HELP, please!
I am a newbie. And, I am near to conceding defeat. My 6-month-old DIY solar system in my RV has failed.
It worked perfectly for 4 months. On heavy 120-volt appliance use days, I would consume 10% to 15% of the total battery amp hours. Then, even on cloudy days, the system would be recharged to 100% by 2-3:00 pm in December in the Arizona desert! I was ecstatic.
Then something happened and I have no idea what? I've spent weeks reading everything I can find (including here on the DIYSolarForum to a blurry-eyed state), asking questions, rewiring, replacing parts, testing, etc. But, since I cannot find the problem, I cannot fix it.
If anyone has ANY IDEAS WHATSOEVER about what might have caused such problems, I welcome any and all ideas no matter what they might be. I am truly desperate.
(1) What might cause my solar charge controller to stop working normally as it did once and now work only in "full mode" sending only 1-3 amps charge to the batteries? It worked perfectly for 4 months with normal charging rates of 20-28 amps until the batteries were nearly full, and then appropriately went into the lower amperage rate "full mode."
(Note: I installed the controller out of the box without adjusting anything, knowing the factory settings would not take full advantage of myLiFePO4 batteries, but that I could tweak it later as I learned more about the technology.)
(2) What might cause my three LiFePO4 batteries to fail simultaneously? (Note: 175 amp ANL fuses on pos/neg battery connections are OK, so not surge or short.) It seems to me the odds are astronomical of all three batteries failing simultaneously, save for some catastrophic event?
ANY IDEAS are helpful, at this point. I'm at a huge wall I can't get over.
More detail about my system and my actions is below.
__________________________________
SYSTEM:
-- 8 - 100 watt solar panels, wired series (2 sets of 4 panels) to parallel;
-- 40 amp solar charge controller,
-- 3000 watt inverter (now completely disconnected while I am testing, since it would not run any longer except minimally whenever there was incoming solar);
-- 3 - 150 Ah LiFePO4 batteries;
-- wiring is purposely short: PV roof panels to the controller is 10 AWG of 13 feet; controller to batteries is 6 AWG of 22 inches; battery wiring and batteries to the inverter is 1/0 AWG of max 14 inches but only 9 inches battery to battery,
-- 175 amp ANL fuses on pos/neg battery terminals; 300 amp ANL fuse from batteries to inverter; 50 amp breaker (extra) on controller positive output to batteries, 2-pole 50 amp 400V breaker on PV panels to controller wiring.
(Note: I’m trying to draw a wiring diagram, but I’m on about the 10th draft and having some trouble getting it understandable. It’s my first ever diagramming try.)
SOLAR CONTROLLER
-- The solar charge controller now will only function in "full mode" (per indicator lights) charging at only a 1-to-3-amp rate but never fully charging as it did previously, typically at mid-day with 26-28 amps of charge into batteries via my meters.
-- The solar controller manufacturer says it is not possible anything in the controller changed without me doing something. ( I installed it right out of the box with no settings adjustments, figuring I could tweak it later as I learned more.) The manufacturer says it must be the batteries. Is it even possible that solar controllers fail somehow or behave erratically?
-- I have checked solar volts/amps from the PV panels to the controller seems good, i.e. at 9:00 am this morning 71.5 volts & 9.5 amps incoming! The voltage output from the controller reads about 14.5 volts consistently. But, the remote meter wired to the controller and my inside voltage monitoring meter (through a shunt) read only a very low 1-3 amps (the low near-full-charge rate) going into the batteries.
-- Meanwhile, the batteries at best read 12.5 volts to 13.1 volts with solar and battery master switch off (tested with multimeter). Obviously, that's far from the full charge for lithium batteries.
-- What would cause the controller to function only in this "full batteries mode? Any of your knowledge about this type of problem will help me learn?
LiFePO4 BATTERIES (3)
-- The LiFePO4 battery manufacturer/distributor (Chinese, my bad decision) will not respond to my inquiries about failure possibilities, of course.
-- What might cause all three of my LiFePO4 batteries -- only in use 6 months -- to stop charging? As I said, aren't the odds against that? Wouldn't I know it if something catastrophic happened?
-- I have disconnected all batteries and then reconnected them one at a time to try to charge each when isolated. None will charge.
(Note: I am boondocking and do not have shore power available to try to charge the batteries via a 120-volt lithium-capable charger.)
-- Is it possible the BMS units in the batteries have failed somehow? Again, to me, it seems against the odds of all three BMS units failing simultaneously?
-- Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can "test" the batteries further to identify a problem? (Note: my electrical skills are very limited, even with my very basic multimeter.)
Thank you so much in advance for any ideas, whatsoever. I will be very grateful.
Jim S.
I am a newbie. And, I am near to conceding defeat. My 6-month-old DIY solar system in my RV has failed.
It worked perfectly for 4 months. On heavy 120-volt appliance use days, I would consume 10% to 15% of the total battery amp hours. Then, even on cloudy days, the system would be recharged to 100% by 2-3:00 pm in December in the Arizona desert! I was ecstatic.
Then something happened and I have no idea what? I've spent weeks reading everything I can find (including here on the DIYSolarForum to a blurry-eyed state), asking questions, rewiring, replacing parts, testing, etc. But, since I cannot find the problem, I cannot fix it.
If anyone has ANY IDEAS WHATSOEVER about what might have caused such problems, I welcome any and all ideas no matter what they might be. I am truly desperate.
(1) What might cause my solar charge controller to stop working normally as it did once and now work only in "full mode" sending only 1-3 amps charge to the batteries? It worked perfectly for 4 months with normal charging rates of 20-28 amps until the batteries were nearly full, and then appropriately went into the lower amperage rate "full mode."
(Note: I installed the controller out of the box without adjusting anything, knowing the factory settings would not take full advantage of myLiFePO4 batteries, but that I could tweak it later as I learned more about the technology.)
(2) What might cause my three LiFePO4 batteries to fail simultaneously? (Note: 175 amp ANL fuses on pos/neg battery connections are OK, so not surge or short.) It seems to me the odds are astronomical of all three batteries failing simultaneously, save for some catastrophic event?
ANY IDEAS are helpful, at this point. I'm at a huge wall I can't get over.
More detail about my system and my actions is below.
__________________________________
SYSTEM:
-- 8 - 100 watt solar panels, wired series (2 sets of 4 panels) to parallel;
-- 40 amp solar charge controller,
-- 3000 watt inverter (now completely disconnected while I am testing, since it would not run any longer except minimally whenever there was incoming solar);
-- 3 - 150 Ah LiFePO4 batteries;
-- wiring is purposely short: PV roof panels to the controller is 10 AWG of 13 feet; controller to batteries is 6 AWG of 22 inches; battery wiring and batteries to the inverter is 1/0 AWG of max 14 inches but only 9 inches battery to battery,
-- 175 amp ANL fuses on pos/neg battery terminals; 300 amp ANL fuse from batteries to inverter; 50 amp breaker (extra) on controller positive output to batteries, 2-pole 50 amp 400V breaker on PV panels to controller wiring.
(Note: I’m trying to draw a wiring diagram, but I’m on about the 10th draft and having some trouble getting it understandable. It’s my first ever diagramming try.)
SOLAR CONTROLLER
-- The solar charge controller now will only function in "full mode" (per indicator lights) charging at only a 1-to-3-amp rate but never fully charging as it did previously, typically at mid-day with 26-28 amps of charge into batteries via my meters.
-- The solar controller manufacturer says it is not possible anything in the controller changed without me doing something. ( I installed it right out of the box with no settings adjustments, figuring I could tweak it later as I learned more.) The manufacturer says it must be the batteries. Is it even possible that solar controllers fail somehow or behave erratically?
-- I have checked solar volts/amps from the PV panels to the controller seems good, i.e. at 9:00 am this morning 71.5 volts & 9.5 amps incoming! The voltage output from the controller reads about 14.5 volts consistently. But, the remote meter wired to the controller and my inside voltage monitoring meter (through a shunt) read only a very low 1-3 amps (the low near-full-charge rate) going into the batteries.
-- Meanwhile, the batteries at best read 12.5 volts to 13.1 volts with solar and battery master switch off (tested with multimeter). Obviously, that's far from the full charge for lithium batteries.
-- What would cause the controller to function only in this "full batteries mode? Any of your knowledge about this type of problem will help me learn?
LiFePO4 BATTERIES (3)
-- The LiFePO4 battery manufacturer/distributor (Chinese, my bad decision) will not respond to my inquiries about failure possibilities, of course.
-- What might cause all three of my LiFePO4 batteries -- only in use 6 months -- to stop charging? As I said, aren't the odds against that? Wouldn't I know it if something catastrophic happened?
-- I have disconnected all batteries and then reconnected them one at a time to try to charge each when isolated. None will charge.
(Note: I am boondocking and do not have shore power available to try to charge the batteries via a 120-volt lithium-capable charger.)
-- Is it possible the BMS units in the batteries have failed somehow? Again, to me, it seems against the odds of all three BMS units failing simultaneously?
-- Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can "test" the batteries further to identify a problem? (Note: my electrical skills are very limited, even with my very basic multimeter.)
Thank you so much in advance for any ideas, whatsoever. I will be very grateful.
Jim S.