MPPT 150/60 + multiplus II GX 5000 : not charging suddenly while switching to absorption mode

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puech-antoine asked Jan 4, '21

MPPT 150/60 + multiplus II GX 5000 : not charging suddenly while switching to absorption mode

Good afternoon,

I wish people reading an happy new hear, wishing you all the best, sunny days and success in your projects.

Since 11:52 am my solar installation stopped charging my batteries.

I checked remotly my installation as I wasn't at home and I noticed the PV charger was missing on the VRM online display.

My batteries stopped charging at 11:52 exactly when the installation switched from bulk to absoprtion mode.

before I had this view :

since this morning I have that one : chargeur PV is missing

when I look the graphs : the PV yield stops at 11:51 this morning

It matches with the end of bulk step and begin of absorption step

When I came back home (at night), I noticed the bulk led of the MPPT is blinking in blue on every 4 seconds

I check the PV field fuses, I even removed them all , i tryed to re search the MPPT charge controller via multiplus interface, and restarted the software in the multiplus interface. I also removed and plugged again the ve direct cable from multiplus and from MPPt solar charger... nothing managed to find again the standard display.

Note my intallation is around 7 months old, it works fine until today while I was away from home...

I am very afraid to kill my batteries.

What do you think I can do to solve this issue?

2 months ago, I changed my internet provider box, since then I cannot manage to get Lan connection, I only managed to setup wifi connection between multiplus and internet box. When I plug the cable the IP connection is on and off every seconds (when I do ping muliplus.IP. adress -t, I get 5 times ok, then 10 times tiemout, then 1 time ok, then 5 times out... not sure there is a link but maybe the communication interface has a failure and finished its life at 11:52.

Thank you again for your support : I am looking for a solution even to protect my batteries if I need to buy a need charge controller ( how can I charge them and switch off the installation until I receive the new MPPT charger) or a better solution : manage to recover the MPPT solar charger function.

Thank you for reading,

Antoine

Multiplus-II MPPT Controllers Venus OS

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Answer 1 · 2021-01-06T11:05:51Z

Peter Buijs - NL answered · Jan 06, 2021 at 11:05 AM

What does VictronConnect BlueTooth connection tell you about the status of MPPT 150/60?

The hardwired LAN connection seems to have a problem, did you use a home made cable?

Or just check with a laptop on the Multiplus side of the cable to ping the Internet or the router itself.

And with the laptop from the router side of the cable to the Multiplus.

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puech-antoine commented · Jan 09, 2021 at 09:03 AM

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your answer.

I checked all. the Lan cables are form a shop ( no home made)

I send full feedback of what I did.

thank you

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Answer 2 · 2021-01-06T15:49:08Z

michelg answered · Jan 06, 2021 at 03:49 PM

Hi Antoine, could you make a copy of the graphic Voltage / Amp coming from the PV array to the MPPT ? I am afraid your setup went over 145V-150V and did damage the MPPT. That could be the issue. When it is really cold, the PV panels give more voltage than expected, and if they are in serie, this may have damaged the MPPT.

Thanks,

Michel

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puech-antoine commented · Jan 09, 2021 at 09:01 AM

Hi Michelg,

Thank you for your answer

see the graph.. I'll send more feeback today

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v-c.jpg (27.9 KiB)

seb71 puech-antoine commented · Jan 09, 2021 at 09:30 AM

He asked for the Solar Charger PV Voltage and Current graph.

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puech-antoine seb71 commented · Jan 09, 2021 at 11:39 AM

Hi Seb,

thank you for your feedback.

You're right, find this graph here .

I built my solar installation like 7 strings of 4 solar panels :

8A / 26V /panels

8 * 7 = 56A

30 * 4 = 120V

8 panels are on the other side of the roof = north west orientation

20 panels are on south east orientation.

I don't think they can produce more than 60 A as the orientation is not perfect and the yield will never reach 100%

Regards,

Antoine

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solar-graph.jpg (34.2 KiB)

seb71 puech-antoine commented · Jan 09, 2021 at 11:59 AM

The resason he asked for the PV graph was to check the array voltage values. From what can be seen in your graph, the array voltage is under 120V, so it is safe for the 150/60 solar charger.

The 60A (from the 150/60 name) is the maximum current with which the solar charger can charge the battery. Not the maximum current the solar charger can take from the PV array.

All PV panels connected to a certain solar charger should have the same orientation. You should separate the panels in two arrays (one for NW panels, one for SE panels), each array with its own solar charger. You have to many panels on that 150/60 solar charger anyway (~5.8kWp).

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Answer 3 · 2021-01-09T09:22:15Z

Dear victron community,

Thank you Peter and Michel for your answers. I felt quite alone and finally found a very great support at ERM energies (my material supplyer). Thank you all,

Finally, the PV screen came back the next day, seems this came back as the multiplus made an auto recharge of the batteries. no more explanations about this.

By the way I did a full switch off, wait 5 minutes and a full switch on the 6th evening.

I have no explanation why the charger PV box display desapeared from the monitoring.

About the LAN connection, I made several tries, i did all upadtes availables as 2.62 -7 :

Finally,

- when the multiplus is linked by RJ45 to my orange livebox 5 = > nok, no good link, the IP adresse is unstable.

- when the multiplus is linked by rj45 to a switch linked to the live box ==> ok

I noticed without a switch between multiplus and livebox, IPv6 adress is not applyed, but with the switch in between it is applyed.

I notices, if i switch off IPv6 function in my live box, the issue is the same : if no switch between multiplus and livebox = unstable connection. At the end, not sur IPV6 has something to do, but as I didn't tryed a switch in between the devices before updating to v2.62-7, I can't say...

Does Victron team can check why I need to put a switch between an "orange live box 5" and the multiplus to get an IP adress ok ?

I am ready to send feebacks, logs wathever could help to solve this misfunction.

Regards,

Antoine

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