I have a new Victron 250/100 controller (2ga welding cable in/out), three 206 SOKs (parallel), smart shunt, Victron Phoenix 3000/12v and four 410w panels in series. They are tilted and we are currently in the Arizona desert. We have a very nice sunny day today. I saw 141 volts and 94.6 amps on the app. Then my wife came out of our new camper in a panic and said something is melting or on fire. Holy crap! I went in and it did smell like the magic smoke is either getting out or has escaped. Long story short, NO MAGIC SMOKE. But, the heat sink on the controller was 141 degrees F. Is that normal? I have never experienced that high of temp with any other solar component. YES, it has plenty of space and is mounted vertical. Maybe a temp sensing quiet muffin fan?
Victron controller running hot?
- Thread starter Cory
- Start date
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Is it mounted on a vertical surface with adequate natural convective ventilation installed in a location a human would be comfortable temperature-wise?
I have a 250/100 VE.Can unit. I've never put out more than 60A with mine, but I've never noticed any heat related issues.
Once I have my full array installed and can max out the controller, I'll be looking at small fans for cooling.
I have a 250/100 VE.Can unit. I've never put out more than 60A with mine, but I've never noticed any heat related issues.
Once I have my full array installed and can max out the controller, I'll be looking at small fans for cooling.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
1640W / 14V charging = 117A
You're running at 100% rated. I would do whatever it takes to blow air across it.
I would consider running 2S2P configuration with 2 panels facing east-ish and 2 panels facing west-ish. It will spread your charging across the day by starting earlier (and gentler) and finish later.
YES, it has plenty of space and is mounted vertical.
Volts/amps are within operating range. I should not need to build a cooling system for this $950 controller.
The app stated 94.7 amps. Does it lie? I did not check it with m y current clamp.1640w of panel, BUT they never run at 100% efficiency.
This is sounding like the situation I have with the new Victron Phoenix 3000/12 inverter humming. Tech support states I need to invest time and money ($75) into a cable and update the firmware. That "SHOULD" resolve the issue with a $1400 inverter.
Panels are on a Rv roof. I.e. no east-ish and west-ish. How about a device operating the way it should???
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Because 14V is around what a 12V nominal battery system would be when charging.
Check
For future reference though it is advisable to not spec something to run at the maximum rating all the time. It is still "winter" in northern hemisphere and you are already maxing the controller. I would expect it to start limiting itself in the summer when ambient temps will be hotter. In this case would have gone with a 24V system which would have cut your amperage in half and you wouldn't have noticed any heat.
Not sure where you are checking cable prices but check https://www.solar-electric.com/. I'd rather have a company fix/improve issues than people simply being stuck with whatever they have. A lot of the cheaper all in ones have a fan constantly running that make it impossible to put near a living area and a lot of people find out after they have already fully installed it.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Ok, i hear ya, you have top tier equipment and to be fair, its operating at its limits. I saw a video of the Victron SCC innards and they are packed with some foam. The smell may be some serious outgassing of this and is hopefully temporary and not destructive.
Other question - do you NEED to charge at 100A to get your batteries full each day? Do they charge at 100A for 2 hours and then float the rest of the solar day? If so, you can throttle back the 250/100 to charge at lower amps to lower the temps and also go easier on your batteries.
I have my 100/30 throttled back to 20A when i am sure i have enough solar to charge the batteries sufficiently.
I got a reply back from tech support and he confirms high Victron controller temps. He recommends splitting it between two controllers.
Not sure about de-rating the controller. I will cognitively chew on that. I built a dump load by converting a 2.5 gallon residential water heater to 12 volt and having solar heated hot water in the camper. Probably use VSRs?
My wife loves hot water since she is cold a lot, in particular those ice cubes she calls feet.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
It would just take a couple seconds with the app to drop it down to 90A max charging. Maybe it helps the temp issue (and outgassing) and it does not affect your lifestyle. Easy to mess around with.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
I don't disagree. Again, I've never had mine that high. As @MisterSandals indicated, the entire thing is potted. I wonder if this is a "first use" situation like when you use a wood burning stove outside for the first time to cure the paint. Not that you should have used it outside, but that there might be some off gassing of the potting material first use. Mine is in a shipping container, so I would never notice, and as you might imagine, my controller can get pretty hot in an AZ shipping container at 60A (6500' elevation, so not like Phoenix).
No. The unit should put out a full 100A. The efficiency is that the PV power is more than what is getting sent to the battery. You're likely getting 94.7A because that's all the array can produce. Sun is barely two weeks from being at its most Southern position in the southern hemisphere, so you're going to be lucky to get 80% rated out of your array at high noon.
There were some models and firmwares that have that issue. Once they're made and shipped, they're not getting updated until installed. If you had a pro install, they would have done it. If you're the installer, it's on you. This is true of all manufacturers on all devices with upgradable firmware/OS.
It probably is. It's just stinky.
Victron sech support or someone else?
I wouldn't. I would want to keep pushing it until the stink goes away, or it fails.
Nice!
My wife is at the age where she is cycling between freezing or melting down covered in sweat. Enjoy the cold feet while they last.
Again, I really wouldn't. Either you're dealing with a normal "first use" situation, or you have a defective controller. Push it... Push it real good.
Do you have a GX device? If you have a GX and an internet connection, you don't need an MK3-USB cable to upgrade the firmware. You can do so via VRM. I was shocked at how easy it was. I was very nervous when I did it, but it was painless. It does require a computer running VEConfigure3 to upload the settings.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Love the offset mounting! Why didn't I think of that!?
Thanks for the advice. In the mean time, I laid the panels flat again and that helps. I'm going to invest in another controller, probably a 150/100 in the future. In the end, I fell going to two controller will increase reliability and hopefully eliminate as much of the odor as possible.
I whole hartedly agree with running it to the limit. But I also know that Victron gear stores operational data that can be retrieved by vendors. You know where I'm going with this.
I purchased my Victron gear from Inverters R Us. There in Reno which is relatively close to where I am and they (Dave) are great with support.
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OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
Totally normal. I've got several Victron CC's and run them at 100% for hours every day. They get so hot I can barely touch them which for me is at least 130f.
~14V x 94.6A = ~1300 watts x 95% (my guess at real world efficiency for a 12v system) could mean ~65 watts of heat is trying to escape from that controller.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
I'm going to have 6kW going into mine, and I refuse to believe that I need a second one, nor do you UNLESS this unit is defective.
All the more reason to run it to the max.
I hear what you are saying and have lived most of my life with that philosophy. But, this system is powering our new boondock camper (ORV 28bks), which is now our retirement home since we full time. Being without power sucks.I'm going to have 6kW going into mine, and I refuse to believe that I need a second one, nor do you UNLESS this unit is defective.
All the more reason to run it to the max.
I like pics.
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sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
A hear you on the suck.
No harm whatsoever in a second MPPT for backup, but my approach is with a cheap,~$180 60A unit that was my "learners" MPPT.
Followed by a complete 5kWh 24V AGM + 2000W inverter system followed by 3 generators: 5th wheel 6.5kW propane, 3750W Predator and 3000W Coleman.
Victrons are routinely run at the max. If the unit is going to fail at 100A, it's going to fail at 80A, 60A or even 50A, and you will be without power a little later rather than sooner.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
Victron proper or the supplier? Victron is totally OK with overpanling thier CC's.
However in the grand scheme of things having two charge controllers does allow for some healthy redundancy should one fail.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
This is the important part of that page:
from the referenced:
Matching solar modules to MPPT charge controllers - Victron Energy
Life used to be so simple; in a 12V battery system you took a ‘12V’ solar module, watched carefully that the maximum PV current would not exceed the charge controller maximum current and the system would work. Unfortunately due to the fact, that with PWM controllers the PV module is not feeding...
www.victronenergy.com
Limits to Oversizing a PV array
How to determine by how much you can oversize a PV array? This can be done with help from the spreadsheet tool. Here though is the manual explanation of how it is done.
There are two limits, when determining the maximum array size that can be connected to an MPPT:
- The Maximum PV open circuit voltage (Voc at STC)
- The Maximum PV short circuit current (Isc at STC)
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