[RE-wrenches] PV/Charge Controller Troubleshoot Help

Tue Apr 23 13:13:03 PDT 2024

Same experience for me, Toast if reboot doesn't wake it up.

On Tue, Apr 23, 2024 at 3:33 PM Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> I've had several MX and FM failures (at least 5) over the years, often
> with the output at zero. I don't know what actually fails, but they just
> stop producing.  I must admit, I don't remember if in all cases I tried
> resetting them to factory default, but my memory is when talking to Outback
> support, after checking for appropriate input and output voltages, if there
> aren't any other obvious issues, they've told me the units are toast.
> Howie Michaelson
> Sun Catcher
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 23, 2024 at 2:45 PM Jay via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> No error message for CC fan
>>
>> The fan should cycle from battery power off start up.
>>
>> I e never seen a CC produce zero watts. Reduced yes
>>
>> While the fan might be broken I don’t think that explains the issue.
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Apr 23, 2024, at 11:36 AM, William Miller via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > If the fan fails would there be an error message?  As always, I looked
>> this
>> > up before posting.  The manual is not clear on the matter.
>> >
>> > William
>> >
>> > Miller Solar
>> > 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422
>> > 805-438-5600
>> > www.millersolar.com
>> > CA Lic. 773985
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On
>> > Behalf Of MDElectricSolar via RE-wrenches
>> > Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 6:58 AM
>> > To: RE-wrenches
>> > Cc: MDElectricSolar
>> > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] PV/Charge Controller Troubleshoot Help
>> >
>> > 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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