What's normal wattage to see in VictronConnect?

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Paul Green asked Feb 24, '19

What's normal wattage to see in VictronConnect?

My RV has 3-100 watt PV panels connected in parallel. This OEM system included Zamp panels, a Zamp 3-port wiring portal and a Zamp 30 amp PWM solar charge controller. Rather than add a 4th 100w panel I decided to increase the charging efficiency by replacing the PWM solar controller. I installed the Victron SmartSolar 100/30 controller today and everything seems to be working. However, the VictronConnect App is showing approx 30 to 35 watts of solar output on a Sunny south texas late Feb day at 3pm.

The Zamp PWM controller didn't provide Wattage info. Just before I replaced it (same day and time) I was seeing 13.2v and ~6.5 amps.

I'm aware that the Sun is not optimal this time of year and that this is probably a normal reading. My question is... what should I expect to see for output wattage? I know that the 300w rating of the PV panels is an optimal number and it is under very different conditions that the current conditions.

I'm not worried about it, or expecting anything like 300w - but what should I expect to see? Would 100w be a typical number for direct sun and non-tilted panels say on June 20th? Or is the watt output shown in the App normally just a small fraction of the capacity of the panels.

The App is showning ~22 volts, ~2 amps and ~35 watts.

Thanks for setting a newby straight.

smart solar set-up help

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Answer 1 · 2019-02-24T22:33:13Z

Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered · Feb 24, 2019 at 10:33 PM

Hello,

There are lots of things that could effect that number.

If you are worried that maybe things aren’t working 100%, perhaps post a screenshot of the history screen of the app and that should be enough to see if anything is out of the ordinary.

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Answer 2 · 2019-02-25T19:37:51Z

Paul Green answered · Feb 25, 2019 at 07:37 PM

Hi Guy,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I was worried things were not working correctly. Seeing only 10% of the total rated output worried me. However I see in today's history the peak has been 170w and I'm seeing over 100 watts intermittently now, so, I think everything is fine. I'll probably double check the panels and connections on the roof to be sure.

I asked the question because I've not seen any watt reading from the original Zamp PWM controller and wasn't sure what to expect.

I'd think that with 300w of panels I should pretty routinely see between 100 to 200 watts in the VictronConnect App.

The Victron MPPT controller is a VAST improvement over the stand Zamp product.

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boekel ♦ commented · Feb 25, 2019 at 09:07 PM

if you still have worries you could disconnect every panel (one by one) and see if it makes a difference, I've seen some crazy things on systems...(panels connected backwards..)

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Answer 3 · 2019-02-26T00:18:44Z

Bill answered · Feb 26, 2019 at 12:18 AM

They may be working correctly. What I found really matters is, how charged your batteries are. If they are in float already then you will see very little watts coming in from the panels and very little amps going into the batteries.

It was odd to me at first, I thought I had broke something when at 2pm my brand new 640 watts of panels were putting out 60 watts. But now when i discharge the batteries below 80% SOC I get to see 450-500 watts for a long time when the sun is not behind clouds. -Bill

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Answer 4 · 2019-02-26T18:38:43Z

Paul Green answered · Feb 26, 2019 at 06:38 PM

Thanks Big Bill. That makes sense especially since my batteries are at 100 SOC and I'm plugged into shore power right now. I know my inverter/charger takes a 4 hour break on charging when everything is fully charged and I'm starting to think that my solar panels are showing more wattage during that idle period.

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