Rover 60 not allowing me to change parameters

[Davian7]

No, a bad battery will not charge and will keep the others from charging.

Take it out of the syste

No, a bad battery will not charge and will keep the others from charging.

Take it out of the system.

Even if the "bad" battery still holds a decent charge? They replaced it because I didn't pay over $400 for a battery to be decent; I wanted full cap as advertised. If u give me the green light though I will surely remove it

 

[Tomthumb62]

When you’re tired of growing gray hairs due to the poor design of the Renogy Rover series and the associated apps, then jump on the bandwagon for a Victron charge controller. Victron just slashed their prices for their Smart Solar charge controllers.

I wasted so much time, endured so many headaches and lost a lot of money due to the poor design of the Renogy Rover I had.

There’s a 40 page thread on this forum all about the challenges of programming the Rover charge controllers.

Even after reading all that and getting my settings dialed in (and they would finally stick), I was getting 16-19v spikes to my lifepo4 battery. Several times it triggered the BMS to cut off charging (this should never happen except in emergencies). I grew more gray hairs going back and forth for weeks with Renogy support. They asked for details and screenshots. I sent them via their support ticket portal, where all messages in the thread can be easily viewed. They said thank you, then asked me to send the same details and screenshots again. Each reply was from a different support person and none of them seemed to take the 30 seconds to read the thread. They instead kept asking for the details and photos that I’d already sent. When I told them I’d already sent them, they asked for them again. So I sent them again and then they asked for them…again!
Absolutely maddening. I’ve since gotten rid of all my renogy gear except for the solar panel suitcase.

Victron, on the other hand, just works as expected as is easy to program and the settings stick on the first try. I will likely never need to ever contact the seller I bought from for support for my Victron devices. Online documentation for Victron is excellent and easy to understand.

 

[Davian7]

What are these? The cell voltages or do you mean 14.6V and 14.8V?

Can you post your charge settings? Also, if there is a SoC vs voltage setting, post that too.

You may be seeing the surface charge as the 100% voltage and when the battery settles from near charge voltage (14.4V) down towards "really 99.9% capacity SoC), it displays 87% and ~13.8V?

Here are my settings after factory resetting it; the settings it has been since March - just recently today I was intending on changing settings. So it is back to SLD etc but for u to see. Hopefully this is sufficient; I believe there are a few extra parameters not seen in the App but on the actual controller. Lmk if u need more info. Thank u so much. U are a good man.

 

[Davian7]

When you’re tired of growing gray hairs due to the poor design of the Renogy Rover series and the associated apps, then jump on the bandwagon for a Victron charge controller. Victron just slashed their prices for their Smart Solar charge controllers.

I wasted so much time, endured so many headaches and lost a lot of money due to the poor design of the Renogy Rover I had.

There’s a 40 page thread on this forum all about the challenges of programming the Rover charge controllers.

Even after reading all that and getting my settings dialed in (and they would finally stick), I was getting 16-19v spikes to my lifepo4 battery. Several times it triggered the BMS to cut off charging (this should never happen except in emergencies). I grew more gray hairs going back and forth for weeks with Renogy support. They asked for details and screenshots. I sent them via their support ticket portal, where all messages in the thread can be easily viewed. They said thank you, then asked me to send the same details and screenshots again. Each reply was from a different support person and none of them seemed to take the 30 seconds to read the thread. They instead kept asking for the details and photos that I’d already sent. When I told them I’d already sent them, they asked for them again. So I sent them again and then they asked for them…again!
Absolutely maddening. I’ve since gotten rid of all my renogy gear except for the solar panel suitcase.

Victron, on the other hand, just works as expected as is easy to program and the settings stick on the first try. I will likely never need to ever contact the seller I bought from for support for my Victron devices. Online documentation for Victron is excellent and easy to understand.

Sounds about right. As of now my budget doesn't even include a monthly trip to a fast food joint for a treat so it'll be awhile. Just trying to make the best of what I can with what I got. Thanks for the recommendation bub ?

 

[MisterSandals]

Here are my settings after factory resetting it;

Those look reasonable.

Can you share anything else? Load parameters or anything that mentions SoC?

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

Even if the "bad" battery still holds a decent charge? They replaced it because I didn't pay over $400 for a battery to be decent; I wanted full cap as advertised. If u give me the green light though I will surely remove it

Yes, remove it. A battery bank is only as good as the worst battery in that bank.

It will keep other batts from fully charging and drain your system fast.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Sounds about right. As of now my budget doesn't even include a monthly trip to a fast food joint for a treat so it'll be awhile. Just trying to make the best of what I can with what I got. Thanks for the recommendation bub ?

My guess is Renogy pumps 10% of their money into actual product design and function (including the poor designed app) and 90% into marketing. I took the marketing bait hook line and sinker.

You can certainly get by with it until your budget improves but God forbid do not contact Renogy support or try to get them to warranty a faulty product. Save your life energy and just move on to something better. Just about anything is better than Renogy. Cool thing is you can sell your Renogy gear on eBay for a decent price, because current consumer perception is that Renogy is a good product at a fair price.

Fool me once, my bad. Fool me again and I will tell the world of my experience. @Renogy Solar , I hope you’re listening, Victron and others are coming for your market share.

EDIT: I was quite emotional when I wrote this. Perhaps my experience with Renogy is not the norm. Perhaps there were technical errors with their tech support ticket system in which they could not see any of the images and details I had posted for them. Perhaps the voltage spikes my Renogy charge controller were sending my lifepo4 battery were nothing serious but the app reports this info anyways which leads to what could be false panic (as someone on this forum has suggested) - if true, then why does my Victron charge controller not send voltage spikes? I was a bit harsh in my tone, but I won't edit it because there's nothing really to be gained from that. As I have been saying all along, one this Renogy really does get right: they know how to design good-looking devices. They look cool and that curb appeal does matter, as embarrassed I am to admit it! They also know how to take that curb appeal and price their products (with regular sales) that really helps one pull the trigger and think they are getting a good deal. It would be a good deal if the products were designed to more than eye-candy, to work properly and for the company to be able to provide support or documentation or even an online forum such as the one that Victron has (Victron Community), which is run by both Victron staff but also many volunteers.

Victron innards + better looks + the 30% lower pricing (on charge controllers) = Victron for the win. There is literally no reason to buy Renogy now, unless you want to save $10-20 and care more about looks than real-world use.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

My guess is Renogy pumps 10% of their money into actual product design and function (including the poor designed app) and 90% into marketing. I took the marketing bait hook line and sinker.

You can certainly get by with it until your budget improves but God forbid do not contact Renogy support or try to get them to warranty a faulty product. Save your life energy and just move on to something better. Just about anything is better than Renogy. Cool thing is you can sell your Renogy gear on eBay for a decent price, because current consumer perception is that Renogy is a good product at a fair price.

Renogy makes good panels.

I have a 400 watt set for over 10 years and output is still high.

Their other equipment is not top quality but works adequately and is used with mostly small systems as it comes in their 200 and 400 watt kits.

The output is MPPT on the Rover and puts out 98% on my panels which is as good as you get on a cheaper MPPT.

I had one of their pure sine inverters that just died for no apparent reason and other people have had similar issues.

Ham radio uses say they produce RFI but not confirmed and could be their panels.

I agree on the customer service but at least they do have a US location and generally honor their warranty.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Renogy makes good panels.

I have a 400 watt set for over 10 years and output is still high.

Perhaps they used to. According to what I’ve been reading from @Will Prowse over the years, Renogy’s quality and service has gone downhill considerably.

I have two 100W rigid Renogy panels that underperform compared to my 100W Sunpower flexible panels. The Renogy ones were tilted to the sun, the flexible ones were flat on the ground. Was pretty surprising, to be honest. The difference was about 16%. I didn’t try tilting the flexible panels to compare that way, but I would have expected it to be more than 16% if I had. This was in late August at 45 degrees north.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

100W rigid Renogy panels that underperform compared to my 100W Sunpower flexible panels.

You are kind of comparing apples and oranges there. How old were the Renogy panels and sunpower?

Sunpower website says warranty is for 80% of power production for 5 years which honestly is not good.

My 10 year old Renogy rigid are still outputting better than 90% and on a good sunny day exceed rated output.

 

[Tomthumb62]

You are kind of comparing apples and oranges there. How old were the Renogy panels and sunpower?

Sunpower website says warranty is for 80% of power production for 5 years which honestly is not good.

My 10 year old Renogy rigid are still outputting better than 90% and on a good sunny day exceed rated output.

Edit to say that very likely your 10-year old Renogy panels are superior in quality to the ones I bought less than a year ago.

::::
The rigid Renogy panels are less than a year old, they are kept stored away in their suitcase case 99% of the year, indoors. The Sunpower ones are less than 6 months old and are installed permanently on our camp trailer that spends 6 months of the year under a roof and the other 6 months exposed to the elements and sun.

If you’re saying Renogy is better than Sunpower based upon the longer warranty that Renogy provides, I’ll call that comparing apples to oranges. Of course, rigid panels will generally last longer than flexible. But having had to deal with the absolute nightmare known as Renogy customer service and their warranty process, I’ll call their warranty a joke.

What good is a warranty if they dodge your requests for support? How can you fulfill a warranty, no matter how good it looks on paper, if the company won’t answer your support requests, on their own in house support ticket system? I spent weeks dealing with this before I just gave up.

As for flexible panels, I have had good results with both cheap and quality ones. The keys to this, imo:

Keep the panels covered from the elements during winter.

Take measures to keep the panels from overheating, similar to keeping rigid panels from overheating. Our wood and canvas roof is much cooler than a metal roof.

Install flexible panels in a permanent and secure place- don’t use them by packing into the back of a car and unloading them on a regular basis- don’t let them flex on a regular basis.

Don’t travel to extreme hot locales, such as avoid the American southwest in summer.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

Take measures to keep the panels from overheating

I will agree with you that customer service is not great and that heat kills solar panels. Even more of a problem with flexible that generally don't have air flow around them and in some place like Vegas where Will tests his equipment in very hot conditions they will degrade even faster.

I live in cold country in the Rockies so our temp is not excessive and I have them ground mounted wih good air flow and I spray them off with a hose if the temp gets real high which is what I recommend to keep panels working and lasting longer.

I don't badmouth other brands and if you like something else that is no skin off my nose but I have had good success with Renogy and they are affordable in kits and well made in my opinion but that will always depend on your environment and use.

 

[Tomthumb62]

I don't badmouth other brands and if you like something else that is no skin off my nose but I have had good success with Renogy and they are affordable in kits and well made in my opinion but that will always depend on your environment and use.

I have bought a lot of Renogy products. They were fine until they weren’t, or caused problems.

I too generally don’t badmouth a particular company, but Renogy has really burned me good.

To be fair, they did replace a couple of AGM batteries that failed way too quickly. One of the replacements arrived leaking battery acid. Then they sent two more, which was one too many and the fiasco to try to get them to come pick it up while we were on the road was ridiculous.

You can read my other posts for how they gave me the run around on other items.

Now if Renogy were to reduce their prices by about 50-60%, I would consider them a fair deal, in general, as long as you were willing to take the risk of having it fail within 2 years (with light use) and the warranty or customer service is not to be used.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

This is a picture I took a few days ago of those 10 year old Renogy producing over the rated watts on a sunny day and they actually hit 425 watts but I got the camera out in time to catch it at 406. That is on a 400 watt system.

Also I don't use Renogy batteries so I can't speak to those. I used Vmax tank AGM that lasted over 10 years and this year replaced those with an Enjoyboy 400Ah LFP. I expect that to outlast me!

 

[Tomthumb62]

Also I don't use Renogy batteries so I can't speak to those. I used Vmax tank AGM that lasted over 10 years and this year replaced those with an Enjoyboy 400Ah LFP

Yeah the Renogy 12v 100Ah AGM batteries were some of the cheapest on the market. It was clearly a you get what you pay for situation. I should’ve known better but the low price suckered me in.

Like I said, Will Prowse used to recommend Renogy as a good deal for beginners, but their quality and service have gone downhill severely since the company was sold. So covet your old Renogy panels while you can and don’t ever sell them!

 

[MisterSandals]

Even if the "bad" battery still holds a decent charge?

I'll just say, don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Do your due diligence if you can and see if you can figure out whether it helps or hurts. I have my beliefs, this is a good chance to foment yours.

 

[Davian7]

Thanks for all the help and insight fellas. My apologies for the late reply. Got caught up with life stuff. @MisterSanders I was already planning on testing with and without. I tend to rebel and don't listen to "rules" or instructions and like to find out for myself - granted sometimes the hard way but just as often for the better ? I was just curious on the general consensus.

Thanks again yall ?

 

[Tomthumb62]

Even more of a problem with flexible that generally don't have air flow around them and in some place like Vegas where Will tests his equipment in very hot conditions they will degrade even faster.

Yes, in hot conditions like Vegas in the summer, you need to take extra measures to mount flexible panels so they have air flow under them. In the northern or more temperate climates, this is not as big of a deal. We spent our entire summer in 70-90F weather. Someday I will get an infrared camera to detect hotspots, but mainly I will be concerned if solar production starts to suffer. 5 years later and production is still as good as when new, and this is with the cheapo flexibles that WindyNation sells.

I live in cold country in the Rockies so our temp is not excessive and I have them ground mounted wih good air flow and I spray them off with a hose if the temp gets real high which is what I recommend to keep panels working and lasting longer.

With good air flow, IMO, neither rigid or flexible panels need any special treatment. Also, I am unsure of the long- or short-term affects of spraying off hot panels with cold water (and water from the Rockies can be dang cold!!). If I take a wide-mouth pint mason jar of frozen soup from the freezer and put it under cold tap water, half of the time I do this, the jar will crack from the sudden temperature change. If I let the jar sit at room temp for even 5 minutes and then do this, usually no problem. I'm sure the glass on rigid panels and plastic on flexibles are designed for harsh conditions, but what about the cells underneath the glass/plastic? Are they more susceptible to sudden temperature change damage?