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Rockpals 330 solar charging issue

lostinabox

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Joined
Oct 15, 2020
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23
I just got the Rockpals 330 yesterday. Everything works great on it so far except for the solar charging and one of the usb ports.

When plugged into an outlet or my 100w panel, it charges at 52w according to the display. When a shadow passes over the panel, power drops. But once in full sunlight again, the charging rate doesn't recover. It either gets stuck at around 10w - adjusting the panel might improve it slightly - or stops charging entirely. On the other hand, my expertpower s200 didn't have this problem. It would consistently recover it's charging rate.

And to top it off I just found that one of the usb ports is a dud.

Does this sound right? I'm thinking of returning it and waiting for the Jackery 300 to come back in stock, but if the charging issue can be resolved I'll hold onto it.
 
Return it, there is something wrong with it.

A Jackery or a Goal Zero are good deals.
 
It does not sound right unless you are at the absorption voltage close to charge termination criteria concurrent with the cloud. It might be triggering that it goes into float mode.

Typical charge termination for a hypothetical battery criteria are:

At or above 14.4V?
Current at or below 5A? (Assuming a 100Ah LFP battery)

If both of those criteria are met, then it may transition to float mode. 52W is pretty meager, so I suspect you're close to full. The instantaneous drop in current may meet the second criterion without a notable voltage drop and trigger float mode.

Next time it happens, try loading the unit to near its rating and see if it demands more solar.
 
I've sent rockpals an email about returning it. So now I'm just waiting for a response.

While charging it I had nothing plugged into it. It was a clear day, the station had over a 40% charge. Aside from me walking in front of it the panel had full sun.

Apparently with some lithium devices, you have to completely discharge and recharge before seeing the advertised rate. Is this a known issue with these things? It's supposed to be a lithium polymer if that matters.
 
I've sent rockpals an email about returning it. So now I'm just waiting for a response.

While charging it I had nothing plugged into it. It was a clear day, the station had over a 40% charge. Aside from me walking in front of it the panel had full sun.

Apparently with some lithium devices, you have to completely discharge and recharge before seeing the advertised rate. Is this a known issue with these things? It's supposed to be a lithium polymer if that matters.

The battery monitor may require that, but I would expect it's done at the factory and not a requirement for the end user.
 
This may be anecdotal but I saw a video by Hobotech where he was demonstrating the difference between the old Jackery 500 and the "new" version V2.0. The difference is the old version had PWM controller and new version had MPPT. Problem he found is EXACTLY what you described with the Rockpals.
 
This may be anecdotal but I saw a video by Hobotech where he was demonstrating the difference between the old Jackery 500 and the "new" version V2.0. The difference is the old version had PWM controller and new version had MPPT. Problem he found is EXACTLY what you described with the Rockpals.
I checked and double checked, the one i have has mppt. Now though I've returned my rigid solar panel to get the renogy 50w foldable one, so if Rockpals hasn't replied by then i guess I can test the shading issue again.
 
The foldable renogy just came in and so far the rockpals is working as it should with it. So either i had a faulty panel, there was a glitch in the station, or i have more to learn.

So brief review i guess, initially the panel provides its max rated output according to the station. Now, with my thermometer showing temps ranging from 165 - 170 (party's over Heat Miser, go home!) it's holding at around 25w. Taking the panel back inside to cool brings the output back to maximum.

Considering that rockpals still hasn't responded, which is consistent with another review i came across, this is good. I was getting ready to file a dispute with paypal to get this resolved. They won't be getting anymore business from me either way.
 
So brief update, i have this awesome little usb fan pointed at the panels, temps have fallen to the 150F range, power output up to 35w. Will be doing a full review on the renogy foldable 50w in the coming days.
 
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