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  • Batteries not fully charging

    We have been on solar for just over a year now and have had no real problems until Dec when it got cloudy for a couple of weeks. I have a generator hooked into my system and run it when needed to keep the batteries charged. I check the acid level once a month and add water when needed. My batteries have site windows that are green when the batteries are charged and clear when not. Around the beginning of Dec I had one batter where the negative cable connects to the inverter that stopped showing green. I checked the SG on the battery and it was reading 1.22 on one cell and 1.18 on another. I ran the generator, and ran equalize but it would not charge up. On the advice of someone else on solar I changed the order of my batteries but that did not help and other batteries started losing the green light. The SG readings were anywhere from 1.18 to 1.24 across the string. I always start the equalize from the charge controller but was told to start it on the inverter once the batteries were in float. I ran the generator for 3 hours until the sun was full on my panels with equalize on for about an hour and a 1/2. I now have 5 green lights and SG reading of 1.22-1.24 randomly selected batteries and cells. The day was sunny and my charge controller said resting the rest of the day with the inverter saying Inverting 62 volts. It is like the inverter or charge controller are preventing the batteries from charging up all the way. With the generator running the system will be in bulk for less then and hour, then absorb for about and hour then go to float. I have the EQ set to 62.2, the Absorb set to 59.2, the float set to 58. As soon as the sun sets the charge controller reads 49.4 or 49.2 and by morning is down to 48.3. How can I get the batteries to fully charge and my SG reading back to 1.26? My system has been up and running since Jan 1st 2017. I plan on adding more panels this year but hope I dont have to buy more batteries.

    3 Rec 280 solar panels, 3 Q-Cell 280 solar panels, 8 Crown 6V Flooded - 395Ah Battery L16 wired in series for 48 volt, Midnight classic 150, Magnum 4400W 48V Parallel Inverter, Magnum Mini Panel 175A 30D.

  • #2
    So what is the problem? You got what you designed it to do, fail.

    Minimum panel wattage for 48 volt 395 AH battery is 2000 watts. 3000 watts is ideal. Secondly it is impossible to EQ batteries on solar as it takes up to 24 hours on a generator. So go get some fuel and start running the generator and run it until Specific Gravity quits rising. Set EQ voltage for 64 volts or as high as your charger will go. Save your coins and buy 3 more panels and hope you did not destroy your batteries. Even at 2000 watts may not be enough panel wattage.

    What you failed to do is calculate your daily Watt Hours and use worse case Sun Conditions of winter months of December, January, and February.
    MSEE, PE

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    • #3
      When running the generator the system goes to Float after a couple of hours. Float is not charging right? How do I make the inverter or charge controller keep charging?

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Smiddyt View Post
        When running the generator the system goes to Float after a couple of hours. Float is not charging right? How do I make the inverter or charge controller keep charging?
        Increase the float voltage setting to be the same as the charge voltage. If you get fully charged and want to truly float, drop the voltage back down.
        CS6P-260P/SE3000 - http://tiny.cc/ed5ozx

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Smiddyt View Post
          When running the generator the system goes to Float after a couple of hours. Float is not charging right? How do I make the inverter or charge controller keep charging?
          Turn the voltage up to 64 volts.

          MSEE, PE

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          • #6
            Increase the BULK, ABSORB and FLOAT voltages to what you expect the proper EQ voltage to be. Limit your loads, and let the solar EQ the set in a couple days, or bulk them up in the mornings with the generator, and let solar finish it.

            When you do an EQ manually, you have to watch and check the batteries every 30 minutes
            Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
            || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
            || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

            solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
            gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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            • #7
              Hello,

              I have a similar situation and had some good email exchanges with Rolls today. I have 8 x 428Ah S550 batteries wired in series, 48V system, plenty of PV (about 7KW), 2 beefy 600V/80A charge controllers, an 7KW inverter and a generator. The system has been online since September of last year.

              The problem I have is that I wasn't really able to get the SG greater than 1.225 - which based on Rolls's feedback, tells the batteries are sulfated to about 60% capacity.

              The problem comes from various settings mainly from the charge controllers. By default, they set a maximum exit current at 2% of Ah battery capacity, which I set to 428Ah. So the exit current from absorb to float is 8.56A, when reached for 1 minute OR 3 hours of max absorb time - the first being reached wins and stops the absorb process. That's not good from Roll's expert. The exit current should be 1% so the batteries should spend much more time in absorb than the default Schneider settings. Increasing the max absorb time can mitigate this, but not necessarily if you hit the exit current quickly.

              The exit current cannot be changed - it can either be disabled (so you rely only on max absorb time) or you can trick the charge controller by setting the Ah of your batteries to half of their capacity.

              Rolls suggested to put these settings in place and wait for the SG to slowly come up. The expert said it could take 3 to 5 months for the batteries to fully recover.

              Hope this can help some folks!

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              • #8
                Its been a rough month. My generator started popping the fuse on the front of it. I thought maybe my 10 gauge cable had gotten wet or the plugs wires had come lose. My generator had gotten wet in a storm as well. I took the generator apart and replaced the plugs, I put new plugs on the ends of my 10 gauge cable. Kept popping fuses until I remembered that I had changed the charge rate from 50 to 100 when I changed the Absorb, equalize, and float all to 64. I changed the charge rate back to 50 and it stopped popping fuses. Then my propane generator stopped working and I found a rubber hose has a crack in it. Replaced that and then noticed my Midnight Classic 150 charge controller would go to resting with the generator running. After research I found that the Absorb, Equalize, and Float on the Classic have to be set the same as the Magnum 4400 inverter.

                We have had a few days of sun but I am still getting 1.22-1.24 on all of my batteries. When the sun is hitting the panels I can hear the acid in the batteries bubbling and I have had to add water so I changed my setting to 62 instead of 64. I ordered 6 more 300 W panels and they are supposed to be here by the end of the week so hopefully things will be better after that.

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                • #9
                  On my end things are better now. After adjusting the battery's AH capacity (since the 2% exit current can't be changed) to 50% of my actual capacity, the gravity has increased to 1.25-1.26 and the batteries are "much healthy and happy".

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                  • #10
                    Site wont let me post (no permission?). So, I'll try and hijack this post. I have a huge issue with my batteries. I have a 24v system with 10 12v bats. The internal bank (in the box) is 4 batteries and there are 6 outside. The outside 6 were wired in series by the installer. I had a crazy problem where 1/2 of the batteries would discharge at night for example the batteries on the right side would be 12.8v in the morning and the ones on the left 10.5v.. I disconnected all of the batteries and found one would not charge. I replaced it. But, the problem persists. I have moved a 'good' battery from one side of the bank to the other and in the morning it is also dead in the 10.5v range. What in the world could be causing this?? Bad cable, bad cell, could it be the inverter?? Please help.
                    Last edited by douglasjett; 01-30-2018, 12:03 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by douglasjett View Post
                      Site wont let me post (no permission?). So, I'll try and hijack this post. I have a huge issue with my batteries. I have a 24v system with 10 12v bats. The internal bank (in the box) is 4 batteries and there are 6 outside. The outside 6 were wired in series by the installer. I had a crazy problem where 1/2 of the batteries would discharge at night for example the batteries on the right side would be 12.8v in the morning and the ones on the left 10.5v.. I disconnected all of the batteries and found one would not charge. I replaced it. But, the problem persisted. I have now wired the external 6 batteries in parallel. Same thing is happening!!!! In the morning or under load one of the pairs will be good at 12.x v and the other will draw down to 10.x... What in the world can this be??
                      Batteries in parallel is BAD situation. 5 parallel batteries is asking for trouble. Some things in the following link can be done to solve SOME of the issues, but you are still only trying to polish a t**d.
                      http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html

                      Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
                      || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
                      || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

                      solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
                      gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

                      Comment

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