[RE-wrenches] High L16 voltage situation

[Jay Peltz]

Hi Nathan

Only other suggestion is to try a non Morningstar controller as a test. 

But find it hard to believe 4 bad controllers. 

Good luck

Jay


Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 17, 2012, at 8:26 AM, Nathan Jones <solardude97 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> Jay,
> CC to battery is about 30 inches and is #10THHN. Battery cabling is 4/0 with same length to inverter. Battery voltage is uniform. The installation of the AGM jumper on the controller seems to say it is not a battery issue and Trojan tech support concurs. Morningstar tech is in the same place as I am. No idea. Hard to believe we have 4 of their controllers over several months with the same gremlin.
> Battery connections are tight with the inverter pulling around 160 amps DC for its duty function which is about 3 minutes in duration.
> Nathan Jones
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 10:14 AM CDT jay peltz wrote:
> 
>> HI Nathan,
>> 
>> Thats a good one.
>> what is the wiring like between the controller and the battery?
>> 
>> you are measuring the 15.6 at the CC?
>> 
>> each battery is same voltage while charging?
>> 
>> you have checked all battery cable connections?
>> 
>> jay
>> 
>> peltz power
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Jul 17, 2012, at 7:34 AM, Nathan Jones wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> Wrenches, 
>>> This is baffling me and I need others experience. It is a small stand alone system with 4 L16s in series/parallel. Charging source is 2 Kyocera 140 watt modules. It is powering a satellite receiver as well as providing 120 VAC for a boat dock using a listed 3000 watt mod sine inverter. The inverter operating range is 10.5-15VDC. The Morningstar controllers are running the voltage up to 15.6 in bulk and float.
>>> At first it had two 10 amp controllers and I wondered if there could be a PWM situation existing. Swapping for a Morningstar SS20L gave exactly the same voltages. I replaced that controller with a MorningstarSL20 with no change in voltages to the batteries. I have used two meters as well as had the inverter tone the high voltage condition. I can shut off the solar input and get the batteries below 15 volts in a few seconds and bring the inverter online. I have repeatedly pulled surface charge off the batteries and watched the same voltages repeat themselves. I wondered about RF noise from the satellite feed messing with the PWM but unhooking it from the load side of the controller changed nothing. Batteries are gassing but not boiling out with no indication of a bad cell. In desperation I installed the spade jumper to switch the controller over to AGM settings and immediately saw the bulk and float voltages fall to the settings Morningstar lists in
> their
>>> manual.
>>> It was 100 degrees when I was onsite last week so this is not a cold weather situation. Anyone have any thoughts as to what is going on here? I am 140 miles from the site and this will be my third trip to sort this situation out.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Nathan Jones
>>> Power Source Solar
>>> Springfield, MO
>>> 417-827-0738
>>> __
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