Hi,
Thank you in advance of any help anyone might be able to provide and you will have to forgive my breathtaking ignorance when it comes to electronics and solar in general. I got a solar generator last year in September, the AC200P, when I started seeing signs of a crumbling energy sector with a mind to at some point get round to getting a set up sorted 'just in case'. One thing piled upon the next thing and it got pushed to the back of a long list of things that needed my attention.
Fast forward to more recently and I picked up 3 cheap 235w solar panels; tested them with a multimeter when I bought them. The volts came to 32ish volts on a very cloudy day. The open circuit volt is 37.4v. I'm assuming thats close enough? Tested the amps and read it as 6.3A, the back indicates 8.7A
Now it is present day and I finally get round to setting the whole thing up. I buy a crimping/mc4 kit and two sets of long length cable for solar (black and red). One end already has mc4 connectors on each cable, so I strip the other end and connect the opposite of each existing connector onto the other end I test them with the multimeter and get a beep when making contact with each end of the cables (I watched a video on Youtube not sure if I’ve done this right)
I go to my solar panels and discover that they have strange connectors that I cant find any information about. It says just "C4" on them (pictures included). They still have male and female connectors and the mc4 connects to them OK, I think but not as securely as MC4 to MC4, by any means - Im hoping this is the problem. To make sure I plug them in and do the same test for volts and then Amps but at the end of the cables I added connectors too. Same volts reading but i'm getting .6 ish volts. So' i'm guessing I originally read it wrong when I came to test the panels when I purchased them? Am I doing it wrong? will this effect their usage and mean theres an issue with the panels?
I struggle on..... I connect two panels to the AC200P in series because the AC200P needs a 35volts+ to start charging..... nothing. nothing registers at all. It's early in the morning and it's a grey and overcast day. Maybe it's that? It brightens up and I do the same..... nothing. I had connected them whilst the generator is off because it is supposed to turn itself on when it receives charge so I turn it on (I did this last time). This time I get a fault alert on the display and look it up. Its fault 30 which is "calibration failure". I unplug the solar, switch off and back on again and no alert. So somethings happening at least when I plug it in even though nothing registers other than the alarm.
I've emailed Bluetti to see if they can help me and am awaiting a reply but from searching through some forums I can see that perhaps their customer service department leaves a little be desired. So I've signed up here in the hope that somebody might be able and willing to give me some pointers as to where i'm going wrong.
My focus is maybe:
1. the connectors are not compatible so will I need to strip the wires and add MC4 connectors?
2. Have I wired the cables or are the panels wired incorrectly, because now I look at it it seems that the positive cable from the solar panel is wired the opposite way round to the expected connection. I connect positive to negative on the adapter that goes into the AC200P but at the solar panel end the connectors require me to connect a positive to a positive and a negative to a negative. Not sure if i'm explaining myself properly here as i've reached the limits of my non existent knowledge - pictures are provided to help untangle my thinking. Worried maybe about reverse polarity if this is the case? no smoke and nothing ever registered on the screen and haven’t left them connected to see if “calibration failure” means I wouldn’t get a reading even if the solar was working just incase I do damage to it.
3. The generator, the panels or both have a fault - although I think its more likely i've done something wrong.
I know it was an essay and probably a muddled slog to get through but any help would be massively appreciated. Any additional tests or information let me know and i'll do it as quickly as I can and get back to you.
(I may have muddled the male and female labels in the pictures)
Thanks
Jacob
Thank you in advance of any help anyone might be able to provide and you will have to forgive my breathtaking ignorance when it comes to electronics and solar in general. I got a solar generator last year in September, the AC200P, when I started seeing signs of a crumbling energy sector with a mind to at some point get round to getting a set up sorted 'just in case'. One thing piled upon the next thing and it got pushed to the back of a long list of things that needed my attention.
Fast forward to more recently and I picked up 3 cheap 235w solar panels; tested them with a multimeter when I bought them. The volts came to 32ish volts on a very cloudy day. The open circuit volt is 37.4v. I'm assuming thats close enough? Tested the amps and read it as 6.3A, the back indicates 8.7A
Now it is present day and I finally get round to setting the whole thing up. I buy a crimping/mc4 kit and two sets of long length cable for solar (black and red). One end already has mc4 connectors on each cable, so I strip the other end and connect the opposite of each existing connector onto the other end I test them with the multimeter and get a beep when making contact with each end of the cables (I watched a video on Youtube not sure if I’ve done this right)
I go to my solar panels and discover that they have strange connectors that I cant find any information about. It says just "C4" on them (pictures included). They still have male and female connectors and the mc4 connects to them OK, I think but not as securely as MC4 to MC4, by any means - Im hoping this is the problem. To make sure I plug them in and do the same test for volts and then Amps but at the end of the cables I added connectors too. Same volts reading but i'm getting .6 ish volts. So' i'm guessing I originally read it wrong when I came to test the panels when I purchased them? Am I doing it wrong? will this effect their usage and mean theres an issue with the panels?
I struggle on..... I connect two panels to the AC200P in series because the AC200P needs a 35volts+ to start charging..... nothing. nothing registers at all. It's early in the morning and it's a grey and overcast day. Maybe it's that? It brightens up and I do the same..... nothing. I had connected them whilst the generator is off because it is supposed to turn itself on when it receives charge so I turn it on (I did this last time). This time I get a fault alert on the display and look it up. Its fault 30 which is "calibration failure". I unplug the solar, switch off and back on again and no alert. So somethings happening at least when I plug it in even though nothing registers other than the alarm.
I've emailed Bluetti to see if they can help me and am awaiting a reply but from searching through some forums I can see that perhaps their customer service department leaves a little be desired. So I've signed up here in the hope that somebody might be able and willing to give me some pointers as to where i'm going wrong.
My focus is maybe:
1. the connectors are not compatible so will I need to strip the wires and add MC4 connectors?
2. Have I wired the cables or are the panels wired incorrectly, because now I look at it it seems that the positive cable from the solar panel is wired the opposite way round to the expected connection. I connect positive to negative on the adapter that goes into the AC200P but at the solar panel end the connectors require me to connect a positive to a positive and a negative to a negative. Not sure if i'm explaining myself properly here as i've reached the limits of my non existent knowledge - pictures are provided to help untangle my thinking. Worried maybe about reverse polarity if this is the case? no smoke and nothing ever registered on the screen and haven’t left them connected to see if “calibration failure” means I wouldn’t get a reading even if the solar was working just incase I do damage to it.
3. The generator, the panels or both have a fault - although I think its more likely i've done something wrong.
I know it was an essay and probably a muddled slog to get through but any help would be massively appreciated. Any additional tests or information let me know and i'll do it as quickly as I can and get back to you.
(I may have muddled the male and female labels in the pictures)
Thanks
Jacob
