Hi all, I live in West Africa way out in the jungle, working as a teacher. About 6 months ago I recieved a 120w 12v panel, a LD2420C charge controller, and a 12v 100Ah deep cycle gel battery from a friend who was going back to the states. She had them for about a year before I got them and used them the same way as I do: to charge a laptop with a 200w inverter, to run a few DC lights, and to charge a phone with a DC to usb car plug. It worked perfect for me for the first 5 months that I've had it (I could charge the laptop once a day and run the lights for an hour or so).
The problem started about a month ago - right around the time that the real dry season began. The PV voltage (as reported by the controller) runs to about 16v during the 8 hours of good sunlight and the battery voltage stays around 14v when there is no load connected. The controller reports that the battery is fully charged. Whenever I try to charge my laptop, it can charge for about 5 min before the controller cuts off the load due to low voltage (I have the controller set to not allow the battery to drop below 12v). About 30 min after the load is disconnected, the controller reads that the battery is full. I have let it sit for the past 3 weeks without connecting any load to it and it still does the same thing. I have checked all the connections and everything is fine. I have a suspicion that either the battery is at fault, but I find it strange that the change in operation happened pretty suddenly at the same time as a dramatic change in the intensity and length of sun hours.
Based on all this, what do you all think is the problem? I would appreciate any ideas for next steps and tests; this is my first solar setup. Thanks to you all!
The problem started about a month ago - right around the time that the real dry season began. The PV voltage (as reported by the controller) runs to about 16v during the 8 hours of good sunlight and the battery voltage stays around 14v when there is no load connected. The controller reports that the battery is fully charged. Whenever I try to charge my laptop, it can charge for about 5 min before the controller cuts off the load due to low voltage (I have the controller set to not allow the battery to drop below 12v). About 30 min after the load is disconnected, the controller reads that the battery is full. I have let it sit for the past 3 weeks without connecting any load to it and it still does the same thing. I have checked all the connections and everything is fine. I have a suspicion that either the battery is at fault, but I find it strange that the change in operation happened pretty suddenly at the same time as a dramatic change in the intensity and length of sun hours.
Based on all this, what do you all think is the problem? I would appreciate any ideas for next steps and tests; this is my first solar setup. Thanks to you all!
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