[RE-wrenches] PV/Charge Controller Troubleshoot Help

[Jim Gowdy]

I'm troubleshooting the solar aspect of a small offgrid 120v outback system
and need some opinions.  The customer was complaining that the generator
was running too much so I went out to their property and investigated.  The
solar array consists of 16 total panels (4 strings of 4).  At the combiner
box, I took the voltage and amperage reading of each string and found the
following......BREAKER 1 (85VDC/8.87A) BREAKER 2 (84.5VDC/8.9A) BREAKER 3
(.03VDC/0A) BREAKER 4(85VDC/8.89A).  Breaker 3 string was not producing and
so I did a fix and then read (87.1VDC/8.43A).  After reviewing the online
monitor since that fix from a few days prior I'm realizing that the first
day after had 4.5KWH production, second day had 0.7KWH production, and
yesterday had 0.3KWH production.....sun has been out without clouds.  The
60A Outback charge controller shows there is PV voltage, but noticed it was
in "silent mode" a good amount of time.  Charge controller is old, but all
the other equipment was updated about a year and a half ago.  I was
wondering if there is a way to diagnose if the charge controller is bad
without just replacing it and what does it mean when it's in "silent
mode".  Another side note is that their generator threw an AGS fault code
on the MATE3 controller and found that the generator has problems so I
ended up turning from "auto" to "off"
-- 
Jim with Gowdy Electric
Cambria, Ca 93428
business  805 927 2630
cell  805 975 5279
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