[RE-wrenches] Outback Charge controllers resetting to default settings

Sat Apr 11 14:22:55 PDT 2026

So is there still no way to reprogram the FM100 without a MATE 3?  I 
just sold off my spare MATE3.  Always thought it was lame you needed 
such an expensive interface just to make adjustments. Resetting to 
factory programming used to be a pain, but now with LiPO4 batteries it 
can be a downright fire hazard.

Ray Walters
Remote Solar

On 4/11/2026 10:14 AM, Tyrone Houck via RE-wrenches wrote:
> Thank you! This likely just saved one of my customers(at least!) the 
> cost of a new fm100!
>
> Tyrone Houck
> Oregon Solarworks LLC
> CCB #204937 LRT #076
> 541-787-1366
> tyrone at oregonsolarworks.com
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 8:51 AM Richard Nicol via RE-wrenches 
> <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>     Reviving an older topic with a new learning regarding FM100
>     resetting to defaults after a shutdown event.
>     Memory is battery dependent rather than solid state.
>     There is a button cell battery (2032), on the circuit board
>     attached to the lid, with the leds on it. Three phillips screws
>     hold it in place.
>     Apparently Outback knows they have had batches of these batteries.
>     image0.jpegimage1.jpeg
>     Sent from my iPhone
>
>>     On Jan 10, 2026, at 2:18 PM, Nick Lucchese via RE-wrenches
>>     <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>     Yes, it keeps happening to me as well. At least 8 times now. The
>>     first couple times I blamed myself and thought I had made the
>>     rookie default settings mistake I see on other's sites but now I
>>     know better. Only the FM100. Just got back from a site that
>>     resulted in the client's Radian shutting down due to battery volt
>>     sense faults from it. First time it has caused shutdowns though.
>>     Looks like her Blue Ions had been sitting at 57.6 for months now.
>>     Unfortunately she has Hughesnet that almost never works with
>>     Opticsre otherwise I would have caught it. Extremely frustrating,
>>     I've easily eaten enough service calls and equipment failures for
>>     Outback over the years that I could have paid off a Toyota Yaris.
>>     No exaggeration.
>>
>>     Nick
>>
>>     On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 2:58 PM Zeke Yewdall via RE-wrenches
>>     <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>         Has anyone else had issues with outback charge controllers
>>         resetting to default settings?  I just had a FM100 do this
>>         (and shut the whole system down because the default settings
>>         were too high of voltage for a 15 cell LFP, so the battery
>>         turned itself off for protection).  The logs show that the
>>         values were set to 0 from the proper settings, then to the
>>         default settings from 0, on site.  But no one was on site.  I
>>         changed them back remotely via opticsRE, and it logged me as
>>         changing them back, as it should have.
>>
>>         Occasionally in the past I've had similar things happen, and
>>         always kind of chalked it up to the customer perhaps messing
>>         with the system, but this time I know that no one was there
>>         to adjust it locally at the time that it says it was changed.
>>
>>         I have another site this week that does not have opticsRE,
>>         that the FM100 may have reset to default settings as well. 
>>         Same thing -- lithium batteries shutting off from overvoltage
>>         all of a sudden.  I am still investigating that one.
>>
>>         Zeke
>>
>>         -- 
>>         Zeke Yewdall
>>         PV Engineer
>>         NABCEP #031508-89
>>         zeke at darkforestsolar.com
>>         303-523-3592
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