use of lower cost tools. At least it didn't for me.
 
It is not so easy to make good crimps - at least for me.

First I purchased $15 crimpers - and failed to make consistent crimps on 10 awg wire. Actually failed to make very many good ones at all.

Then I purchased $75 crimpers - and failed to make 100% consistent crimps on 10 awg wire. Really still pretty terrible.

Then I purchased $350 crimpers - and now I have really 100% consistent crimps on 10 awg wire and can teach anyone to make consistent crimps in 15 minutes.

This is the challenge with wire crimping - doing low volume does not really allow for use of lower cost tools. At least it didn't for me.
I agree crimps are hard to get right. Best I do is slow, careful, and mash the &#/<& out of the connection. And you see the result. I did look at some "how to ..." on web and you tube which helped some.
Again, thanks
 
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