Need Help With Victron 100/50

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adam-stoddard asked Sep 23, '21

Need Help With Victron 100/50

I am having some problems with my brand new Victron 100/50 and hoping someone could help out.

I have 10x100 watt Renogy panels on my pergola in my backyard. I wired two sets of 5 in parallel, then ran all four 10 gauge wires (2 positive and 2 negative) wires from each parallel set about 40 feet or so through my attic in the house, then the 4 wires are plugged into a Y branch connector so I just have 1 positive and 1 negative cable plugged into the Victron 100/50. The Victron is feeding two Goal Zero Yeti Expansion tanks (12 volt AGM batteries), which in turn is feeding my Goal Zero Yeti 1500X, which in turn is providing power through the Goal Zero Home Integration Kit to provide power to 4 circuits in my house.

The Victron 100/50 only seems to be producing approximately 400-450 watts of power. I live in San Jose California where the skies are clear and the sun is shining.

I called Goal Zero and they suggested I contact Victron to see if there is a setting that should be changed? Someone at Goal Zero suggested taking the two parallel sets of panels, then running those in series to increase the voltage which may get more power into the tanks?

I would appreciate any help you can offer. I did not change any settings on the Victron right out of the box.

victron

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Steve Preston commented · Sep 23, 2021 at 05:25 PM

You have not given enough information on your complete setup, such as your settings within the MPPT, for a better analysis of your issue. Screenshots of your controller configuration would be helpful.
I would also like to suggest that you may want to review the documentation for your solar panels and the Victron MPPT controller. The 100|50 @ 12VDC is rated for approximately 700w maximum input and you are attempting to input 1000w. While over-paneling is acceptable, it is not the full answer to your question. However, it may explain some of your lower wattage if you are expecting to see the full 1000w. A quick check into compatibility showed that just one of your 5-panel arrays is acceptable for the 100|50.
Are you aware of resources such as the Victron MPPT calculator? If you click on "Custom Module", enter your array size, wattage (Power [Wp), VOC, ISC, VMP, & ISC, it will show you what controller is best suited for your hardware.
https://www.victronenergy.com/mppt-calculator
This may also be of some help to you: https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-BlueSolar-charge-controller-MPPT-100-30-&-100-50-EN.pdf

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Answer 1 · 2021-09-23T16:45:44Z

mrhappy answered · Sep 23, 2021 at 04:45 PM

I think it would help if you provided data for the solar panels, specifically open circuit voltage. And if you run your batteries as a 12V or 24V system. If the panels are these:

https://www.renogy.com/100-watt-12-volt-monocrystalline-solar-panel-compact-design/

-then it seems they have an open circuit voltage of 22.3 volts. Running all your panels in parallell, I am surprised that you get as much power as you do from your system. The higher the voltage the better, lower losses, etc. Your solar charger can accept 100 volts open circuit, so maximum in series for the panels you have would be four, which means you would have to disregard two of your panels, but I think you would still get more out of it by running two 4-series-strings instead of all in parallell.

Another thing to consider is the limitation of feeding a 12V battery system, which your victron solar charger is limited to delivering 700W to.

I would suggest upgrading to a 150/70, then you can simply series-connect your 5-sets of panels, use the same cables you already have through the attic, get 111,5 volts open circuit into the controller which can deliver 1000W to your batteries.

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Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented · Sep 23, 2021 at 06:28 PM

Or 3s3p = 9 panels

Or 2s5p = 10 panels

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mrhappy Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented · Sep 23, 2021 at 07:47 PM

Indeed. However, considering the cabling that already exist and the still relatively low voltage with 2s configuration for those panels, 4s or 5s would be much better choices in my opinion.

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Answer 2 · 2021-09-23T17:07:06Z

rickp answered · Sep 23, 2021 at 05:07 PM

I agree that you can experiment with series vs parallel wiring to see what produces a better output at the SCC. You’ll have to be mindful of your limitations, both in input to the SCC (100 volts) and in the amp load for which your cable is rated. Raising the volts on your system by introducing series groupings in the PV might significantly increase what you’re getting across the relatively small cable.

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