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Built A tiny home, but it has solar issues

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  • Sdold

    for some reason your newest reply is not showing up, I saw one line of it in my email, but it’s not in the thread!

    also for EVERYONE heads up I disconnected all batteries today to prepare for travel (I have a tongue weight issue which I’ll resolve when I get to Utah) and reconnected them, my MPPT is giving a real weird readout now

    54B72FE3-660C-4FB1-8295-ABCD977A3B3A.jpeg

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    • Many controllers need to be connected to the battery first, then to the panels.

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      • Originally posted by sdold View Post
        Many controllers need to be connected to the battery first, then to the panels.
        Are you saying I fried something ? I will need to unhook them several times over the next few days , what’s the best way to do that?

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        • Originally posted by The_realTW View Post

          Are you saying I fried something ? I will need to unhook them several times over the next few days , what’s the best way to do that?
          I believe he is saying that if you disconnect your equipment make sure you first connect the CC to the battery before you connect your panels. That allows the CC to know what the battery voltage is and set up for the correct charging parameters before it gets anything from the panels.

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          • Even though you don’t need a circuit breaker for the panels you have, using one to quick disconnect when working on your system comes in handy. Just get one rated DC for your panels voltage and amperage also rated for constant disconnect.

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            • Hey everyone , good morning from insanely cold Nebraska, I am running on almost no solar power and the batteries are almost discharged.

              I cannot get the solar to give me more then 0-1 watts now.

              I tried unplugging the solar fuse (AKA the quick disconnect) which runs from the PV + line to the SCC, essentially shutting the panels off.

              I unhooked the + side of the power on the inverter, which comes and goes to the battery, and reset the default on the SCC,

              still no change in the panels readout, I’m going to try to physically pull the cable from the batteries on the outside of the tiny home and hook them back up after 5,minutes, then put the fuse back in for the panels.

              does this sound about right?

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              • Originally posted by The_realTW View Post
                Hey everyone , good morning from insanely cold Nebraska, I am running on almost no solar power and the batteries are almost discharged.

                I cannot get the solar to give me more then 0-1 watts now.

                I tried unplugging the solar fuse (AKA the quick disconnect) which runs from the PV + line to the SCC, essentially shutting the panels off.

                I unhooked the + side of the power on the inverter, which comes and goes to the battery, and reset the default on the SCC,

                still no change in the panels readout, I’m going to try to physically pull the cable from the batteries on the outside of the tiny home and hook them back up after 5,minutes, then put the fuse back in for the panels.

                does this sound about right?
                Sounds like a plan. My guess is one of you pieces of equipment (CC, wire connections, fuse, batteries, panels) may not be working correctly. Finding out what it is may be time consuming but hopefully you will get to the bottom of the issue.

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                • Originally posted by SunEagle View Post

                  Sounds like a plan. My guess is one of you pieces of equipment (CC, wire connections, fuse, batteries, panels) may not be working correctly. Finding out what it is may be time consuming but hopefully you will get to the bottom of the issue.
                  I’m not testing today lol I just need power, it’s 25 degrees here with 25 mph winds , I’m hunkering down today , I’m going to use the car as a generator for the batteries since I can’t get the PV panel to give me proper readout

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                  • Originally posted by The_realTW View Post

                    I’m not testing today lol I just need power, it’s 25 degrees here with 25 mph winds , I’m hunkering down today , I’m going to use the car as a generator for the batteries since I can’t get the PV panel to give me proper readout
                    Always good to have a second power supply. Which is why I also have a 5500 watt generator on my RV.

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                    • Hey everyone,

                      the sun is back sort of, I’m going to do a video walk through of my system for any who are interested, might help you spot some things. After all the trouble I have had here with uploading basic images, I’ll link it to my site. Hopefully it can help you all and me.

                      thanks I’ll post the link soon!

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                      • Here it is! I thank any and all in advance for watching the video, it’s my hope one day I can use solar the way it was intended. As I stated many times before I am absolutely willing to put in the work and the education to get this system working, whatever it takes!

                        thanks again

                        https://youtu.be/5t8D8g8hi-A

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                        • Here’s my comments. The most important is the last. The battery looks flooded lead acid to me.

                          Do you have a shunt? This measures power to the battery. The SCC only gives amps from the SCC, not how many are diverted to your equipment and how many are diverted to charge your battery. An improperly connected shunt would give bad battery charging rate. Moons is the first thing on the negative wire from the battery. Yours should be there if you have one

                          The equipment you have on the roof will shade the panel, perhaps half the day. I check my panels by putting them in sunshine and look at the battery monitor and when the shadow of my head goes on the panel, I lose 80% of the output. I don’t think you’ve got an amp meter to measure, but without one I’ll give you that for reference. I think you said the cable is tucked under the panel, but if it wasn’t that will seriously effect output.

                          For the charge cable on the roof, I’d zip tie that at at various places and secure it to the roof with cable holders with a peel off sticky on the back. Cleaning the surface is key to getting it stick, but if cleaning doesn’t work for me, I secure it with Dicor roofing tape.

                          I did not expect the 15 amp shore power plug to be-a female normal wall receptacle, but have honestly not seen a 15 amp receptacle before.

                          I would also wrap the battery cable with split wire loom from the battery, through the wall to just above where it enters the trailer. Gives it an extra bit of protection over the years so it does not wear through. In my RV, it is routed through electrical conduit.

                          I don’t know what SLD stands for, but your batteries to me look like flooded lead acid. It looks like you could unscrew the caps and add water. I tried looking it up online, but other than available at COSTCO, a quick search didn't say for sure. If they are FLA, they should never go below 50%. 15% to 20% daily kills them.

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                          • Chrisski, I’m going to get back to everything tomorrow but here is something I found in the MPPT manual

                            0F02C3B9-E60E-4E1D-8FE9-DB284BC7ACE5.jpeg

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                            • Sorry it has taken some time to get back, lots has been going on. Ill update you after I answer your questions.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              Here’s my comments. The most important is the last. The battery looks flooded lead acid to me.
                              It is Flooded lead acid, and I made the change in the SCC, no help there.


                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              Do you have a shunt? This measures power to the battery. The SCC only gives amps from the SCC, not how many are diverted to your equipment and how many are diverted to charge your battery. An improperly connected shunt would give bad battery charging rate.
                              There is a shunt in the chain, it is clearly shown in the video at 04:38, I do not know if it is hooked up correctly as Drew (the solar installer) hooked it up.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              Moons is the first thing on the negative wire from the battery. Yours should be there if you have one
                              I have been scratching my head trying to figure out what "moons" means, can you clarify.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              The equipment you have on the roof will shade the panel, perhaps half the day. I check my panels by putting them in sunshine and look at the battery monitor and when the shadow of my head goes on the panel, I lose 80% of the output. I don’t think you’ve got an amp meter to measure, but without one I’ll give you that for reference. I think you said the cable is tucked under the panel, but if it wasn’t that will seriously effect output.
                              I have purchased a new amp meter, see below in the update for a photo, I am unfamiliar with its exact functions however so I will need some help with that.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              For the charge cable on the roof, I’d zip tie that at at various places and secure it to the roof with cable holders with a peel off sticky on the back. Cleaning the surface is key to getting it stick, but if cleaning doesn’t work for me, I secure it with Dicor roofing tape.
                              I guess its not shown in the video, but that cable runs through a steel channel, it would be impossible and impractical to put anything more around it, there is only a 1 foot section between the end of conduit to the area where the grommet is for it to go inside.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              I did not expect the 15 amp shore power plug to be-a female normal wall receptacle, but have honestly not seen a 15 amp receptacle before.
                              We did that for ease of use, without any strange connectors being needed. The tiny home only has a 20 amp wiring and service so we used the 15 amp plug because the generator uses the same type of receptacle and also the generators MAX load is 16 amps.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              I would also wrap the battery cable with split wire loom from the battery, through the wall to just above where it enters the trailer. Gives it an extra bit of protection over the years so it does not wear through. In my RV, it is routed through electrical conduit.
                              I wanted to do that, so many things I wanted to do, and surprisingly that cable is holding up well, it is some of the thickest gauge cable I have ever seen, but yes it will be tended to in the future.

                              Originally posted by chrisski View Post
                              I don’t know what SLD stands for, but your batteries to me look like flooded lead acid. It looks like you could unscrew the caps and add water. I tried looking it up online, but other than available at COSTCO, a quick search didn't say for sure. If they are FLA, they should never go below 50%. 15% to 20% daily kills them.
                              A google search on Renogy's website reveals that SLD means "Sealed", I do believe they are FLA and are currently at 35% so yes I know its killing them. I am going to explain further below.

                              UPDATE 04/27/21

                              It has been a busy week and I wanted to update you all on what is going on with the solar.

                              First off I had an interesting conversation with Axiom Solar out of Vancouver, they sell the SCC that is in my system. Dave said he couldnt imagine a charging current of 0.04a or the controller always being in MPPT mode. To troubleshoot the system I have ordered a basic PWM controller for around 25 dollars that should allow us to test if that component is the cause of this issue. It will arrive tomorrow. Dave said that SCC should be giving off AT LEAST 25-30 amps to the battery, and receiving at least 300 watts and 30 volts from the panels. If I can solve the SCC issues I plan on buying 4 100 watt flexible panels and a 4 to 1 MC4 splitter that will run into a 3-1 splitter. This would give me about 800 watts (with line loss factored in) The four new panels would be portable and only out when I was stopped at a location. Again priority is to figure out the current issue first.

                              The solar panels are no longer sending any wattage to the SCC, it is unknown why this is. Last night I was awoken 4 times to alarms going off for LVDC , Currently it is partly cloudy but really WARM (81 in Nebraska) and the weather has done a complete 180 from last week.

                              I went out and purchased a Ames clamp meter (yes I know it is not a Klein or a Fluke) but I am not familiar at all with its operation. Also I purchased a "Kil a watt" plug which should help figure out the audit, my thought is if i plug everything into it for 1 hour, that should get me base usage, but I know that is jumping the gun.

                              So this is where I am at, here is a photo of the clamp meter and the kil a watt device, I would be happy to execute any tests you guys think are necessary, as soon as someone lets me know what they want to hear or need. I am available all day today to test.

                              let me know

                              thanks again!

                              IMG_8058.JPG

                              IMG_8057.JPG

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                              • UPDATE: Further information

                                Solar troubleshooting



                                Path to: pos-neg from solar mainline input from roof

                                Amps: .5DC

                                Volts: 19.8DC Consistent





                                Path to: right side negative shunt -right side 500A fuse block

                                Amps: .20 DC

                                Volts: 11.8 DC





                                Path to: Left side negative shunt - left side 500A fuse block

                                Amps: .38

                                Volts: 11.7 DC





                                Path to: Pos-neg inverter terminals

                                Amps: .32

                                Volts: 11.7 DC





                                Path to: inverter out to converter

                                Amps: variable

                                Volts: 122.2 AC





                                Path to: Battery pos from SCC - battery

                                Amps: N/A

                                Volts: N/A



                                There is no lead coming from Battery NEG on the SCC, therefore I was not able to test voltage to battery and honestly not sure how voltage is getting back to the batteries at all.



                                See photo

                                IMG_8062.JPG









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