MasterPivot
New Member
Hi! I am fairly new to solar, and would really appreciate some help.
My issue is with a small solar power system I built in my shed with the intent to power small devices in the yard. At the moment, only the chicken coop door's motor and timer are hooked up, with an on-demand water pump set to be installed this spring.
The system is composed of a 20W solar panel connected to a 20amp PWM solar charge controller and 12v 9ah battery. Currently attached is a timer and a 12v motor.
More details on the parts if needed:
I had installed the system last year and it worked well until recently, when the chicken door appeared to stop working. After much investigation and testing, I was able to confirm that continuity was good and that the motor and timer were in working order. I then discovered that the battery was draining from its normal 14.4v during the peak of the day down to 10.6v overnight (SCC's Discharge Stop), despite having almost no discernable drain on it (just the timer).
I thought that the problem might be a faulty battery, seeing as its voltage had dropped below the amount needed to even run the motor. To test the system, I did the following tests:
Is the battery just not holding a charge properly? And, why is the battery draining when BOTH the solar panel and SCC are connected to the battery overnight, but not when just the SCC is connected? Is the SCC faulty?
My issue is with a small solar power system I built in my shed with the intent to power small devices in the yard. At the moment, only the chicken coop door's motor and timer are hooked up, with an on-demand water pump set to be installed this spring.
The system is composed of a 20W solar panel connected to a 20amp PWM solar charge controller and 12v 9ah battery. Currently attached is a timer and a 12v motor.
More details on the parts if needed:
- 20W Solar Panel: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W813E4I
- 20A Solar Charge Controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072MMDY4F
- 12v 9ah Battery: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K8V2Y8W
- 12v Timer Switch: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WR0ELCO
- Motor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007IZJWNQ
I had installed the system last year and it worked well until recently, when the chicken door appeared to stop working. After much investigation and testing, I was able to confirm that continuity was good and that the motor and timer were in working order. I then discovered that the battery was draining from its normal 14.4v during the peak of the day down to 10.6v overnight (SCC's Discharge Stop), despite having almost no discernable drain on it (just the timer).
I thought that the problem might be a faulty battery, seeing as its voltage had dropped below the amount needed to even run the motor. To test the system, I did the following tests:
- After charging the battery during the day to a decent amount (13.6v), I completely unhooked it and left it alone overnight. The battery did NOT drop in voltage.
- Then, I hooked the battery back up to just the SCC and disconnected everything else off of it. Again, the battery looked good overnight.
- Next, I reattached the solar panel to the SCC and battery. Overnight, the battery dropped to 10.6v! "Aha", I thought!
- Being thorough, I then removed the solar panel from the SCC and wired up the timer and motor again. The battery dropped to 10.6v! "WTF!"
- Finally, I removed all and attached the battery straight to the timer and motor. Again, a drop to 10.6v!
Is the battery just not holding a charge properly? And, why is the battery draining when BOTH the solar panel and SCC are connected to the battery overnight, but not when just the SCC is connected? Is the SCC faulty?