Victron question

[Bluedog225]

Good afternoon,

I’ve made it back out to my cabin and the 300 watts 12v of solar have been hooked up to the Victron and the battle born 12v 100a for a few days.

PWM Pro 12/24/-30A. Battle Born said the Victron would be programmed for my batteries before shipping. Not sure if that happened in real life.

I’m getting two green flashing lights. The first indicates charging. Fine. The second indicates over voltage. ​

The manual says a couple of things. “Over voltage (vbat > 15v resp. 30V).” I don’t know what resp 30 means.

The manual also says under troubleshooting: “Check battery voltage. If too high, disconnect the solar module immediately and replace the controller.”

Voltage (while still connected to panels on an overcast day), no load, is 13.7.

I don’t know what to do with this warning light. Any advice on how to interpret this and best next steps appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

OMG.. I didn't even know Victron still made PWM stuff. yuck.

How are the panels wired, series or parallel
?

 

[Rocketman]

Do you have a DMM (digital multimeter) that you can see exactly what the voltages are on the battery? I am assuming you did this and it says 13.7v - correct? Also what voltage does the panels give you (do you have the blue solar remote panel display?).

Also, what is all the data on the solar panel label - Voc, Vmp Isc, etc. (please give all the info or photo). I assume only one panel - if more how are they wired?

And where do you live - (state & nearest bigger city) and what have been the cold temperatures in the morning.

(If you ever get another Solar charge controller get the Victron smart solar mppt (like 100/30), with that you can change the setting yourself, plus even more importantly you can see what is going on with the controller on your smartphone (Bluetooth).

I have a guess…
Your battery is full and in float.
Also, your panel may be going over the voltage limit of that pwm controller with the cold mornings. (Let’s see how this guess holds up to your answers).

Also try the old computer trick - have you turned it off and on again. To do this interrupt the solar - then interrupt the battery - wait 30 seconds… reconnect battery, then solar.

 

[Bluedog225]

Parallel. 12 volt. Three 100 w.

 

[Bluedog225]

Ok.

Yes to digital multimeter.
I don’t have the control panel (yet).
Battery at 13.75
Panels at 20.4
Temp high today about 80F. Austin, Texas. Warm this morning.
Panel info attached.

Will try disconnect.

And thanks!

 

[Rocketman]

I think the resp 30v is if you had a 24v system - the over voltage limit is 30v.

What it is saying is at some point the battery got over 15v. It may have been for a microsecond as the balancer in the battery turned off. Hence my suggestion to turn everything off and on again.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I'd reach out to Battleborn. The good news is that the battery will protect itself, and if the BMS cut the charge controller off, the charge controller might have seen a temporary voltage surge as the battery was pulled from the circuit.

 

[Bluedog225]

Thanks all. I disconnected and reset. I now have a solid green. All good.

It’s good to know the battery will protect itself. I love these batteries more than my children (chuckle).

I will check with Battle.

 

[Rocketman]

Well - I was wrong in my first guess (above).

With your solar panel label - here is something to keep in mind…. (The crux of my guess).

Your pwm controller has a max voltage of 30v.

Your Voc is 22.5 volts - so you have 7.5 volts the panels can rise until you fry the charge controller. (I assume the pwm controllers get fried like the mppt ones do if you go over the voltage limit - this may be something to find out).

Standard temp is 75 deg F = 25 deg C.
Your temp coefficient is -.30%/degC
So if the temp goes down 25C (I.e. to 0C) your panels will be producing 30v and you could fry your charge controller.

Just something to keep in mind. Austin doesn’t get that cold often in the morning 0C = 32F. But, if it does happen (like last year), you need to make sure the panels are disconnected from the charge controller. You should have some kind of switch or circuit breaker to “turn off the sun” while doing maintenance.

Enjoy your system!

 

[rmaddy]

Your Voc is 22.5 volts - so you have 7.5 volts the panels can rise until you fry the charge controller. (I assume the pwm controllers get fried like the mppt ones do if you go over the voltage limit - this may be something to find out).

Standard temp is 75 deg F = 25 deg C.
Your temp coefficient is -.30%/degC
So if the temp goes down 25C (I.e. to 0C) your panels will be producing 30v and you could fry your charge controller.

-0.3%/degC with a 25ºC drop (25 to 0) is 25 x 0.3% = 7.5%. 7.5% of 22.5V is 1.69V. 22.5V + 1.69V = 24.19V. So the Voc will only be 24.19V at 0ºC (32ºF), not over 30V.

Another way to calculate this. -0.3%/degC for 22.5V is 0.0675V/degC. 0.0675V/degC x 25ºC drop = 1.69V. 22.5V + 1.69V = 24.19V.

To reach 30V you need to gain 7.5V. 7.5V / 0.0675V/degC = 111ºC. So to get over 30V the temp needs to be 111ºC below 25ºC. Not going to happen, even at the top of Mount Everest.

 

[Rocketman]

Oops - must have done the math wrong… wonder where I made the mistake… (probably missed the decimal point somewhere in the math)
thanks for the correction.

 

[HRTKD]

Do you have a shunt between the solar charge controller and the battery? That would be a good way to confirm the voltage and amperage that the solar charge controller is trying to push into the battery.

 

[Bluedog225]

I’m afraid I don’t know what that means (shunt). I can measure the voltage from the panels at the two screw studs. And the battery at the screw studs or terminals.

Battery at 13.75
Panels at 20.4

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Oops - must have done the math wrong… wonder where I made the mistake… (probably missed the decimal point somewhere in the math)
thanks for the correction.

When you computed 7.5, you applied it as volts instead of a percentage increase:

Temp coefficient is -.30%/degC

You changed the % to V.

20V @ 25°C would be (20V * (1+.075)) = 21.5V @ 0°C

 

[HRTKD]

I’m afraid I don’t know what that means (shunt). I can measure the voltage from the panels at the two screw studs. And the battery at the screw studs or terminals.

Battery at 13.75
Panels at 20.4

Take a look at the Victron Smart Shunt.

SmartShunt - Victron Energy

The SmartShunt is an all in one battery monitor, only without a display. Your phone acts as the display. The SmartShunt connects via Bluetooth to the...

www.victronenergy.com

 

[Bluedog225]

Cool. Sounds helpful. Though I may graduate up to a bigger controller soon. And I think they come with Bluetooth. This one tripped again. I’m pulling the solar until I get an answer from Battle Born.

They have been super responsive and helpful.