[RE-wrenches] FM100 Stuck in Silent Mode.

Sun Dec 15 06:42:39 PST 2024

Latest update.  Still no change with full sun.  At lease I know that the
panels will defrost by themselves. Array voltage = VOC.
Anyone have a winterized

On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 11:33 PM John Blittersdorf <
john.blittersdorf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Now that I am getting some data from the island with the old system
> keeping power up for 6 plus hours....(.started with 2 hours and now with
> full sun 6 hours. I see on Event History that the FM100 is continually bulk
> charging then Not charging every minute  No actual power produced but
> sometimes the bulk charging will continue for several minutes and the FM100
> status shows bulk charging at 45 to 50 watts regardless of what the array
> voltage is., then goes back to silent. Has anybody seen this before?
> Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I should see more power if the problem
> is in fact snow or ice on the array.  We had a lot of rain so I had assumed
> that any snow would have washed off but then here on the mountain we got
> some sleet and then 2"of snow that I had to scrape off my array. All the
> solar farms around here have cleared of snow so I can't believe that snow
> cover is the problem.
>
> Yesterday I took the FM100 with the arc fault problem that I had put aside
> to deal with later,  removed the arc fault circuit board and then installed
> it in my system in place of my FM100.  It works just fine. I just installed
> two FM100's and Radian in a new mountaintop off-grid system and another
> going in this week on a grid tie backup system.  Both are pole mount racks
> for the solar. I probably should pull the circuit boards out of both of
> those as they are unattended second homes with months of no use but they
> are usually accessible after the snowstorms.
>
> John
>
>
> ..
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 2:17 PM Kirk Herander via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> I had one stuck in silent a couple years ago. Was plain as day after some
>> measurements that PV positive to ground showed the open circuit PV voltage.
>> It had failed internally. A new charge controller fixed it.
>>
>> *Kirk Herander / **kirkh at vermont.solar <kirkh at vermont.solar>*
>>
>> *Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC*
>>
>> *Celebrating our 33st Anniversary 1991-2024!!*
>>
>> dba Vermont Solar Engineering
>>
>> 802.559.1225
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 2:13 PM Luke Christy via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> This is a timely thread. Thanks to all for your input.
>>>
>>> I also have a site with a problematic FM100. The system has 2x FM100s
>>> and every morning one of them has required a manual power cycle by the
>>> client to get it to start producing. I can get no data remotely through
>>> Optics that indicates what’s going on other than that the device just stays
>>> in silent mode after it shuts down at the end of the production day. I went
>>> down some rabbit holes related to installing a fixed resistor on the BTS
>>> sensor circuit to set the measured battery temp at 25º C vs leaving the
>>> sensor unconnected with the lithium battery bank. There were some threads
>>> on the NAWS forum that indicated ghost temp values from unconnected BTS
>>> sensors might a source of the problem. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of
>>> the AFCI card as possible cause also. Thankfully I have some spare new
>>> FM100s on hand. Looks like a trip out there to swap the device and pull
>>> some AFCI cards.
>>>
>>> I continue to be dismayed at the situation with Outback. I can’t really
>>> see them coming back to the market in an incarnation that we will
>>> recognize. - despite the various reports to the contrary. I hope I’m wrong.
>>> At least (for now) they are still supporting the Optics platform.
>>>
>>> Luke Christy
>>> Renewable energy consultant
>>>
>>> NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional™:
>>>
>>> Solar Gain Services, LLC
>>> PO Box 531
>>> Monte Vista, CO 81144
>>> 719.588.3044
>>> sgsrenewables at gmail.com
>>>
>>> On Dec 10, 2024, at 8:50 PM, John Blittersdorf via RE-wrenches <
>>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> HI Wrenches,
>>>    I  have an off grid site on an Island on auto pilot for the winter
>>> with no access.  The FM 100
>>> has remained in Silent mode even when the Array Voltage is around  150
>>> Volts and battery at 46V
>>> I did get a response from Outback Tech support but they couldn't figure
>>> out what happened.
>>> I suspect that there is a ground or arc fault error which locks it up
>>> til manually recycled.  The problem is that there is no indication found on
>>> Optics that there is a ground fault.
>>> We would be totally in the dark except the original small solar array
>>> with an Apollo CC with
>>> about a kilowatt of solar has been dribbling in enough power to keep
>>> above low battery cutoff
>>> for a few hours each day.  The system was up when I was on the tech
>>> support call but has since quit for the day. Has anyone seen this before?
>>>
>>> John Blittersdorf
>>>
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