OK to power down Eperver with panel still "live"

[DonPhillipe]

I wasn't able to phrase this question to the point of delievering any hits here or on Google. With an EPERVER XTRA controller in mid day with panels live, is it OK to remove the power line to the controller with the solar panels still attached to the controller and live? I was able to do this with my old MTTP controller with no problem, however I don't want to cause any harm with this new one if it doesn't allow it. I prefer to find someone who actually does this and by experience knows it does not cause an issue rather than theory or what the manual says (I know the manual says to attach the power to the controller first and then the panel from the panels to the controller, but my old manual said that too and I used the breaker between the battery and the controller itself to power down the output from the controller all the time without ever disconnecting the solar array and nothing bad happened). Sorry but prefer genuine expreience with the practice. Thanks in advance!

 

[timselectric]

I don't have an EPever.
But, I have a disconnect between my panels and MPPT. I turn it of quite often, under full sun.
If you are just taking wires off of terminals. You just need to avoid any arcing. (Move quickly)

 

[fratermus]

{deleting since you already know what the manual says}

 

[MisterSandals]

If you are just taking wires off of terminals. You just need to avoid any arcing.

You should also avoid killing yourself. How many volts are you handling with a screwdriver?

 

[HRTKD]

I always flip the breaker between the panels and the solar charge controller before I power down the solar charge controller. Once I flip the upstream breaker, I then flip the downstream breaker. When powering up, I reverse the process.

There is a thread posted by Will where he couldn't kill the solar charge controllers in the test. But I'm not taking any chances. So I follow my procedure each and every time.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

You shouldn’t pull the plug on the battery before disconnecting panels. That you’ve gotten away with it doesn’t mean it’s ok

 

[timselectric]

You can never get the smoke back in, once it's released.

 

[MisterSandals]

You can never get the smoke back in, once it's released.

Have you ever tried this stuff?

 

[Don B. Cilly]

You can never get the smoke back in, once it's released.

Maybe not, but with an appropriate extractor fan, pump and canning equipment, you can can it and sell it on eBay as "genuine Epever smoke" to be inhaled at the buyer's pleasure.

Jokes aside (Mr. S. sort of beat me to it but hey ;·) from experience (mistakes) and what I read, disconnecting the battery before the panels should have no (permanent) consequences, it just might confuse the controller as to battery voltage.
-

 

[ianganderton]

The only problem I can see is epevers auto sensing of battery voltage.

If you disconnected the battery but left the panels on then the power reduced to zero from the panels then came back on again the SCC could mis sense the battery voltage from the panels. This could cause a problem when you reconnect the battery

My understanding is that this is the reason for the battery first connection protocol. To ensure correct battery voltage is selected by the unit

 

[12VoltInstalls]

…never mind if the thing was working hard and suddenly the unfettered electrons can’t go where they intended. I thought that was a risk, the tappet bros. smoke resulting.