Renogy 50a DC charger not charging via solar, but charges via alternator

[johnny5]

Hi, In my Chevy astro van i have a renogy 50a dc charger, 2 renogy 100w panels, 100a lithium battery, aili battery monitor. Solar panels suddenly stopped charging the battery. It was working yesterday but not today. The red light indicator on the DC charging unit for the solar panels panels is on, So it must be getting power from the panels... I assume my 20a in line fuse is good. It's under my solar panels and I haven't been able to remove them from the mount yet to check the fuse though, I'm on a camping trip right now. I normally carry a volt meter, but the leads separated from the wires when i pulled it out of my tool bin last week. Perfect timing. I can charge the battery using the alternator just fine.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has any advice for me, what to look at. Thanks

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Panels in parallel or series?

 

[mikefitz]

If the charger is the DCC50S its got a maximum solar input volts of 25.5, over that it stops solar charge.

 

[johnny5]

Panels in parallel or series?

They are wired parallel

 

[johnny5]

If the charger is the DCC50S its got a maximum solar input volts of 25.5, over that it stops solar charge.

Yup, but that's not my issue. with the alternator off and solar on, I'm not seeing any power coming in on the battery monitor, like i normally would

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Bad connection.
Bad panel(s).
Failed MPPT.

Check for panel voltage at the PV terminals on the MPPT (IIRC, the (-) is chassis ground). If you have voltage there, the MPPT has likely failed. If you don't have voltage there find where you lost it.

 

[bryanwilson516]

If the charger is the DCC50S its got a maximum solar input volts of 25.5, over that it stops solar charge.

This right here is a very useful tid bit that I was unaware of until now and might be the reason my charge controller keeps shutting off the solar charging. Are there any tricks to lower the incoming voltage so that the charge controller can handle it?

 

[Zapper77]

This right here is a very useful tid bit that I was unaware of until now and might be the reason my charge controller keeps shutting off the solar charging. Are there any tricks to lower the incoming voltage so that the charge controller can handle it?

Smaller panels

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Smaller panels

This.

The only way to lower voltage of panels is to heat them up. Tricks like a resistor only lower the voltage when current is flowing, so the measured voltage without current will be the same.