Is it the App or my panels not working

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tbarnes140 asked Jul 26, '21

Is it the App or my panels not working

Hi all, getting ready to go boondocking in 6 days and it seems new panels are not registering in the App. I have two 100W HQST panels and the 75/15 SmartSolar Controller. I have connected the panels in both parallel and series and still see a ZERO watts being received in the solar section at the top of the app for the controller. In series, I see 37.5V in the solar section down below and 0.0A. I see the voltage levels change in the solar voltage area a little as do the battery levels - but still a big zero in the top solar section.

Is this because the batteries (two 12V bank) are fully charged? Shouldn't the app at least tell me how many watts the panels are producing regardless?

battery charging VictronConnect

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Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 03:55 AM

Please make some screenshots of the app.

(Main screen, history and settings)

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2021-07-27T04:42:29Z

Kevin Windrem answered · Jul 27, 2021 at 04:42 AM

If your battery bank is fully charged and you have no loads on the system, there is no where for the solar energy to go. The result would be zero output reported from the panels.

The only way for the panels to produce power under these conditions would be to increase the load on the system.

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Answer 2 · 2021-07-27T05:47:01Z

tbarnes140 answered · Jul 27, 2021 at 05:47 AM

Here are screen shots... top pic is connected in series and the other is parallel.

img-1296.jpeg (201.8 KiB)

img-1297.jpeg (205.0 KiB)

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wkirby ♦♦ commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 07:05 AM

I have a suspicion that your battery is not connected to the MPPT, a bad connection or open fuse somewhere.

What happens during the night, does the battery Voltage show anything or does the MPPT turn off at night?

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tbarnes140 wkirby ♦♦ commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 09:44 PM

Thanks for the reply - I have not used the system yet. We are going for the first time Aug 2 so I do not know at night. I imagine if I hook up the system one more time and turn on some fans or a small appliance I will see some draw on the system and see if the watts crank up? I may bypass the "solar ready" plug the trailer came with and connect direct to the batteries and see how that works. Thoughts?

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Matthias Lange - DE ♦ tbarnes140 commented · Jul 28, 2021 at 03:49 AM

@TBarnes140

Just look (make a screenshot) at the history tab.

If the battery voltage goes down to 0V everyday there is a connection problem between the MPPT and the battery.

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