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nutztoyou asked

EasySolar II GX stopped working

I've just had a EasySolar II GX installed in a food van with 2 x 48v Pylontech batteries and a 12v converter for a pump. When they installed the 12v pump, they didn't instal a on/off switch. The first day out, we ran out of water and couldn't turn off the pump.Not knowing what to do, we tried turning off the circuit breaker on the batteries, and also the on off switch on/off switch on the batteries. Nothing happened. The pump carried on running. After a while, we lost all AC power, but 12v was still running. Went to turn the batteries on again, nothing happened. There was an alarm saying low batteries even though they were at 90%. Eventually we found someone with a hose to fill up the water tank which eventally shut of the pump.

The AC never came on again. When I got home I thought I would just plug in the main AC to at least run fridges till after Christmas. When I plugged in the AC, something clicked in either the batteries or inverter and everything fired up. I removed the mains cord, all was good.

My issue now is what went wrong, why did it kick in again after I plugged in the external AC?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

PylontechEasySolar All-in-One
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matt1309 avatar image matt1309 commented ·
Hi @Nutztoyou


It's hard to tell without photos/schematics. What doesnt make sense is how 12v stayed on if you're saying batteries were fully disconnected/turned off. My best guess is that the disconnect you turned off is just the disconnect between the inverter and the battery but the 12v converter/pump is wired on the battery side of that disconnect.


This would explain why the pump stayed running after you turned off the disconnect switch, it would also explain why the inverter (AC power) shutdown and flagged low battery (as it's seeing 0v as the battery is now disconnected from inverter).

Then when you plugged in ac power the easysolar passed through the AC power and turned everything on (but battery is still disconnected as far as inverter is concerned). The click you heard is likely the ground relay for AC power passthrough.


If you turn disconnect on the battery back on I suspect this will return the system to normal.

You can probably check what battery voltage the system is seeing to confirm if my guess above is correct. If it's 0v then odds are the battery is disconnect is just off.


In regards to the pump wiring I would personally add a few more disconnects and maybe a centralized bus bar given you've got DC loads (pump) as well as inverter connections. This would make working on the system easier (also makes adding fuses etc easier).


So Battery -> disconnect -> bus bar

pump -> on/off switch -> 12v converter -> disconnect -> bus bar

inverter -> bus bar.

The above will allow for more control over the system but may need some changes to wiring.

(This setup above will also be useful for maintenance, you could safely work on pump/12v converter circuit while keeping inverter on as the disconnects are separate)




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nutztoyou avatar image nutztoyou matt1309 commented ·
Thanks for your reply. I've got the gist of your explanation which makes sense to a novice like me. Just to be clear, the 12v comes from the Victron Orion-Tr 48/12-20. I can't tell where it gets it's power from. Whether it's from the inverter or directly from the batteries. Just seems odd that the Orion would be connected to the batteries before the on/off switch and circuit breaker.
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ejrossouw avatar image ejrossouw nutztoyou commented ·

There should not have been any power to the Orion if "... and also the on off switch on/off switch on the batteries." Only other 48V source of power I can think of could have been from solar if you have solar panels installed. The overall design warrants a review as it raises a lot of questions.

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nutztoyou avatar image nutztoyou ejrossouw commented ·
Thanks for your reply. There are solar panels on the trailer. There is a switch for turning the panels off. I didn't think of that.
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matt1309 avatar image matt1309 nutztoyou commented ·
Sounds like the "battery disconnect" you turned off is more like the inverter disconnect if that makes sense.


Given it didnt turn off the Orion.


I'd definitely suggest swapping the system to having everything connected at a central bus bar and then fuse/disconnect off that bus bar to each device. Devices being orion, inverter, battery. Rather than having everything connected directly onto the battery. Makes working on the system/disconnecting specific devices difficult without stopping the whole system.


Seems more like everything was connected to battery and the disconnect you switched was just the one between battery and inverter.

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ejrossouw avatar image ejrossouw matt1309 commented ·
The Pylontech have amphenol connectors so there likely will be a busbar or such off it. Since the battery was also turned off, it does not explain why the pump kept running. Starting point would be to request an installation diagram from the installer if you ask me.
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matt1309 avatar image matt1309 ejrossouw commented ·

Pretty unusual way of wiring it in my opinion (maybe not if just inverter/battery but the Orion wire directly off Plyontech terminal seems a bit odd)

Main reason why I guessed the "disconnect" mentioned by OP was not actually the disconnect on the battery. Otherwise it doesn't makes sense how the pump stayed on.


Electric pump that runs without AC power/battery, I definitely want one of those!

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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ matt1309 commented ·

And MPPT to the busbar via isolators

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1 Answer
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kevgermany answered ·

I've had a similar problem. The water heating in my camper has an automatic water dump if the temperature inside drops close to freezing. If the pump is on it keeps feeding the heater with water until the main tank is also empty. The water pump keeps running... Yes I have a pump master switch, but doesn't help if I'm not around.

Suggestions (as well as the previously mentioned changes, including a master pump switch):

Find a boat bilge pump switch. These switch on when water level rises and switch off when it drops. Wire the pump through that. Main downside is going to be finding one that's suitable for drinking water.

If you have a water level gauge find a way to use that to stop the pump when water level drops.


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