Need Help Getting My System Working!

[jorgegiovanni]

Hello, I am new to this forum and I hope I can get help getting my system working. I am new to solar power and I have been working and learning to build my solar system that will hopefully power my office throughout the day. I have a big issue with my MPPT solar charge controller (You can view it here) not recognizing my solar panels. It is the EPEVER Tracer4215BN solar charge controller. The charge controller display shows that it is in night mode. even though I have my (3) 200W solar panels plugged in (you can view specs here). I have been trying to figure out why it is not working and charging my batteries.

Right now I have (4) 200ah Lithium batteries ( You can view them here.) and a 24v/200W inverter (you can view it here)

Right now I have my batteries wired in series/parallel. (2) series and the other (2) in series, then wired parallel creating a 24v system. I hope you can see the setup in the photos.

I am not sure if I have something wired incorrectly. Maybe the breakers that I have on there? or something else wired incorrectly.

My other concern was if I had the MPPT not programed correctly. I'm new to solar power and I am really disappointed because I have been spending a lot of time trying to get it to work.

Is there anyone that can help me, please? Any help would be greatly appreciated. ?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Did you fully charge your 12V batteries to at least 14.4V before wiring them in series to make 24V?

If not, you should do this now.

Can you actually read this?



Blurry pictures aren't helpful.

The breakers you have chosen are likely poor quality.

What voltage does your voltmeter report when you measure it here:

 

[jorgegiovanni]

Did you fully charge your 12V batteries to at least 14.4V before wiring them in series to make 24V?

If not, you should do this now.

Can you actually read this?

View attachment 139754

Blurry pictures aren't helpful.

The breakers you have chosen are likely poor quality.

What voltage does your voltmeter report when you measure it here:

View attachment 139755

Thanks for your reply. I fully charged the batteries with a lithium battery charger until the charger stopped and said fully charged on the screen. I will test the connection of the volts tomorrow and check the voltage.

 

[WindWizard]

I would make sure that all of your solar panels are wired in series to get the voltage to 50 volts or so. It does not appear to have any voltage on your solar controller.

When the sun is out then after connecting all three panels in series, then measure the voltage coming into the input of the Solar Controller. It should be 50 to 60 volts. Once you get that then you can play with the settings on the MPPT Controller to get them to charge your batteries according to the manufacture's recommendations.

 

[jorgegiovanni]

I would make sure that all of your solar panels are wired in series to get the voltage to 50 volts or so. It does not appear to have any voltage on your controller.

Right now, I don't have them plugged in, since I am having to connect them and take them outside on my driveway when I want to test them. They are sitting inside my garage and I take them out during the day. Eventually, they will hopefully be installed on my roof.

 

[WindWizard]

Your question was concerning why you couldn't charge your batteries. If you do not have the Solar Panels hooked up in series to the Mppt Charge Controller, then your batteries will not charge.

 

[jorgegiovanni]

Your question was concerning why you couldn't charge your batteries. If you do not have the Solar Panels hooked up in series to the Mppt Charge Controller, then your batteries will not charge.

I did have my panels hooked up in series during the day but the solar charge controller did not show the charging icon, nor any power coming from the panels. So I disconnected the wires running the panels and re-did the connectors again, and then another time after seeing that there was no power coming from the panels. I was thinking it was the connection between the panels and the wires going from the panels to the charge controller but it seems to be fine. Tomorrow I will test the power coming from the panels to the charge controller and see what kind of voltage I get.

 

[WindWizard]

Just takes a bit of troubleshooting. Take your Voltmeter outside and measure the voltage from the three panels in series. You should see around 60 volts or so. If not then measure each panel individually and you should see 20 volts or so. Keep working until you can see the 60 volts. Connect the cables and measure them inside your house. Same 60 volts. Connect to Mppt controller and you should see the 60 volts or so. Then it should charge your batteries after setting the Controller to Lithium or Custom settings.

 

[jorgegiovanni]

Just takes a bit of troubleshooting. Take your Voltmeter outside and measure the voltage from the three panels in series. You should see around 60 volts or so. If not then measure each panel individually and you should see 20 volts or so. Keep working until you can see the 60 volts. Connect the cables and measure them inside your house. Same 60 volts. Connect to Mppt controller and you should see the 60 volts or so. Then it should charge your batteries after setting the Controller to Lithium or Custom settings.

Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I will keep testing and checking voltage like you mentioned.

 

[StuartV]

You picture of the controller shows voltage at 26.8, the batteries are fully charged, so the controller wont charge them as they're full already. Well, depends on the settings on the controller. 24V fully charged could be 29.2V.

Thats my 2 pence worth anyway.

Try using some of the battery, so plug something in, drain the battery a bit, then try charging again ??

 

[jorgegiovanni]

You picture of the controller shows voltage at 26.8, the batteries are fully charged, so the controller wont charge them as they're full already. Well, depends on the settings on the controller. 24V fully charged could be 29.2V.

Thats my 2 pence worth anyway.

Try using some of the battery, so plug something in, drain the battery a bit, then try charging again ??

You know, I was thinking that and might give that a try. Thank you!

 

[jorgegiovanni]

Just takes a bit of troubleshooting. Take your Voltmeter outside and measure the voltage from the three panels in series. You should see around 60 volts or so. If not then measure each panel individually and you should see 20 volts or so. Keep working until you can see the 60 volts. Connect the cables and measure them inside your house. Same 60 volts. Connect to Mppt controller and you should see the 60 volts or so. Then it should charge your batteries after setting the Controller to Lithium or Custom settings.

Ok, I only have two panels plugged in in series and tested the connections to see what voltage I got. I also checked the voltage on the MPPT to see what I was getting. I also turned the inverter on and have my pc plugged into it and running it off the system to see if I can discharge the batteries a bit and see if the solar charge controller can start charging the batteries. I am not sure how to operate the MPPT so that is something that I may need help on. I think that the settings may have to de adjusted too...

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I'm assuming you checked the MPPT PV terminals when the panels were plugged in. If not, they need to be. If they were plugged in, you have a bad connection somewhere, or the MPPT is bad.

 

[jorgegiovanni]

Did you fully charge your 12V batteries to at least 14.4V before wiring them in series to make 24V?

If not, you should do this now.

Can you actually read this?

View attachment 139754

Blurry pictures aren't helpful.

The breakers you have chosen are likely poor quality.

What voltage does your voltmeter report when you measure it here:

View attachment 139755

Ok, I only have two panels plugged in in series and tested the connections to see what voltage I got. I also checked the voltage on the MPPT to see what I was getting. I also turned the inverter on and have my pc plugged into it and running it off the system to see if I can discharge the batteries a bit and see if the solar charge controller can start charging the batteries. I am not sure how to operate the MPPT so that is something that I may need help on. I think that the settings may have to de adjusted too...

I'm assuming you checked the MPPT PV terminals when the panels were plugged in. If not, they need to be. If they were plugged in, you have a bad connection somewhere, or the MPPT is bad.

The mppt just shows that the system is in night mode and doesn't show any power coming from the panels. I already redid the connections and still no power. I don't know what to do. It might be the cables that are bad...I am not sure what to do now.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

If you aren't getting PV voltage at the MPPT, you either have a bad connection, or the MPPT is faulty. Suggest you trace back from the MPPT PV connection to the panels and make certain there's on a bad connection/connector.

Noticed that you measured VDC on one and "LowZ" on the others.

 

[WindWizard]

It looks like the voltage is good at the panels but not good at the Mppt. Just take an ohmmeter and measure the resistance of the cables because I suspect one cable is open.

To check your cable set your meter to ohms and put one lead on one end and then one on the other and then you should see continuity on the meter.

 

[jorgegiovanni]

It looks like the voltage is good at the panels but not good at the Mppt. Just take an ohmmeter and measure the resistance of the cables because I suspect one cable is open.

To check your cable set your meter to ohms and put one lead on one end and then one on the other and then you should see continuity on the meter.

I think I finally figured it out! After connecting other cables to other smaller solar panels, they seemed to be working. So that told me that the longer cable that's 50ft long was not getting any voltage from panels or something was wrong. So I took a look at the cable connectors that I had installed and the ones from the shorter cable that already came with the connectors and it turned out that I had flipped the polarity of the connectors. That is why my MPPT was not taking any voltage. Because the polarity of my cables was basically reversed.

Thank you so much for your help! I really do appreciate all of the time you guys took to look at my issue. Now I learned to first, look at how to connectors will plug in to the connectors from the solar panels and think before installing any connectors on the positive and negative ends of the cables.