No smoke yet, but Renogy wanderer 10amp I am not impressed defective new and in multiple ways!

[OneStudPuppy]

Video says it all. Well both videos.
First a power up and then low voltage freak outs until turns on. 2 1/2 days it was still trying to charge the battery! (Glad battery has its own protection) a brand I used to trust!
Lucky no smoke, but when on a budget maybe something else!

 

[OneStudPuppy]

I’m waiting out the suggested time before measuring battery one more time after disconnecting. But when I first went through menus it showed battery voltage going from 14 up to 25 then error.. it’s beyond wigged out.

Update after resting 14.13 believe the BMS kicked in to prevent the continued attempts to over charge

 

[acdoctor]

Are you certain that you have the controller set to LFP under battery type?
What is the LFP BOOST voltage set to if you changed it from the default of 14.2 volts?
Did you connect the battery first then solar.
I have looked over the manual. If you have it set to any other than LFP the voltage will be way to high. Also if the battery’s BMS disconnects because of over voltage of any other reason the controller will loose reference voltage ( it won’t know what voltage to charge at). That’s what it looks like is happening. After the battery’s BMS recovers it may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect the solar because of the order it requires things to be connected.
Error code E04 is Load shorted. According to Renogy wanderer 10 solar charge controller pwm manual. This could be erroneous during the loss of reference voltage.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Are you certain that you have the controller set to LFP under battery type?
What is the LFP BOOST voltage set to if you changed it from the default of 14.2 volts?
Did you connect the battery first then solar.
I have looked over the manual. If you have it set to any other than LFP the voltage will be way to high. Also if the battery’s BMS disconnects because of over voltage of any other reason the controller will loose reference voltage ( it won’t know what voltage to charge at). That’s what it looks like is happening. After the battery’s BMS recovers it may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect the solar because of the order it requires things to be connected.
Error code E04 is Load shorted. According to Renogy wanderer 10 solar charge controller pwm manual. This could be erroneous during the loss of reference voltage.

Yea set to LFP, 14.4 battery documentation says between 14.4 +/- .2v from everything I’ve read and looked up settings wise it should have been down to trickle and mellowed on the allowed current through to the battery. Unless I really missed something. But I went over all settings a few times. For sure not a investment I wanna have my own mistake blow out the battery etc

 

[acdoctor]

You could try reducing the boost voltage a little to reduce the likelihood of tripping the BMS. Default was 14.2 you could reduce to even 14 volts. Their is very little capacity for 14 to 14.4 volts. Give it a try and see if it helps.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

You could try reducing the boost voltage a little to reduce the likelihood of tripping the BMS. Default was 14.2 you could reduce to even 14 volts. Their is very little capacity for 14 to 14.4 volts. Give it a try and see if it helps.

It’s possible, but as of now I think my faith and trust for the wanderer 10amp model died with this last event. While I’m running a single 100 watt panel now I’m leaning to something maybe 20 or 30 amp and where I can set each battery and charge parameter instead of a single preset profile, also add more panels or bump up to a 200 watt suitcase or something in future if I discover 100watts isn’t cutting it. While my budget is tight I’ll have to balance and juggle funds. At least most of the work is done. A shunt / monitor was going to be added after everything else. Might still go that route find a solid controller first.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Are you certain that you have the controller set to LFP under battery type?
What is the LFP BOOST voltage set to if you changed it from the default of 14.2 volts?
Did you connect the battery first then solar.
I have looked over the manual. If you have it set to any other than LFP the voltage will be way to high. Also if the battery’s BMS disconnects because of over voltage of any other reason the controller will loose reference voltage ( it won’t know what voltage to charge at). That’s what it looks like is happening. After the battery’s BMS recovers it may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect the solar because of the order it requires things to be connected.
Error code E04 is Load shorted. According to Renogy wanderer 10 solar charge controller pwm manual. This could be erroneous during the loss of reference voltage.

Oops missed the other question as well. Yea did the battery connection first. House lights, then connected the panel at night. Since I had the panel connection wired to the shell of the trailer outside just had to connect the extensions

 

[wmgeorge]

Oops missed the other question as well. Yea did the battery connection first. House lights, then connected the panel at night. Since I had the panel connection wired to the shell of the trailer outside just had to connect the extensions

Its a cheap PWM controller but still needs to work right, sounds like a Warranty claim.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Its a cheap PWM controller but still needs to work right, sounds like a Warranty claim.

Agreed needs to work right. But I dunno if this is my first of their controllers with multiple failures one first unit dunno if I even want to warranty or just amazon return and switch to another brand. Familiar with mass production and going to have some bad in a batch. But double issues leaves little brand faith. Let alone being hooked up in a fiberglass egg and with a brand new lipo4 battery. Just not sure if I want to risk a worse failure. Sucks though was happy to have whole system in place and running and was planning on testing a few nights with cpap and all. This is exactly why I didn’t do any cable management yet

 

[OneStudPuppy]

talked to amazon today, returned / refunded. As of now my suggestion would be avoid this controller and spend a little more get something with custom profile / adjustability on settings. Learn from my mistake and save some frustration.
Still need to make sure no harm has come of the battery. But sometimes budget comes into play which in my case it does. I’m fixed income and all, but a little better controller will save potential money by not having a multi level failure.
Very glad the BMS in the battery probably stepped in (hopefully) and saved from damage. I really would have hated to see the result say this was a flooded lead acid battery hooked up to it and just continued to boil over the electrolyte etc. could have been very bad I’d guess

 

[OneStudPuppy]

So between reading around here, googling it appears Renogy has a issue with some of the units and different models. Now I get with volume of sales you will have some lemons. BUT I’m seeing a small trend of Overcharging. This to me is a concerning issue and I was one of the people who it happened to.
i couldn’t help but get a chuckle after a few days of waiting for a reply and to get a email today saying they determined my controller was faulty. But the chuckle stops when my brand new battery was out through conditions it should not have been.
So a new brand hunt and model continues but @Renogy Solar please seriously look into this issue of over charging. While it’s not all your units there has been enough recent posts here and other places when Googled. Your warranty on the controller is nice but would not take care of other equipment potentially damaged when the controllers fail and do not self shut down.

 

[Renogy Solar]

Your warranty on the controller is nice but would not take care of other equipment potentially damaged when the controllers fail and do not self shut down.

Thank you for your attention to Renogy products and apologize for the inconvenience. We guarantee that every product of Renogy will be fully tested for its safety, adaptability, etc. before released, and we strive to ensure that everything is safe.

Sincerely apologize for your experience. If it is a product issue, we would contact relevant team and make improvement right away. Thank you for bringing this up to our attention.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

Thank you for your attention to Renogy products and apologize for the inconvenience. We guarantee that every product of Renogy will be fully tested for its safety, adaptability, etc. before released, and we strive to ensure that everything is safe.

Sincerely apologize for your experience. If it is a product issue, we would contact relevant team and make improvement right away. Thank you for bringing this up to our attention.

I’ve talked to the “team” kinda seems like sub groups who don’t cross communicate well. Either way they stated and it’s pretty obvious that one was a product issue, two defects within 3 days of running. I already went through amazon and did a return.
I’ve lost any and all faith in the wanderer as a model as a whole. I have purchased a different and went rover, which it self is kinda funny controller vs actual battery voltage doesn’t match and from researching I expected this.
I would suggest your teams work together a little tighter and figure out when there is a issue it’s kinda goofy to suddenly go from staying yea it’s defective to maybe your system is incompatible.
This was the email I got today.
1 100ah battery 1 100 watt 5.3 amp solar panel of your own brand. And from what this said apparently the wander can’t handle this?