I disabled the charger on my MPPT controller for about 6 day because I wanted to cycle the LIPO battery a bit. Reenabled charger and now panel is not showing any wattage/voltage. And battery monitor is not showing any charge. Been watching it for a week or so cause it’s been over cast here in Northern CA. Sun broke through today around noon and not a single watt/volt. Usually see something this time of year. Have checked the wiring on top and in camper every thing looks good. Fuse is good. I have a solar panel mounted on top of a pop up camper with MPPT wired up at time of manufacture. Have a heater in the camper that keeps temp at 50F. everything was working as usual before I disabled charging.
Did I mess something up by having the solar charger turned off? Only thing changed in setting was the charger enable.
You have no PV input voltage.
Even with the charger in ‘off’’ mode - which this one does not seem to be, this voltage is still reported - and should not be zero.
Check the PV input voltage with Muiltimeter. If this is zero, check the fuses and connections on the PV side.
if the fuses and connections seem good, disconnect the PV cables from the MPPT and measure again.
If you do have PV voltage on the cables, but this goes to zero when connected to the MPPT, check that the polarity is correct. If so, then measure the input current to the MPPT. If this is high, then the input over protection circuit is short. Make sure that you don’t exceed the 75V input.
If the input is short, then you can try to return the unit for warranty if less than 5 years old.
Most likely the PV is open circuit somewhere.
Thanks for the tips, its strange that this should occur after just disabling the charger. Im very basic when it comes to this stuff, I would want to check the PV voltage with fairly good sunlight right? and I just put the prob on the line as it’s connected to the controller. The sun is lower in the horizon and we’ve had a lot of overcasts days with highs in the 50s, do you think it just needs some strong sunlight to get things moving?
Hi, Strong light is not required for the test, but don’t expect the full working voltage or current.
Yes, the voltmeter, set to the 100V range can be used to probe the PV directly at the MPPT terminals.
Well… upon closer inspection I realized that there was not Positive input into the controller, found out the manufacturer uses a green wire for solar +; on first inspection, thought it was a loose ground but couldn’t see what it should attach to and was my next thing to look at. {Sorry my old eyes and brain. must have yanked it when I was rearraigning the area.} So plugged in the green wire and I’m now getting voltage. Really appreciate your input! learned a couple things
