MPPT 75/10 randomly stops working

Question

question

nicok3 asked May 16, '24

MPPT 75/10 randomly stops working

I have several installations where I have an MPPT SmartSolar 75/10, one or 2 batteries (depending on whether the systems works with 12 or 24V), an Orion voltage regulator, 2 55W panels and my equipment behind (no additional hardware).

On these installations, randomly, the MPPT will stop working, being unaccessible using the Bluetooth interface and not supplying anything to the regulator, and requiring an entire reboot to start functioning again. I added picture of the victron app showing the problem. We can clearly see an horizontal line when the MPPT stops working, and then a normal curve when the MPPT is rebooted. Battery voltage is not the original issue, some of the sites are clearly very sunny all day long and still stops working.

Some of the installation sites are really difficult to reach and I would like the MPPT to stop having this abnormal behaviour.

What could be the origin of the problem ?

MPPT SmartSolar

screenshot-20240516-095655.jpg (254.9 KiB)

screenshot-20240516-095704.jpg (287.1 KiB)

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2024-05-16T11:51:59Z

klim8skeptic answered · May 16 at 11:51 AM

@Nicok3 The first thing to do would be to update the mppt firmware as suggested by Victron Connect.

Battery voltage is not the original issue Why not?? The plot clearly shows battery voltage as low as 16v. Low enough for a Li battery BMS to disconnect.

Perhaps you could share some meaningful information about your system. Eg battery, loads, PV voltages, mppt detailed history, mppt charge settings......

4

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

nicok3 commented · May 16 at 03:25 PM

Thank you a lot for your answer.

I won't have access to this site until something fails again.

I didn't took the time to update it. It was labeled as a ''facultative'' update so I didn't think it was that important and could cause a problem ...

I said that battery voltage isn't the original problem because we can clearly see that before the horizontal line it was at a normal level. It's after the bug on the victron that the battery was drained.

Some information about the system :

Victron MPPT SmartSolar 75|10, ''BatteryLife'' charge management
Orion-Tr 24|24 - 5
Two 12V-90Ah Gel batteries in series => 24V solar system
Two Uniteck 55W solar panels in series
My load consists of an industrial computer with its own voltage converter. Power consumption has been a case study and the two panels are correctly dimensioned for the system to work

Thank you for any further answers!

0 ·

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ nicok3 commented · May 17 at 06:16 AM

Hi @Nicok3

When this does happen again, please update the MPPT firmware to version 1.64. This is not yet available in the regular VictronConnect, but it is available in the beta VictronConnect (https://www.victronenergy.com/live/victronconnect:beta) and the firmware can be downloaded from Victron Professional (https://professional.victronenergy.com/downloads/firmware/).

It is also available as update via VRM when the MPPT is connected to a GX system, although this is not applicable to your system but perhaps useful to know for other people.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

1 ·

nicok3 Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · May 17 at 06:53 AM

Hello @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

Thank you a lot for your answer, I'll try that. What you suggest is that the problem I'm facing is software related and that an update should prevent it from appearing again ?

Regards,

Nicolas.

0 ·

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ nicok3 commented · May 29 at 08:18 AM

Hi @Nicok3

We indeed think that this problem might be software related and that it maybe solved by the v1.64 update, although we are not 100% sure.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

0 ·

Answer 2 · 2024-05-19T09:58:24Z

Nicolas Trejahn answered · May 19 at 09:58 AM

In case I am crashing the party please disregard my post. I just wanted to add that I have exactly the same problem with a 75/15 working in tandem with a (flawless) 100/20. FW 1.63 on both, I will update as recommended and see how the 75/15 behaves.

The graph shows you the voltages at which my 75/15 froze overnight, the device list displays the previous day's yield. The screenshot of the device list is taken a couple of minutes after powering on the 75/15 (after being powered off for a couple of hours - minutes are not sufficient). The starting battery voltage displayed was 28,40 V, slowly falling towards the value displayed by the other devices. (Graph and screenshot are from separate occurances, it is a recurring problem.)

This posting is supposed to add data in the hope of helping to solve nikog3's problem. I do not expect active support for my problem within this thread.

screenshot-20240507-094439.jpg (356.8 KiB)

screenshot-20240514-070254.jpg (356.6 KiB)

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Answer 3 · 2024-05-25T22:48:30Z

hydrologik answered · May 25 at 10:48 PM

Greetings, I am having the EXACT same problem with two 75/10s in the same system (two different sites). I have both logs and graphs from both sites. The graphs show exactly the same symptoms as the other two folks reporting this problem. I'm not sure the symptoms on my sites are different enough from what has already been reported in this thread, however I'll be happy to share the details if it would be useful to the community. It may be worth noting that both of these 75/10 units are installed directly adjacent to Schneider TRIO JR900 radios in the cabinet. It may also be important to know that the log file and the graph tell different stories. I have attached both here.

SolarHistory.xlsx

We have plenty of 75/10, 75/15, 100/20, 100/50, and 150/35 units in the field and these are the only ones we have seen with this problem, one of them has done it twice.

This is a critical issue for us because when these die we lose an important repeater and gateway site in a radio network and have to drive 9 hours round trip with an ATV in tow for the last mile to deal with it. One site has done it once and the other has done it twice. We always do the firmware updates if there are any pending. There are too many instances of this problem for this to be a client system design or installation problem. Please escalate this to Victron's engineering group. We love Victron products, but this is a fatal problem and one that will cause us to stop using the products until the issue is both acknowledged and addressed.

img-3706.png (196.5 KiB)

solarhistory.xlsx (12.2 KiB)

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Answer 4 · 2024-06-03T09:29:33Z

nicok3 answered · Jun 03 at 09:29 AM

Thank you to all of us for coming with details about your problems. I really hope that Victron will be able to resolve it quickly, as most of the site on which these devices are installed are hard (impossible) to reach ...

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Answer 5 · 2024-06-14T09:21:25Z

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) answered · Jun 14 at 09:21 AM

Hi @Nicok3

Firmware version 1.64 has been released for these MPPTs which might solve this issue (see also https://professional.victronenergy.com/news/detail/244/). This version is included in the latest VictronConnect. Have you perhaps already updated the firmware and if so, can you say whether this helps in the reported issue?

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Answer 6 · 2024-06-17T06:54:15Z

nicok3 answered · Jun 17 at 06:54 AM

Hi @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

I'll do the update on all MPPT to which I have access, I'll let you know if the problem happens again or not.

Regards,

Nicolas

2

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · 4 days ago

Hi @Nicok3

Did you indeed perform the update to v1.64 and did the problem occur again afterwards?

Regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

0 ·

nicok3 Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · 4 days ago

Hello Thiemo, I did the update and for the moment no problem occured again. I'll let you know.

0 ·

Answer 7 · 2024-06-24T13:40:33Z

hydrologik answered · Jun 24 at 01:40 PM

I just updated three 75/10s on Friday in this system to 1.64. One of them, the most problematic one, had locked up again prior to my arrival. The other two were running properly. I'll report back.

2 |3000

Attachments: Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

question