[RE-wrenches] Fried Classic150?

bob at midnitesolar.com bob at midnitesolar.com
Mon May 30 20:26:53 PDT 2016


Aaron, there may or may not be an explanation for WHY this happened. We 
really love it when there is one though.

But being electronics and especially power electronics, it can go up 
without rhyme or reason even though lots have

gone into catching failures before shipping units.  Four to eight hours 
of burn in is done on every charger...

This involves heating/cooling at regular intervals to get things to 
fail.  But sometimes it just happens.

Even cosmic rays can be the culprit if they happen to go through just 
the right place on a silicon die

in the power stage transistors.   Hard to catch one of those. Lightning 
of course and its HV electric

fields nearby are also possible.  Then again it could be a bad solder 
joint or component. i.e Workmanship.

In that regard, just shipping a unit can jar something loose.  We 
(Midnite) do a physical

slight shock test on every unit as well but, sometimes UPS and their 
gentle shipping

methods can shake something loose that should not have moved around.

Power products are very difficult to do for all the companies. Hopefully 
we can get

even better at catching failures at the factory before they get out.  
There is some of this

production and testing methods on a video on our web site that might 
give you an

idea of how we make these.  Front page, upper left corner as I remember. 
Factory tour
or similar.

boB


On 5/30/2016 7:59 PM, Aaron Mandelkorn wrote:
>
> Thanks all for the replies. Battery voltage was 13v on this 48 volt 
> system. How they drained so low I just don't know. Low batter cut off 
> was set and there were no DC loads. Not to sure what to make if this. 
> Will be contacting midnite tomorrow.
>
> Aaron Mandelkorn
> Owner/Solar Specialist
> Renewable Energy Outfitters
> www.reosolar.com <http://www.reosolar.com>
> www.offgriddepot.biz <http://www.offgriddepot.biz>
> 970-596-3744
> 719-221-5249
> reosolar at gmail.com <mailto:reosolar at gmail.com>
>
> On May 30, 2016 8:43 PM, "Dan Fink" <danbob88 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:danbob88 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     MPPT does need a minimum battery voltage to wake up and start
>     charging, at least 9 volts -- I once arrived at a remote site on a
>     sunny day, the PV input breaker had tripped, batteries were under
>     9v, no charging despite the sunny weather until I woke the MPPT up
>     with jumper cables from my truck battery.
>
>     Dan Fink
>     Adjunct Professor of Solar Energy Technology, Ecotech Institute
>     IREC Certified Instructor™ for:
>     ~ PV Installation Professional
>     ~ Small Wind Installer
>     Executive Director, Buckville Energy
>     NABCEP Registered Continuing Education Providers™
>     970.672.4342 <tel:970.672.4342>
>
>
>     On Mon, May 30, 2016 at 5:59 PM, Aaron Mandelkorn
>     <reosolar at gmail.com <mailto:reosolar at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         Hi all. I returned to a off grid site today after having no
>         winter access. It appears as though the classic 150 charge
>         controller has failed. The batteries are completely
>         discharged. The classics screen will flash occasionally as
>         well as a yellow light on this left front of the controller
>         but wont turn on. Does the classic have a minimum voltage
>         requirement needed to turn on? Has anyone else experienced
>         this?  I can't figure out what happened to cause this issue.
>
>         Thanks
>
>         Aaron Mandelkorn
>         Owner/Solar Specialist
>         Renewable Energy Outfitters
>         www.reosolar.com <http://www.reosolar.com>
>         www.offgriddepot.biz <http://www.offgriddepot.biz>
>         970-596-3744 <tel:970-596-3744>
>         719-221-5249 <tel:719-221-5249>
>         reosolar at gmail.com <mailto:reosolar at gmail.com>
>
>
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