Settings for lifepo4 on epever tracer 4215bn? (newbie)

[Gueyog8a7]

Take a photo, I don't follow what you're saying




Fully charged open circuit voltage is not likely to exceed 13.3-13.4v

Epevers SOC reading is relative to the Low voltage disconnect setting. Try it, change the LVD and see the difference it makes. It's voltage based and thus not a real time representation of SOC.

I dont have ready acces to a camera.

I am simply asking what the bottom numbers pertain to in each case.

 

[pollenface]

3.8a from PV, 2.7a to battery, 0.9a load

 

[Gueyog8a7]

3.8a from PV, 2.7a to battery, 0.9a load

So 3.8 is being produced not that the mppt is drawing that much power from the battery? Also why would it be less to the battery than produced? I think I have also seen the batteru number being higher than pv so how would that be?

Also what is the button on the tracer bn that sometime lights up red for? Is it a warning when it lights up red and bad because it often does that then might go off again after a while? I looked in the manual and all it says is "button". Real helpful .

 

[pollenface]

Real helpful .

Great, I'll leave you to it ?

 

[Gueyog8a7]

Great, I'll leave you to it ?

Huh? The last sentence had nothing to do with the reply you sent. As is clear below, I was referring to the epever manual. Seems you just read the last two words and took the hump.

Also what is the button on the tracer bn that sometime lights up red for? Is it a warning when it lights up red and bad because it often does that then might go off again after a while? I looked in the manual and all it says is "button". Real helpful .

 

[Gueyog8a7]

Check out my discontinuous thread here

Budget MPPT recommendation - Epever BN 40A 150V - was Eco-Worthy 60A 150V MPPT

I'm starting to put my off grid setup together finally. Looking to peel off ~ 200W of 24/7 power consumption, and have a power source if we have any planned or unplanned power shutdowns. My system will be 24V with LiFePO4 batteries that total up to about 400AH of storage. I'm going to feed...

diysolarforum.com

I too bought 4215bn because of the passive cooling and huge lugs. The ones I bought were newer units with LiFePO4 support built in. That said, I do not like their built in LFP settings, so I'm using USER as battery type. In my thread above there is a list of what settings I am using for a 24V system.

Can you confirm yours do not list LFP as a battery type?

Also, read up on mine getting stuck but a firmware update fixed the problem. Yours might be older units and not be plagued with the problem.

Hey do you know what the orange coloured button is for on the far right side of the tracer bn by all the other lights? Also what does it mean when it lights up red, which happens quite often for me and goes off too? I could not find any information about it in the manual and all it says is "button".

 

[AlpineJoe]

Hey do you know what the orange coloured button is for on the far right side of the tracer bn by all the other lights? Also what does it mean when it lights up red, which happens quite often for me and goes off too? I could not find any information about it in the manual and all it says is "button".

It's the switch to manually turn the load on and off. It's the far right most two lugs, meant to connect to a load like a street light. You can program it to come on at sunset, for a set period of time, etc. When on, the button lights red. I have mine set to manual so it doesn't turn on ever by itself.

 

[Gueyog8a7]

It's the switch to manually turn the load on and off. It's the far right most two lugs, meant to connect to a load like a street light. You can program it to come on at sunset, for a set period of time, etc. When on, the button lights red. I have mine set to manual so it doesn't turn on ever by itself.

Thanks. Yes I knew what the load lugs were for just not the button. Why does mine go on and off intermittently then? I find that load and the lugs for it stupid. So much space used in that and screen space in the mt50 for something hardly anyone uses.

Where is the setting to set to manual? I have seen something in the mt50 settings which says manual: On but I don't know if that is for that as was not looking for it before and if it is then it isn't working because as I mentioned this goes on and off regularly.

Also I still don't understand what the amp readings below PV and battery mean as shown in the image posted above. If it is amps being generated from pv then why does it sometimes show higher for PV then the battery amps?

Also in the battery screen where it says current what does that one mean? I initially thought it was load on the system but when running the diesel hob/heater I have not seen it change that so guess it is something else? It also seems to correlate closely to how much is being generated by solar. More watts count in solar shows more current in the battery screen.

I am thinking that getting a dedicated battery monitor will be much better to see what is really going on.

 

[AlpineJoe]

Regarding the readings, the PV amps is amps from the PV, Battery amps is amps to the PV, and Load amp is amps to the load. The PV amps in your photo is higher than the battery amps as the load is taking amps from the PV instead of the battery.

I do agree that you should get another meter - I have the Victron Smart Shunt and like it a lot. For one thing, my 4215BN have been reporting the wrong battery voltage when they are throttling back the voltage. I have 3 chargers in parallel, 2 4215BN and a Victron 150/45. I thought it was noise from the Victron but nope - I turned it off the still my 4215BNs were showing 28.8V to the battery when it was really only 28.0. Sometimes one will read correctly and other is much higher. Made me really worried that I was overcharging my LFP batts. If I cycle power from the PV's, then it works correctly again. The SmartShunt and the Victron 150/45 don't report weird values.

I forget where the manual choice is. I think it's one of the menu items on the MT50, but not choice 4 that has to do with the battery parameters.

 

[Gueyog8a7]

Regarding the readings, the PV amps is amps from the PV, Battery amps is amps to the PV, and Load amp is amps to the load. The PV amps in your photo is higher than the battery amps as the load is taking amps from the PV instead of the battery.

I do agree that you should get another meter - I have the Victron Smart Shunt and like it a lot. For one thing, my 4215BN have been reporting the wrong battery voltage when they are throttling back the voltage. I have 3 chargers in parallel, 2 4215BN and a Victron 150/45. I thought it was noise from the Victron but nope - I turned it off the still my 4215BNs were showing 28.8V to the battery when it was really only 28.0. Sometimes one will read correctly and other is much higher. Made me really worried that I was overcharging my LFP batts. If I cycle power from the PV's, then it works correctly again. The SmartShunt and the Victron 150/45 don't report weird values.

I forget where the manual choice is. I think it's one of the menu items on the MT50, but not choice 4 that has to do with the battery parameters.

Thanks for the explanation.

Hmm this is bad then as it means the charger is using more energy most times than is being produced from the solar .

I was looking around yesterday for the manual setting and every manual I could find is set to on in mine and yet the button is still lighting by itself.

 

[mikefitz]

Also I still don't understand what the amp readings below PV and battery mean as shown in the image posted above. If it is amps being generated from pv then why does it sometimes show higher for PV then the battery amps?

Let's clarify what the stock picture of the MT50 means. ( it's not your actual readings).
The left side volts and amps are solar input values. The central set is what the controller 'sees' on its output battery terminals, the voltage on the terminals and current flowing out of the controller. It is showing current Into the battery and any system loads. Since the MPPT action should convert panel power to a suitable voltage for the battery, the output current should usually be higher than panel current. (note Epever controllers often drop out of maxinum power recovery and operate in a less efficient PWM mode, in this case panel and output current are very similar). The controller is not 100% efficient so output power will lower than input power, this may result in a lower output current than solar input where solar conditions are poor.

You are not using the load terminals so the right hand set can be disregarded. If used, the volts will be the same as the voltage on the battery terminals and the current is that flowing from the battery terminals to the load.( could be battery current alone or solar output current or a combination).

Is summary the controller only displays solar generated power into the controler and current flow out at the controler terminals.

The load button light displays load status. You can program conditions for the load terminals and its probable the default settings are causing the display to activate. Page 21, 22, 23 of the MT 50 instructions relate to programming the load settings.

Since the solar controler can only display charging current, a battery monitor with a shunt in the battery negative, can display true battery state and power into and out of the battery.

What the battery monitor cannot display is the state of the internal cells in the battery and any battery faults. You have access to this via the Fogstar app and tablet/ phone running the app. I previously mentioned that Fogstar have had issues with some of the Drift the 105Ah batteries. This issue results in the battery entering protection mode. Without the Bluetooth communication and a device using the app you will be unaware of the problem ( except the battery won't be working as expected).