Campervan Electrics Setup not working correctly

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Free Tammi asked Oct 17, '22

Campervan Electrics Setup not working correctly

Hi everyone,

We are having problems with two issues:

12v power - It keeps shutting down in the evenings even though the battery says it still has 90% power and we hardly use electricity, just to charge phones.

230v power - Every time we use the 230v plug sockets the inverter shuts itself off and we have no electricity whatsoever until the next day when it’s sunny. It shuts down the 12v power also.

Can anyone suggest where we are going wrong please?

This is a list of all the items we have in our set up:

80w solar panels x 2

https://www.jacksonsleisure.com/caravan-motorhome/120-watt-pv-logic-long-flexible-solar-panel-kit-for-boats-motorhomes-and-caravans/

60w solar panels x 4

https://www.jacksonsleisure.com/caravan-motorhome/flexi-pv-60w-flexible-roof-or-deck-top-solar-panel-complete-kit/

Victron Inverter 12v 3000VA Sinwave (the cables are the right thickness & length as instructed)

https://lowenergysupermarket.com/product/victron-energy-phoenix-power-inverter-12v-3000va-smart/

Victron MPPT charge controller 150/60 -tr

https://vanjunkies.co.uk/products/victron-energy-bluesolar-mppt-150-60-tr-solar-charge-controller-scc010060200

Victron Battery protect 12/24-220A

https://lowenergysupermarket.com/product/victron-energy-smart-batteryprotect-12-24v-220a/

LifePO4 TN 210ah battery

https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/tn-power-lithium-lifepo4-battery-216ah.html

Victron Smartshunt 500A

https://lowenergysupermarket.com/product/victron-energy-smartshunt-500a-smartphone-battery-monitor-voltage-current-meter-shu050150050/

Do we need 2 different MPPT because we have 2 different solar panels?

And are we missing any items from the circuit?

Hope someone can help!

smart solar set-up help shutdown

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2 |3000

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klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Oct 18, 2022 at 02:37 AM

It sounds like your battery simply is not being charged enough.

Post a screenshot of the mppt's detailed history. Also a ss of the mppt's battery charge settings.

Post a ss of the SmartShunt's battery settings.

Post a ss of the BatteryProtect settings.

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kevgermany ♦♦ klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Oct 18, 2022 at 05:51 AM

@Free Tammi also the inverter settings please.

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Free Tammi klim8skeptic ♦ commented · Oct 19, 2022 at 11:50 AM

Hi here are the screens:

Smart shunt:

Smart solar:

Battery protect:

@kevgermany we've disconnected the inverter so we won't have the screens for that up for now

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smartshunt1.jpg (276.5 KiB)

smartshunt2.jpg (310.9 KiB)

smartshunt3.jpg (435.5 KiB)

smartsolar1.jpg (283.4 KiB)

smartsolar2.jpg (327.0 KiB)

batteryprotect.jpg (188.4 KiB)

smartsolar3.jpg (340.4 KiB)

smartsolar4.jpg (214.4 KiB)

klim8skeptic ♦ Free Tammi commented · Oct 19, 2022 at 12:34 PM

You seem to have wired all 6 panels in series. Dangerous array Voc!!!

Perhaps you could wire the 2 X 80w panels in series and test that.

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pwfarnell Free Tammi commented · Oct 19, 2022 at 05:08 PM

Not only dangerously high solar panel voltage as noted above, but it is very close to the max 150V rating of your controller. A very cold day could result in a higher voltage that blows your controller. Mixing solar panels of two different types on one controller can result in lower power outputs if the maximum power voltage or current do not match up. The links you give for the solar panels do not match with your description, you ay 2 x 80W but give links for 120W panels. If you correct this there may be some advice on the best way t connect them.

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kevgermany answered · Oct 19, 2022 at 06:30 PM

Aside from the panel wiring, the solar charger output history is informative. The panels are suffering from the weather and producing little power. It may be compounded by shading/dirt.

Manually setting states of charge on the shunt isn't going to help. Save shunt changes for later.

Your solar charger shows zero output at 17:35, with battery voltage barely over 12V. I.e. the battery wasn't charged during the day. So the cutting out is to be expected.

@klim8skeptic said looks like undercharging. I think you need to sort this out first. Then we take another look. Otherwise all the comments above will confuse things.

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Free Tammi commented · Dec 12, 2022 at 01:42 AM

Hi!

Sorry for late response but yes I can confirm it was undercharging for this issue. We were able to charge the battery up to 12.8v under good conditions.

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2022-10-18T03:53:54Z

billknny answered · Oct 18, 2022 at 03:53 AM

I'll add, the symptoms are very similar to a battery that is essentially dead, and incapable of accepting a charge.

When you say "(The 12 Volts system) keeps shutting down." Do you mean that the BMS is disconnecting the battery? When this happens what is the system voltage?

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Answer 2 · 2022-10-19T13:06:14Z

steffen-graap answered · Oct 19, 2022 at 01:06 PM

I think some settings are wrong here.

You write you have a 210Ah battery, the battery settings say 200Ah (according to the website it is 216Ah). The DischargeFlor is at 50%, why so high? In my opinion, Peukert Exponet and Charge Effiicency Factor are wrong for ne LiFePo. Rather 1 and something greater than 90% For me it is 99%.

One of the solar chargers is set to GelBattery via a switch, select User Defined here and set the values yourself according to the battery specifications. I would not recommend the 14.6V from the data sheet as the maximum charging voltage, but rather 14.0 - 14.2V.

The display of the SmartShunt does not fit either. 66.2Ah of 200Ah are not 79%. In my opinion, the voltage of 12.1V does not fit. LiFePo cells should only be drained to 3V, which corresponds to 12V. Thus, the cut-off voltage of the battery protect of 10.5V also fits, which corresponds to a cell voltage of 2.625V. That would kill the cells. I'm wondering what the battery protect is supposed to do, don't you have a BMS installed in the battery? At least the cut-off voltage at 2.8 should be closer to 3.0V per cell.

And your problems will also find their reason in the wrong attitudes. Bottle charging voltage/characteristic, bottle cut-off voltage. If you're lucky, the system is configured incorrectly, if you're unlucky, your battery is already scrap.

You write you have an inverter with 3000W. That would be 250A at 12V. But your battery only likes max. 100A normally according to the data sheet 43.2A If the WR goes into full power, the BMS should switch off to be on the safe side. With 100A you can manage max. 1200W.

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