Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 ignores my custom settings for absorption voltage

[BjornM]

The charger will return to Bulk state if the battery goes below the absorb voltage at any time during absorb timer is active and the mppt feature will resume.

Are you intentionally trying to misunderstand what I write? Have I done something to offend you, and if so what?

 

[BjornM]

Because the charger is knows what you don't

You are making assumptions or conclusions that lack an understanding of operation?

MorningStar has 30+ years of experience with charge controllers

Well, tell me then what it is that I don't understand about the settings I am using. In the very first post of the thread I explain it all.

 

[BjornM]

That unit is a youngster! Mine has a 9 pin serial port.


I have been following along but cannot identify a problem with what you are doing. I do have the detail of my settings and files I got from morningstar. Maybe helpful?

Morningstar reprograming for Lithium

I have two Morningstar SunSaver MPPT controllers one of which is used on our teardrop trailer. I bought the SunSaver about 14 years ago as it was the only one that would handle the high voltage from a used grid tie panel. The high voltage panel means we get usable current when it is shaded and...

diysolarforum.com

I needed to update firmware in 2019 to version that supports custom battery. Applied these settings for 12V. Switched to 48V with dip switches only. Found it curious that you entered 24V numbers since I did not enter 48V numbers.

Thanks, very helpful. I had a look at your settings and it is similar to another one I've looked at, where you don't use the normal bulk/absorb/float stages but instead let the charger cycle between over voltage protection and release from over voltage protection. So in effect it is just bulk with no absorb and no float. I might try that, but I prefer to let it rest at a float voltage after the bulk if possible.

Interesting about your firmware update. But the thing is that I have made custom settings for my lead acid batteries all since 2015 and it has worked fine. But I will definitely get the cables needed and do a proper update.

Yes, I enter the numbers in the form as if they are for 12 V. Then they are recalculated by MSView and shown for 24 V in the summary (the screen shots I posted earlier).

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Haven’t we read here on diysolarforum that float is not helpful for LFP batteries? That it does not extend the life of cells?

 

[Checkthisout]

Haven’t we read here on diysolarforum that float is not helpful for LFP batteries? That it does not extend the life of cells?

Kind of.

It's there to present voltage to power loads.

 

[BjornM]

Haven’t we read here on diysolarforum that float is not helpful for LFP batteries? That it does not extend the life of cells?

It's a matter of preference. If you use bulk + float, and set the float voltage to the normal resting voltage of the cells at 100% SOC, then the cells will first see a bulk cycle in the morning, and then be left untouched for the rest of the day (as long as there is solar power). With bulk only, you don't get that benefit, but that might not matter to you.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

My charger has also worked flawlessly until now. Very happy with my purchase. I'm eagerly waiting for someone to tell me "but you forgot this setting you idiot". Then I can just move on and still be happy with my charger.

I am not going to my cabin until after the new years and will not return from there until the 6th. i will note my settings (i have to hook up a laptop to read them), and if you have not figured out whats up with yours by then i will upload a copy of mine to see if you can figure out the difference between them.

 

[BjornM]

I am not going to my cabin until after the new years and will not return from there until the 6th. i will note my settings (i have to hook up a laptop to read them), and if you have not figured out whats up with yours by then i will upload a copy of mine to see if you can figure out the difference between them.

Thanks!

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Thanks!

no promises that it will help, i muddled with it for 8 months before I finally became happy with the settings. I would try some settings check it every weekend, then after four weekends sit down with notes and try adjusting a little here a little there. 8 months and I finally got it to do what I wanted it to do. I was using AGM originally, and was quite happy with the performance of the units until i swapped to lithium.

I will say this I have absorb set currently at 30 minutes at 3.4/cell if i remember correctly. I might have dropped it to 15 or 20 at the end i do not remember as it was last summer when I finally got it sorted.

initially it was hitting the full charge setpoint and the BMS would shut off causing the SCC to freak out as they suddenly lost their "battery" so a big part of the settings was figuring out what made the BMS and the SCC happy.

 

[BjornM]

no promises that it will help, i muddled with it for 8 months before I finally became happy with the settings. I would try some settings check it every weekend, then after four weekends sit down with notes and try adjusting a little here a little there. 8 months and I finally got it to do what I wanted it to do. I was using AGM originally, and was quite happy with the performance of the units until i swapped to lithium.

I will say this I have absorb set currently at 30 minutes at 3.4/cell if i remember correctly. I might have dropped it to 15 or 20 at the end i do not remember as it was last summer when I finally got it sorted.

initially it was hitting the full charge setpoint and the BMS would shut off causing the SCC to freak out as they suddenly lost their "battery" so a big part of the settings was figuring out what made the BMS and the SCC happy.

I just want to say that I'm not looking for suggestions on what charge profile to use. I already know how I want to charge my batteries. The issue I have is why the charger doesn't follow the charge profile I have entered.

 

[Checkthisout]

I just want to say that I'm not looking for suggestions on what charge profile to use. I already know how I want to charge my batteries. The issue I have is why the charger doesn't follow the charge profile I have entered.

Just up the absorption time to a 1/2 hour and see what happens.

The charging strategy is damped so that it doesn't overshoot the target voltage and the logging software probably only takes a reading every couple minutes or something.

The charger sees amperage decreasing or time in bulk and switches to absorption to take a terminal voltage reading. Your absorption time is too short and the terminal voltage is above float so it stops charging and changes to float.

I'm explaining this horribly.

 

[BjornM]

Just up the absorption time to a 1/2 hour and see what happens.

The charging strategy is damped so that it doesn't overshoot the target voltage and the logging software probably only takes a reading every couple minutes or something.

The charger sees amperage decreasing or time in bulk and switches to absorption to take a terminal voltage reading. Your absorption time is too short and the terminal voltage is above float so it stops charging and changes to float.

I'm explaining this horribly.

That is not the case. It updates the values every second.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

I just want to say that I'm not looking for suggestions on what charge profile to use. I already know how I want to charge my batteries. The issue I have is why the charger doesn't follow the charge profile I have entered.

oh i understand that, just giving you an idea on what mine is from memory. once I download you can compare the setting used vs not used and it might give you ideas was all i was suggesting.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

That is not the case. It updates the values every second.

yes, and depending upon how many you are logging its even faster.

 

[BjornM]

oh i understand that, just giving you an idea on what mine is from memory. once I download you can compare the setting used vs not used and it might give you ideas was all i was suggesting.

Great idea. I might get an aha-moment when I see your settings.

 

[Checkthisout]

That is not the case. It updates the values every second.

Good to know.

The other factor still applies I would think.

 

[100 Proof]

My TS-MPPT-60 charger is ignoring my custom settings for absorption voltage for some reason. Perhaps someone has experienced the same thing and can give me some pointers. I've used custom settings for years, but now when I got new batteries, I changed the settings and somehow things don't work anymore.

I've set the dip-switches to allow for custom settings. I've programmed the charger using MSView, and double checked that my settings are indeed in the charger.

Regulation voltage: 27.67 V
Temp comp: 0 (in other words turned off)
Absorption time: 1 minute
Absorption Ext: disabled
Battery Service Reminder: disabled
Float voltage: 26.96 V
Float cancel voltage: disabled
Equalize voltage: disabled
HVD: disabled
Max regulation limit: 28.80 V

With these settings I expect the charger to be in bulk mode (or MPPT as they call it in the Live View) until it reaches 27.67 V, then switch to absorption for one minute, then switch to float and hold 26.96 V. This is not what happens. Instead it stays in bulk until only 27.27 V is reached, then switches immediately to float. So it makes two errors: it ignores the bulk/absorption voltage, and it ignores the absorption stage. How can I fix this?

Love to hear some feedback on what you learned and how you ended up with this.

 

[BjornM]

Love to hear some feedback on what you learned and how you ended up with this.

It turned out it was broken. Not sure why it broke though. I've replaced it with a Victron controller.