question

brian-lavoie avatar image
brian-lavoie asked

why is my MPPT not charging?

So its not a system I installed, but one we had installed.

Our setup includes:
4x 210Watt solar panels
multiplus 12/3000smartsolar Mppt 100/50Cerbo GX
500A Smartshunt
Smartdongle
MK3-USB
GX50
4x 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries

So as I understand how it was installed, the Lithium batteries are supposed to be charged by the solar panels, and then they in turn charge the battery that came with my trailer (which is a lead acid). I had to do the programing to get it finalized, I followed the battery manufacturers specifications.

Our system worked for a while back in April, then it stopped out of the blue. Since then, I have pulled down all my panels to test diodes, all came back good. Followed the wires and checked all inline fuses, good. Checked all breakers, good, all wiring and connections labeled correctly and checked. Reset all components to factory settings, let sit for a bit and reprogrammed for my set up. Ran my batteries down to low 12v (12.2v), and nothing still. My displays and info all just say 0-1watts, 0amps and around 22-23volts coming in from my solar and stays in bulk. I am at my wits end right now.

I have gone through so many forum posts and have tried everything on here, as well as various other forums and videos. Below are some screenshots I've taken this morning. Please if you need any more information to hopefully get this resolved please let me know and I'll get what ever I can back here for the community to look at. We are currently on shore power as well to charge the batteries back up, so if anything needs to be done off shore power let me know as well. Thank you all!


*edit* forgot to include my settings


**edit 2: I noticed recently that my ssc battery voltage and my multiplus battery levels are reading differently, 13.5v and 14.3v respectively. Is this an issue as well? If so how do I fix this!


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battery chargingMPPT SmartSolarsmart solar set-up help
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4 Answers
seb71 avatar image
seb71 answered ·

**edit 2: I noticed recently that my ssc battery voltage and my multiplus battery levels are reading differently, 13.5v and 14.3v respectively. Is this an issue as well? If so how do I fix this!

You said that you checked all wires, fuses and breakers and all are good. But check again the connection between the solar charger and the battery. Also, check the solar charger after you disconnect the PV array from the solar charger (or during the night).

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brian-lavoie avatar image brian-lavoie commented ·

so I have some solar coming in now, not nearly as much as I would like (~85w, mid day in the desert). I did in fact tightened up the wires at the connectors on the SSC. I crimped ferrules on the ends to keep the strands nice and cleaner than they were when we got it. Next stop will be figuring out why the watts are so low and not head to the battery. Thank you all for the help!!

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ejrossouw avatar image
ejrossouw answered ·

I'd hazard a guess that with you battery voltage very low at 12.04V its over discharge BMS protection may have shut it down. You did not mention the specifics, but worth exploring.

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brian-lavoie avatar image brian-lavoie commented ·
I was letting it get low intentionally to hopefully get the SSC to kick-in. Thank you for the response.
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seb71 avatar image
seb71 answered ·

I don't think this is the cause, but it looks like you have VE.Smart Network enabled (for the SmartSolar charger and the SmartShunt).

You should not use VE.Smart Network when you have a GX device. Use DVCC in the GX instead.

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brian-lavoie avatar image brian-lavoie commented ·
I’ll give this a shot as well. Thank you
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dalepa avatar image
dalepa answered ·

same problem today my 100/30 stopped charging. I disabled VE.Smart Network (which i enabled awhile back) and now we are charging again.

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