[RE-wrenches] PV/Charge Controller Troubleshoot Help

[Jim Gowdy]

Thanks for the input.  The battery is a 48v set up and without having the generator backup the voltage is starting to get to 46v and below.  I hope I didn’t make a mistake, but I did a quick calc thinking about the input limits of the CC and got 2400w based on the solar panel nameplate which seems to be within its limit, but just above 3000w based on my readings which is right above its limit. Some notes about the solar array is  4 strings of 4 panels and panels in each string are wired in series   The solar panel nameplate PMax is 150w, Voc is 22.7v, Isc is 8.33a.   I’ll look into the reset option and defective fan issue.  I assume I’ll need to replace the CC, and I will upgrade to an 80 which seems like a better option. Thanks for the advise
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> On Apr 23, 2024, at 7:00 AM, MDElectricSolar via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
> 
> It may be the fan. I had an FM 80 where the fan went bad that caused very limited solar production throughout the day.
> 
> Michael D Nelson
> MD Electric & Solar, Inc.
> 707-684-0064 mobile
> 707-884-1862 office
> www.mdelectricsolar.com
> www.facebook.com/mdelectricandsolar
> 
> 
>> On Apr 23, 2024, at 6:54 AM, jay via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>> 
>> HI Jim,
>> 
>> The CC is sure suspect.
>> You didn’t mention what the battery voltage is.
>> Those CC have a hard PV watt input limit.
>> 
>> You can try and set it back to factory default and then reprogram, sometimes that works.  
>> 
>> I don’t use the FM-60, but always the FM-80 because of the fan replacement.  the 80 takes 3 minutes, the 60 takes 2 hours.
>> 
>> jay
>> 
>>>> On Apr 23, 2024, at 6:00 AM, Jim Gowdy via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 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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