Batter over-discharged, what does this mean?

[cyras21]

thanks. the greater the number of watts per panel then then fewer hours of sunlight is required correct. I'm thinking of getting 2 more panels so I'll have 4 total 2 panels in series and 2 series in parallel or is this over kill?

[inetdog]

thanks. the greater the number of watts per panel then then fewer hours of sunlight is required correct. I'm thinking of getting 2 more panels so I'll have 4 total 2 panels in series and 2 series in parallel or is this over kill?

The greater the number of watts total over all of the panels, the fewer hours of sunlight are required, but the first step is to get a ballpark figure on how long the motor runs per opening or closing cycle and how many cycles you expect per day, separating out those that occur between evening and morning and so will have to be supplied purely by the batteries.

To put it into a couple of formulas:

Motor watts times minutes per cycle times number of cycles divided by 60 is the number of watt hours required.
That number must be less than the watt hour capacity of the combined batteries.
And the solar energy available, as found from total panel wattage time number of equivalent full sun hours time, say .5 for efficiencies must be bigger than the first number if you are expecting the batteries to recharge fully each day.

[cyras21]

The greater the number of watts total over all of the panels, the fewer hours of sunlight are required, but the first step is to get a ballpark figure on how long the motor runs per opening or closing cycle and how many cycles you expect per day, separating out those that occur between evening and morning and so will have to be supplied purely by the batteries.

To put it into a couple of formulas:

Motor watts times minutes per cycle times number of cycles divided by 60 is the number of watt hours required.
That number must be less than the watt hour capacity of the combined batteries.
And the solar energy available, as found from total panel wattage time number of equivalent full sun hours time, say .5 for efficiencies must be bigger than the first number if you are expecting the batteries to recharge fully each day.

Motor watts (160) x minutes per cycle (1.5) x # of cycles (4) / 60 = 16

So my 2 panels wired correctly is enough. Thanks again.

[inetdog]

Motor watts (160) x minutes per cycle (1.5) x # of cycles (4) / 60 = 16

So my 2 panels wired correctly is enough. Thanks again.

You are welcome.

[mbrantley1]

Help me out here guys

I've got an aleko gate opener that I'm trying to hook up to a 30w solar panel. Two 12v batteries hooked up in series. Everything is run through the LM 118 solar charge controller, just like it shows in the diagram. I had everything hooked up, and it was charging fine. I unhooked the jumper wire between the two batteries. Then unhooked it from the mother board. Then I plugged it back up so that it would charge without having the operator hooked up. This time both the charge light and the over- discharge light were on. I hooked it back up to the control panel, but both lights were still on. All this time, I'm getting nothing to the motherboard. I called customer service and they told me to take the batteries home and charge them. They said the control board won't light up unless it's getting 24v or better. So I did, and when I came back I hooked everything back up, and within three seconds of hooking the two batteries back in series, the solar charge controller popped and started smoking. I know this is screaming that my polarity is reversed somewhere, but I've checked it 10 times, and unless something is labeled wrong, I've got that right. Any help is greatly appreciated

[inetdog]

I've got an aleko gate opener that I'm trying to hook up to a 30w solar panel. Two 12v batteries hooked up in series. Everything is run through the LM 118 solar charge controller, just like it shows in the diagram. I had everything hooked up, and it was charging fine. I unhooked the jumper wire between the two batteries. Then unhooked it from the mother board. Then I plugged it back up so that it would charge without having the operator hooked up. This time both the charge light and the over- discharge light were on. I hooked it back up to the control panel, but both lights were still on. All this time, I'm getting nothing to the motherboard. I called customer service and they told me to take the batteries home and charge them. They said the control board won't light up unless it's getting 24v or better. So I did, and when I came back I hooked everything back up, and within three seconds of hooking the two batteries back in series, the solar charge controller popped and started smoking. I know this is screaming that my polarity is reversed somewhere, but I've checked it 10 times, and unless something is labeled wrong, I've got that right. Any help is greatly appreciated

The first thing that comes to mind is that if your CC is like most I have seen, it needs to be connected to the batteries before the panels are attached. Otherwise it may not reset correctly.
And any CC that auto-detects the battery bank voltage is particularly subject to damage if connected in the wrong order.
If the CC is expecting a 12V battery and you connect to 24V without going through a proper reset sequence, almost anything could happen.

There are some CC types that "dump" excess panel power by shorting the panels out instead of blocking the power at the panels. If such a dump controller were attached to a battery bank which is higher voltage than it is programmed for, it might try to "dump" the entire battery instead.

Once the magic smoke has escaped, chances are that the CC is toast and will have to be repaired or replaced.
You may be able to use a general purpose PWM CC rather than the one supplied with the gate opener.

[mbrantley1]

The first thing that comes to mind is that if your CC is like most I have seen, it needs to be connected to the batteries before the panels are attached. Otherwise it may not reset correctly.
And any CC that auto-detects the battery bank voltage is particularly subject to damage if connected in the wrong order.
If the CC is expecting a 12V battery and you connect to 24V without going through a proper reset sequence, almost anything could happen.

There are some CC types that "dump" excess panel power by shorting the panels out instead of blocking the power at the panels. If such a dump controller were attached to a battery bank which is higher voltage than it is programmed for, it might try to "dump" the entire battery instead.

Once the magic smoke has escaped, chances are that the CC is toast and will have to be repaired or replaced.
You may be able to use a general purpose PWM CC rather than the one supplied with the gate opener.

Thanks man. I've got a new one on the way, so we will see

[Watts up]

solar controller

Aleko has a 12 volt controller. But for a gate opener you need a 24 volt system so you need to get another battery. I have had my Aleko LM118 replaced 3 times. That means every time they send me one I have been hooking it up and they have not been working. So I have triple checked my wiring, System worked for about 6 months perfect. But I have had no luck getting one to work sense. You have to hook the battery first, then I have been getting both lights on meaning a over discharge. before hooking anything else up I test to see if I get a load out (to control panel) no power coming out of controller. This I have done over and over.I call the place where I bought the system they send me a new one. Now i'm on 4. So before I hook this one up. I test with a old pair of batteries 23.4 volts. Soon as I hook it up to the battery one light comes on GREAT check the load side, presto I got power.So out to the gates I go hook up the battery to the controller bang 2 lights so I do my next test. Load test 0 So now I check my batteries for voltage 24.8. I'm thinking maybe that's to much for the controller so I run the gates to run the batteries down some. Control panel has a terminal for the bat and solar. Then I go through the steps again. No luck. Bring the controller back in the house to test on the other batteries Again now I'm back to square one with no power at the load. I have left the controller on the old batteries to see if it might kick back on. ANYBODY got anything to say ??
Sorry for the long spill, tried to cove everything Thanks