question

travlinroy avatar image
travlinroy asked

2x 200 watt panels only output 5 amps, either one by itself will putout over 10 amps

I had one gopower 190 watt panel, the victron 100/30. It would regularly show 190 watts, up to 19 volts and close to 10 amps. After adding a Renogy 200 watt panel, the victron shows about the same watts, 38+ volts, but max I've seen has been 5 amps.

I tested each panel by itself and each will be close to 10 amps from the panels, when I connect them in series I only get the ~5 amps max. with 38-40 volts. I switched the new extension cable to a known good cable with the same results. When I tested with the know good extension I bypassed the in roof wiring just to be sure it was not the issue.

I am charging a Renogy 100ah lithium that will accept the 10 amps from either panel.

I have also noticed that the solar input voltage and watts fluctuates constantly, I do not know if this is a new symptom or not. I have reset the controller to factory, completely disconnected it from power and batteries, nothing seems to change the behavior.

Any ideas of where to look for the issue, or how to test further?


thanks!

Roy

MPPT SmartSolar
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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ commented ·
Very simply looks like you can't pair those two panels.

Do they have different vocs and imps?

Other than a wiring connection problem like incompatible mc4 connectors (so not a good connection) or a diode problem.

Did you try them in parrallel not series?

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travlinroy avatar image travlinroy Alexandra ♦ commented ·
they are close -

gopower vs renogy

voc is 24.09 vs 23

imp is 9.54 vs 10.42

my first thought was wiring, but individually they work with the same wires, only together do they not produce as expected. I've not heard of the potential for panels to not be compatible, I thought as long as they were close I may loose a little from a higher producing panel...

I did not try parrallel, I will need to get the connectors for that.

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1 Answer
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pwfarnell answered ·

Is it a SmartSolar and if so do you have the "limit charge current" setting on the battery page as anything other than the default 30A as this would limit the output.

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travlinroy avatar image travlinroy commented ·
good question, but yes it is a smartsolar, and yes the max charge is set to 30 amps
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