Renogy providing questionable support solution?

[Sillyputty]

Hi folks - I submitted a trouble ticket to Renogy, and the reply seems nonsensical to me, but what do I know? The gist is below - any suggestions are welcome.

Me:
"My new Renogy Wanderer PWM seems to exceed 15 Volts intermittently which (I think) causes inverter to shutdown due to over-voltage.

Otherwise, things function without any known issues.

Is this the 'equalization cycle' and if so, can the controller be programmed via Bluetooth to correct/lower the EQ voltage to ~ 14.9 Volts in order to not trigger the inverters protection?

Them:
"Based on your feedback, we have the following suggestions: The voltage is 15V, indicating that the battery is over-voltage, because your battery's maximum charging voltage is 14.8V, so it is judged that the battery may be faulty. It is recommended to replace the battery and retest."

Me: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[gnubie]

Yep, that's pretty much bunk, unless you have a battery that can charge itself (yes, that's a real thing). It's the charger at work.

 

[snoobler]

Response: "The only way my battery can be over 14.8V is if your charge controller is charging it to higher voltages. Try again"

 

[chrisski]

Best thing to do is read the owners manual. Renogy should have a decent owners manual unlike some cheaper PWM companies.

Some charge controllers are programmable in all phases that you can set voltage to. If you have bluetooth on it, by all means get in there and see what these are set to. Some you can even shut The equalization phase off, other manuals I’ve seen say set the charge controller for AGM so it doesn’t enter the equalization mode and reprogram the charging Voltages.

I have a cheap PWM Charge Controller with a very short manual that does not tell me much, but there are several charge features built in it.

I’ve got a hydrometer and I would also check each cell in the battery to see what the voltage is.

Also, what is the max unit voltage and minimum unit voltage to your inverter, and is there an alarm these are set to? I was looking at a 120 VAC inverter with a 10.5 - 16 VDC input, so that should be fine with a 15 volt input.

 

[Sillyputty]

Best thing to do is read the owners manual. Renogy should have a decent owners manual unlike some cheaper PWM companies.

Some charge controllers are programmable in all phases that you can set voltage to. If you have bluetooth on it, by all means get in there and see what these are set to. Some you can even shut The equalization phase off, other manuals I’ve seen say set the charge controller for AGM so it doesn’t enter the equalization mode and reprogram the charging Voltages.

I have a cheap PWM Charge Controller with a very short manual that does not tell me much, but there are several charge features built in it.

I’ve got a hydrometer and I would also check each cell in the battery to see what the voltage is.

Also, what is the max unit voltage and minimum unit voltage to your inverter, and is there an alarm these are set to? I was looking at a 120 VAC inverter with a 10.5 - 16 VDC input, so that should be fine with a 15 volt input.

Good advice - it is what led me to think that it was the CC providing the >15V and that it might be configurable. The Renogy Wanderer PWM is set to recover after an over-voltage event at 15V and has a charging limit voltage of 15.5V which is 0.1V and 0.6V higher than the threshold that my inverter has for going into fault protection mode.

I did order the remoter bluetooth BT-1 module but have yet to find any way to configure it to see if that is the issue.

If anyone else has been able to configure their Wanderer PWM controller with the BT-1 module, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Also, I'll look for any configurability with my inverter which might help.

 

[Bob142]

Good advice - it is what led me to think that it was the CC providing the >15V and that it might be configurable. The Renogy Wanderer PWM is set to recover after an over-voltage event at 15V and has a charging limit voltage of 15.5V which is 0.1V and 0.6V higher than the threshold that my inverter has for going into fault protection mode.

I did order the remoter bluetooth BT-1 module but have yet to find any way to configure it to see if that is the issue.

If anyone else has been able to configure their Wanderer PWM controller with the BT-1 module, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Also, I'll look for any configurability with my inverter which might help.

It's definitely the Wanderer doing it. Are you seeing the over-voltage event early in the charge cycle?

What I've observed is that for both my small systems where I use the Wanderer 10A I will see the over-voltage situation you described if the batteries are mostly full when the Wanderer starts a new charge cycle. I suspect there is some time aspect to the bulk portion of the charging algorithm so the controller keeps slamming full panel voltage at the battery for a while rather than recognizing that it's not really drawing any charge current and switching to float mode.

If the batteries are discharged a bit (15% DoD or more as measured by shunt battery monitor for 30ish Ah batteries) I don't see the over voltage issue when charging.

Based on another post I believe you have the Wanderer 30A. I use the BT-1 and app to configure my Wanderer 10A, but can only change settings for lithium battery type. In all cases, the parameters affecting high voltage disconnect, over voltage reconnect etc. are not user modifiable and they are set WAY too high.

Checking the manual for the Wanderer 30A shows similar profile settings as the 10A. Note that only the Lithium battery type can be mildly configured:

 

[John Frum]

Them:
"Based on your feedback, we have the following suggestions: The voltage is 15V, indicating that the battery is over-voltage, because your battery's maximum charging voltage is 14.8V, so it is judged that the battery may be faulty. It is recommended to replace the battery and retest."

I asked Renogy support a few questions now and the answers are consistently in that ballpark of clueless.

 

[HRTKD]

What battery type is the Wanderer set to use?

 

[Sillyputty]

It's definitely the Wanderer doing it. Are you seeing the over-voltage event early in the charge cycle?

What I've observed is that for both my small systems where I use the Wanderer 10A I will see the over-voltage situation you described if the batteries are mostly full when the Wanderer starts a new charge cycle. I suspect there is some time aspect to the bulk portion of the charging algorithm so the controller keeps slamming full panel voltage at the battery for a while rather than recognizing that it's not really drawing any charge current and switching to float mode.

If the batteries are discharged a bit (15% DoD or more as measured by shunt battery monitor for 30ish Ah batteries) I don't see the over voltage issue when charging.

Based on another post I believe you have the Wanderer 30A. I use the BT-1 and app to configure my Wanderer 10A, but can only change settings for lithium battery type. In all cases, the parameters affecting high voltage disconnect, over voltage reconnect etc. are not user modifiable and they are set WAY too high.

Checking the manual for the Wanderer 30A shows similar profile settings as the 10A. Note that only the Lithium battery type can be mildly configured:

View attachment 21174

Thanks for the replies. I finally figured out how to adjust some of the parameters using the BT-1 app (I changed the battery type to "USER") and reduced the charge limit voltage to 14.9V. The other parameters I left alone. The app also showed that the max voltage of the battery was 15.8V on two occasions this last month, that were 10 days apart. This leads me to think that it's not the equalization voltage causing the issue, as it's supposed to equalize the FLA every 28 days.

Any other recommendations re: changing values please let me know.

You folks are already an invaluable resource - and most of you don't get paid enough! ;-)

 

[Sillyputty]

What battery type is the Wanderer set to use?

Originally it was for flooded lead acid - deep cycle (which it is) but as I noted above, I was able to change it to "USER" and make some changes that may help.

 

[Bob142]

Thanks for the replies. I finally figured out how to adjust some of the parameters using the BT-1 app (I changed the battery type to "USER") and reduced the charge limit voltage to 14.9V. The other parameters I left alone. The app also showed that the max voltage of the battery was 15.8V on two occasions this last month, that were 10 days apart. This leads me to think that it's not the equalization voltage causing the issue, as it's supposed to equalize the FLA every 28 days.

Any other recommendations re: changing values please let me know.

You folks are already an invaluable resource - and most of you don't get paid enough! ;-)

View attachment 21210

i will be pleasantly surprised if changing it to User battery type actually works for you. I see that option in the app but it doesn’t work with my Wanderers because they don’t support that option. It only works on my Rover which explicitly lists a User battery type in the manual. I don’t see a User battery type in your Wanderer 30 manual so I’m skeptical.

 

[Sillyputty]

i will be pleasantly surprised if changing it to User battery type actually works for you. I see that option in the app but it doesn’t work with my Wanderers because they don’t support that option. It only works on my Rover which explicitly lists a User battery type in the manual. I don’t see a User battery type in your Wanderer 30 manual so I’m skeptical.

So far it at least shows up in the app as "USER" and maintains that the charge limit voltage is 14.9V which is what I changed it to.

Although the app does say under battery type that it now "USER" the Renogy Wanderer LED still shows it lit as "red" which means "flooded."

 

[Bob142]

So far it at least shows up in the app as "USER" and maintains that the charge limit voltage is 14.9V which is what I changed it to.

Although the app does say under battery type that it now "USER" the Renogy Wanderer LED still shows it lit as "red" which means "flooded."View attachment 21214

Yeah, I can do the same thing in the app with my 10A Wanderers, but the display on the charge controller tells a different story. Just like your LED.

 

[Sillyputty]

Yup. Time will tell if changing anything in the app reflects real-world performance or not.

 

[Sverige]

Yup. Time will tell if changing anything in the app reflects real-world performance or not.

Hi @Sillyputty, did you reach a conclusion on whether setting your custom voltages in ”user” profile via the app was correctly reflected in the charging voltages to the battery?

 

[Sillyputty]

Hey @Sverige - it looks like it has. The settings now are the same as what I posted above after I changed them, where I reduced the charge limit to below the 15V threshold that was causing issues with the inverter going into safe mode, and it hasn't shut off since.

 

[Sverige]

Hey @Sverige - it looks like it has. The settings now are the same as what I posted above after I changed them, where I reduced the charge limit to below the 15V threshold that was causing issues with the inverter going into safe mode, and it hasn't shut off since.

Awesome news, thanks. I think I’m about to buy a wanderer 30 Li. Weirdly the BT module seems to cost way more than the charge controller itself, but I guess I’d better buy both.

 

[gnubie]

You definitely need the BT module or a PC that can talk with the controller via the serial interface (rs232 or rs485 are options). Without that you are limited in the options you can change.