Voltage spike read on SCC, inverter shutoff, voltage drop and inverter back on

[Solarhelpe]

Have seen some references to this issue on the forums.

Today I noticed that my lithium 12v WEIZE brand batteries in series were sitting at 27 volt float. This seems to be normal. Although, the scc was reading no charging from my panels. This is off the grid no external power.

I turned on my inverter that has a small load connected. Immediately the panels started providing current to charge the batteries again.

This began a cycle of voltage spikes read from the scc from the batteries. Voltage would spike. Inverter would shut off. Voltage would immediately drop and inverter would turn back on.

I turned inverter off. Came back after 30 mins. SCC was reading fine and then voltage would go up to about 28.2 and then overcharge discharge. Current was not flowing from my panels into the batteries.

I turned on the inverter and plugged more load into it to suck the batteries down just in case. The inverter to battery voltage rise loop did not happen again. Everything seems to be normal now. Battery voltage has dropped to 26.5 feeding fridges and computers etc.

I am guessing none of these warnings had to do with the actual battery BMS. Is this correct? Does anyone have any idea where to start with this issue? Should I take the batteries out and make sure they are near equally charged?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[WYtreasure]

Welcome to the party Solarhelpe.

Can you provide specific SCC, Inverter, battery, country, system volatge and load information?
Any other valid information would also be helpful.

If you stop flipping switches now, maybe nothing will make magic smoke.

 

[Solarhelpe]

Welcome to the party Solarhelpe.

Can you provide specific SCC, Inverter, battery, country, system volatge and load information?
Any other valid information would also be helpful.

If you stop flipping switches now, maybe nothing will make magic smoke.

SCC = eveper 30a
Inverter = generic 800 watt 24v
Batteries= 2 WEIZE brand 100ah 12v connected in series.
Load info = maybe 500 watts constant
System volt = 24v

I only have 4 100w panels hooked up at the moment. I don't think I'm at risk for magic smoke really. Batteries have their own BMS. The issue is somewhere else I'm sure of it.

My only plan is to disconnect the panels this evening. Take the batteries inside for a 100% charge each and see where to go from there.

 

[Bud Martin]

1) Did it ever work correctly before?
2) Did EPEVER show error code when the Voltage spike up?
3) How high is the spike Voltage did you see? The spike may have caused BMS to go into over Voltage shutdown.
4) How are the 4 Solar panels connected? All in series? All in parallel? Series/parallel?
5) Did you try disconnecting all the wires to the EPEVER and let it sit for 30 minutes then hook up the battery first and then the panels to see what will happen?

 

[Solarhelpe]

1) Did it ever work correctly before?
2) Did EPEVER show error code when the Voltage spike up?
3) How high is the spike Voltage did you see? The spike may have caused BMS to go into over Voltage shutdown.
4) How are the 4 Solar panels connected? All in series? All in parallel? Series/parallel?
5) Did you try disconnecting all the wires to the EPEVER and let it sit for 30 minutes then hook up the battery first and then the panels to see what will happen?

1. Yes. Although it seems like the batteries have never been able to charge fully. Epever seems to always read 27 volts and goes into float. I'm just starting to test out the system so even though it seemed to work it really hasnt been tested fully.

2. No. The inverter just shut down, voltage dropped to 26.5 and the inverter came back on. Although when I mentioned I came back in and saw the ovd, that was a warning from epever and it flashed a red warning.

3. It seemed to go past 29. I have a feeling you are right but not sure how to test.

4. Series. Maxing a little over 60v, SCC is rated for 100.

5. No. I was thinking to give it a reset though to see what would happen.

*Just to note batteries have never seemed warm. No bulging or anything like that at all.

 

[Bud Martin]

BTW, is the inverter connected directly to the battery?
For the inverter to go into over Voltage shutdown, the inverter has to see around 30V which is typical over Voltage shutdown point for 24V inverter.

 

[Bud Martin]

BTW, did you turn off the Battery equalize function to off since you are using Lithium battery not Lead acid battery?
You may want to read this thread also:

A device that records max voltage?

What is the float voltage? That would be even lower around 26.8? Seems odd to get to 30+ in just a couple seconds while floating. Have you contacted epever? Quick google search indicates this is a general problem with this controller. Cloud edge effect or large change in load will effect the...

diysolarforum.com

 

[WYtreasure]

Epever makes a few different models of their 30 Amp charge controllers.
Make = Epever
Model# = ____________?

Did you program your controller to the specifications of your system and batteries?
I do not know what model you have but I do know they typically do not come programmed for the Lifepo4.

Again, specific information will help.

 

[Solarhelpe]

Epever makes a few different models of their 30 Amp charge controllers.
Make = Epever
Model# = ____________?

Did you program your controller to the specifications of your system and batteries?
I do not know what model you have but I do know they typically do not come programmed for the Lifepo4.

Again, specific information will help.

Epever tracer 3210an.
The new models have a setting for lifepo 12 and 24 systems. The setting is 4s and 8s I believe. I also can see the settings themselves. Nothing seems off really.

 

[Solarhelpe]

BTW, is the inverter connected directly to the battery?
For the inverter to go into over Voltage shutdown, the inverter has to see around 30V which is typical over Voltage shutdown point for 24V inverter.

Inverter is connected direct to battery as well as the scc.

I wouldn't be surprised if it saw 30+v. The voltage was moving up fast.

 

[Solarhelpe]

BTW, did you turn off the Battery equalize function to off since you are using Lithium battery not Lead acid battery?
You may want to read this thread also:

A device that records max voltage?

What is the float voltage? That would be even lower around 26.8? Seems odd to get to 30+ in just a couple seconds while floating. Have you contacted epever? Quick google search indicates this is a general problem with this controller. Cloud edge effect or large change in load will effect the...

diysolarforum.com

This post definitely details the problem. I just want to avoid blowing up my trailer.

 

[WYtreasure]

Epever tracer 3210an.
The new models have a setting for lifepo 12 and 24 systems. The setting is 4s and 8s I believe. I also can see the settings themselves. Nothing seems off really.

So is that a YES, you programmed the controller? Or did you you just use their lifepo4 settings (which I cannot find)?
I do not see Lifepo4 settings in the manual.

The manual for your controller states "①When a lithium battery is used, the system voltage can’t be identified automatically", on page 26.

The manual can be downloaded from this page.

Tracer AN Series (10~40A) MPPT Charge Controller

EPEVER Tracer-AN adopts MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking)technology. This mppt solar charge controller capacity range from 10A to 40A.

www.epever.com

EDIT: Removed bad info. Thanks Bud.

 

[Bud Martin]

Manual from your link:
https://www.epever.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tracer-AN-SMS-EL-V1.0.pdf

The manual has a warning on page 19 about BMS limitations.
I do not see that on page 19. There is no communication between SCC and the battery BMS so I cannot see why that will be any conflict.


Page #26
①When a lead-acid battery is used, the controller hasn‟t the low temperature protection.
Notes#1: is related to System nominal voltage.
②At minimum operating environment temperature
③At 25℃ environment temperature
④When a lithium-ion battery is used, the system voltage can‟t be identified automatically.
Notes #4 is for Temperature compensate coefficient④

 

[Solarhelpe]

So is that a YES, you programmed the controller? Or did you you just use their lifepo4 settings (which I cannot find)?
I do not see Lifepo4 settings in the manual.

The manual has a warning on page 19 about BMS limitations. Do you know that your BMS meets these requirements?

The manual for your controller states "①When a lithium battery is used, the system voltage can’t be identified automatically", on page 26.

The manual can be downloaded from this page.

Tracer AN Series (10~40A) MPPT Charge Controller

EPEVER Tracer-AN adopts MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking)technology. This mppt solar charge controller capacity range from 10A to 40A.

www.epever.com

No I set the program on the 8s setting for a 24v system. You can still review these settings. The only strange thing it says is that the battery system is 200ah. In series it should be just 100. So that seems somewhat bizarre. Other than that all settings under the 8s are correct.

BMS meets the requirements.

I'm not sure about the doesn't know the voltage automatically. Not sure what this means.

Finding the correct manual online is not easy.

 

[WYtreasure]

No I set the program on the 8s setting for a 24v system. You can still review these settings. The only strange thing it says is that the battery system is 200ah. In series it should be just 100. So that seems somewhat bizarre. Other than that all settings under the 8s are correct.

BMS meets the requirements.

I'm not sure about the doesn't know the voltage automatically. Not sure what this means.

Finding the correct manual online is not easy.

We need to figure this out before I connect my 4 new 12 volt, 200Ah batteries to my new Epever 6415 controller.

Bud provided a direct link for us, and is TRYING TO KEEP me from drowning.
https://www.epever.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tracer-AN-SMS-EL-V1.0.pdf

 

[Solarhelpe]

We need to figure this out before I connect my 4 new 12 volt, 200Ah batteries to my new Epever 6415 controller.

Bud provided a direct link for us, and is TRYING TO KEEP me from drowning.
https://www.epever.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tracer-AN-SMS-EL-V1.0.pdf

So. I'm wondering more about the 4s and 8s settings. The very little information about these just says one is for 12v lifepo and the other for 24. Makes sense.

But the 8s setting puts the system ah at 200. For me this is not correct as my batteries are 100ah 12 volt in series. Maybe this setting is just a mess? Or maybe it is reading ah correctly as the batteries have double the capacity being in series . I really don't know.

 

[WYtreasure]

So. I'm wondering more about the 4s and 8s settings. The very little information about these just says one is for 12v lifepo and the other for 24. Makes sense.

But the 8s setting puts the system ah at 200. For me this is not correct as my batteries are 100ah 12 volt in series. Maybe this setting is just a mess? Or maybe it is reading ah correctly as the batteries have double the capacity being in series . I really don't know.

@Browneye please check out this thread.
Nor do I know, but I think know someone who does know how to solve this settings issue.

According to Lisa at RCLithium, my Lossigy batteries (amazon asin: B09JWFJ1BJ) are composed of 8, 3.2 volt cells and are configured 4S2P.
The batteries also have a proprietary BMS which limits my 200Ah batteries to 100Ah charge & discharge.

 

[Bud Martin]

So. I'm wondering more about the 4s and 8s settings. The very little information about these just says one is for 12v lifepo and the other for 24. Makes sense.

But the 8s setting puts the system ah at 200. For me this is not correct as my batteries are 100ah 12 volt in series. Maybe this setting is just a mess? Or maybe it is reading ah correctly as the batteries have double the capacity being in series . I really don't know.

I do not see anything in the user manual showing that the EPVER detect the connected battery Ah, it is impossible to for the system to know what battery capacity the unit is connected to.
Where does it show the battery capacity on the display of the EPEVER?
How do you know that it puts the system at 200Ah?

 

[Solarhelpe]

We need to figure this out before I connect my 4 new 12 volt, 200Ah batteries to my new Epever 6415 controller.

Bud provided a direct link for us, and is TRYING TO KEEP me from drowning.
https://www.epever.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tracer-AN-SMS-EL-V1.0.pdf

So. I'm wondering more about the 4s and 8s settings. The very little information about these just says one is for 12v lifepo and the other for 24. Makes sense.

But the 8s setting puts the system ah at 200. For me this is not correct as my batteries are 100ah 12 volt in series. Maybe this setting is just a mess? Or maybe it is reading ah correctly as the batteries have

I do not see anything in the user manual showing that the EPVER detect the connected battery Ah, it is impossible to for the system to know what battery capacity the unit is connected to.
Where does it show the battery capacity on the display of the EPEVER?
How do you know that it puts the system at 200Ah?

It is in the 8s auto setting that claims to be for lifepo 24v systems. I can take a photo of the parameter. I can scroll through all of the 8s specific settings like uvd ovd etc etc.

 

[Bud Martin]

'But the 8s setting puts the system ah at 200'.
So EPEVER is now in 24V system, that is all to it, nothing to do with Ah.
Again, How do you know that it put system in 200Ah? How about if it is connected to two 12V 280Ah in series, will it know that it is 24V 280Ah?
EPEVER cannot tell what the battery capacity it is connected to, and EPEVER does not care what the battery Ah is, but how long your load will run will be based on Volt x Ah = W-hr.
Ah is just current in relationship to time.