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We have been considering sending the MX 60 in for a firmware update. From
what the tech support guy said, all the firmware update would do would be
to allow the CC to talk to the Mate and keep voltage spikes from showing
up on the display. Does the firmware update have other benefits?<br><br>
At present, the system seems to be working correctly. Should I still
replace the temperature sensor?<br><br>
Thanks,<br><br>
Drake <br><br>
At 12:30 PM 11/19/2014, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">To add; I am a firm believer
that every few years I will send OB CC/Mates in for firmware up date. I
will repole an off grid system at least twice a year. Temp sensor is
imperative! and if the site is not maned do not set auto eq.<br>
On Nov 18, 2014, at 1:40 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Drake,<br>
I'll add just a bit to Jarmo's excellent reply:<br>
You mentioned that you were unsure if the MX60 was set to auto-EQ. This
could be a source of trouble. The MX60 had the unfortunate characteristic
whereby if set to auto-EQ, it would continue to try to complete an EQ
indefinitely once triggered. As such, if the array was not sufficient to
hold the batteries above the EQ voltage for the set duration, or as the
batteries aged and their internal resistance increased such that the EQ
voltage couldn't be maintained, the controller would never complete and
exit EQ mode. 31V, while conservative, is high enough to cause
this.<br><br>
If that is what occurred here, then disabling automatic EQ and reducing
the EQ voltage below gassing threshold should prevent recurrence.<br>
Allan<br><br>
<b>Allan Sindelar</b><br>
<a href="mailto:allan@sindelarsolar.com">allan@sindelarsolar.com</a><br>
NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional<br>
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional<br>
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician<br>
Founder (Retired), Positive Energy, Inc.<br>
<b>505 780-2738 cell</b><br><br>
<br>
On 11/18/2014 11:03 AM,
<a href="mailto:Jarmo.Venalainen@schneider-electric.com">
Jarmo.Venalainen@schneider-electric.com</a> wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=2>Hi:</font>
<br><br>
<font size=2>This may not be the problem, but I wanted to bring it up as
I have heard of a few cases of battery boiling issues with various charge
controllers and want to suggest a possible cause.</font> <br><br>
<font size=2>I'll do this point form. It's easier to describe it
that way:</font> <br><br>
<font size=2>1. Solar charge controllers are programmed to go to bulk
charge in the morning.</font> <br>
<font size=2>2. The intensity of the sunlight starts off low in the
morning and depending on the weather during the day, the intensity can
reach any level between virtually 0% and 100%.</font> <br>
<font size=2>3. The exit criteria for bulk is that the battery voltage
reaches the Vbulk/abs volts setting or a bulk/abs timer times out.</font>
<br>
<font size=2>4. If the sunlight conditions are just right to keep the
charging voltage just below the Vbulk/abs setpoint, the exit from
bulk/abs will be the timer.</font> <br>
<font size=2>5. Bulk/Abs timers are usually set for rather a long time,
many hours is not uncommon.</font> <br>
<font size=2>6. Given the above, it is possible that the battery stays at
gassing voltages for many hours every day at certain times of the year
when the sunlight intensity is just right to support that.</font> <br>
<font size=2>7. As a consequence the boiling problem will show up only at
particular sites, particular battery/charge controller sizes and
particular times of year.</font> <br><br>
<font size=2>Again, I am not suggesting that this is necessarily the
cause of battery "boiling" in systems with solar charge
controllers, but it could be a reason.</font> <br><br>
<font size=2>2nd ps. All manufacturers do precise battery
voltage/current measurements on the bench with a wide variety of
conditions, but we will never be able to simulate the 1000's of
conditions that happen on the 1000's of installs out there. With
that in mind, on-site battery voltage/current data logging is a very
powerful tool when investigating these kinds of issues.</font> <br>
<br>
<font size=2>JARMO<br>
</font><font color="#008000">
_____________________________________________________________________________________</font>
<br>
<font size=1><b><br>
Jarmo Venalainen</b> |
</font><font size=1 color="#008000"><b> Schneider Electric
</font><font size=1> | Solar Business</b> |
<b>CANADA</b> | <b>Training & Development
Specialist - Senior</b> <b><br>
Phone:</b> +604-422-2528 | <b>Fax:</b>
+604-420-1591 | <b>Mobile:</b> +604-505-0291 <b><br>
Email:</b>
</font><a href="mailto:jarmo.venalainen@schneider-electric.com">
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<br><br>
<font size=1 color="#5F5F5F">From:</font> <font size=1>Drake
<a href="mailto:drake.chamberlin@redwoodalliance.org">
<drake.chamberlin@redwoodalliance.org></a></font> <br>
<font size=1 color="#5F5F5F">To:</font> <font size=1>RE-wrenches
<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">
<re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org></a>, </font><br>
<font size=1 color="#5F5F5F">Date:</font> <font size=1>11/18/2014 09:15
AM</font> <br>
<font size=1 color="#5F5F5F">Subject:</font> <font size=1>[RE-wrenches]
Suspect MX 60</font> <br>
<font size=1 color="#5F5F5F">Sent by:</font>
<font size=1>"RE-wrenches"
<a href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org">
<re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org></a></font> <br><br>
<br>
<br><br>
<br>
Hello Wrenches,<br><br>
An MX 60 boiled a 24 volt bank of 4 Trojan L-16 batteries last summer.
The batteries all checked out to be in good shape. It is not totally
clear that the CC was not set to auto equalize, but the EQ voltage was
only set at 31.0 V. <br><br>
The battery bank has been replaced by 8 Full River L-16 AGM batteries.
The parameters have all been reset for AGM with EQ disabled. The
homeowners are concerned that the charge control may not work, and damage
their new battery bank. <br><br>
If there is a problem with the CC, it is very intermittent. Has anyone
ever seen an intermittent MX 60? <br><br>
Outback tech support says if we send it in they will update the firmware
for $90, and do a 24 hour bench test. It appears that the firmware update
will not do anything useful for this off grid system. There are no new
boards available for this unit. I'm not sure if the bench test will show
up an intermittent problem. <br><br>
Has anyone had this situation before? Would it be better to:
<ul>
<li>Replace the CC
<li>Send the CC to Outback
<li>Do nothing
</ul>Thank you,<br><br>
Drake <br><br>
Drake Chamberlin<i><br>
Athens Electric LLC<br>
OH License 44810<br>
CO License 3773<br>
NABCEP Certified Solar PV <br>
740-448-7328</i><font color="#0000FF"><u><br>
<a href="http://athens-electric.com/">http://athens-electric.com/</a></u>
</font> <br><br>
<br><br>
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