washing machine and sander / juicer now pulsing and working every other second?

[dark86]

hi there,

new system of:

2 x 145w 12v solar panels, 30a MPPT regulator, and a EC500s inverter, all works great - batteries always at 14.50 all day pretty much and go down at night to around 12.90.

All laptops and lights ok - but we tried the waching machine and it doesnt spin and makes a pulsing noise, and the sander tool works everyother second.

This is strange as the washing machine and sander has worked ok on this inverter before (with rubbish panels and rubbish regulator on sunny days).

On my regulator the solar input light is flickering green - not sure if this is normal? the manual says nothing. Maybe the batteries are full, and the green flicker is the panels giving more to battery > then waiting till a drop for space to give to.

Any ideas? the inverter seems a decent one so am confused... http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/5...-offenen-Enden

Best regards to all.

[SunEagle]

hi there,

new system of:

2 x 145w 12v solar panels, 30a MPPT regulator, and a EC500s inverter, all works great - batteries always at 14.50 all day pretty much and go down at night to around 12.90.

All laptops and lights ok - but we tried the waching machine and it doesnt spin and makes a pulsing noise, and the sander tool works everyother second.

This is strange as the washing machine and sander has worked ok on this inverter before (with rubbish panels and rubbish regulator on sunny days).

On my regulator the solar input light is flickering green - not sure if this is normal? the manual says nothing. Maybe the batteries are full, and the green flicker is the panels giving more to battery > then waiting till a drop for space to give to.

Any ideas? the inverter seems a decent one so am confused... http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/5...-offenen-Enden

Best regards to all.

Sorry for your issue. It is hard to help determine the problem without more information. What is the make and model of your MPPT regulator, battery bank data and an English version of your inverter along with how you wired your 12volt solar panels to your regulator would be helpful to understand the system.

My guess is that your new regulator has certain parameters that are being reached when you turn on a large electrical load like the washing machine and is momentarily shutting down. Your old regulator did not have these parameters so it ignored the power quality change.

It could be due to inrush amperage or harmonic distortion but I am just guessing.

[dark86]

Thanks so much for the reply....more info:

As the sun went down the system "calmed a little" and the green light on the reg stopped flashing and the washing machine worked perfect.

It seems in the full sun the batteries are completely full and the regulator is working super hard.....and not letting "constant flow" from the solar.....but this doesn't explain why the inverter would create/allow only an intermitent pulse?

30a Regulator pic is here...

http://www.aybsz.com/index.php?f=aW1nL0UzQzAyNS1FLmpwZw%3D%3D&u=c2hvcDI5MDMw

30a Regulator tech info here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261441599357?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Panels are in parallel = 12v, 290w.

2x Batteries are here and linked up to act as "one battery."

http://www.solarmegastore.es/en/formula-star-fs155-solar-12v-155ah-battery.html

Inverter in English is here....(the top one 500w).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BEREL-Inverter-EC-500-12/dp/B003A69YSU#productDetails

[SunEagle]

Thanks so much for the reply....more info:

As the sun went down the system "calmed a little" and the green light on the reg stopped flashing and the washing machine worked perfect.

It seems in the full sun the batteries are completely full and the regulator is working super hard.....and not letting "constant flow" from the solar.....but this doesn't explain why the inverter would create/allow only an intermitent pulse?

30a Regulator pic is here...

http://www.aybsz.com/index.php?f=aW1nL0UzQzAyNS1FLmpwZw%3D%3D&u=c2hvcDI5MDMw

30a Regulator tech info here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261441599357?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Panels are in parallel = 12v, 290w.

2x Batteries are here and linked up to act as "one battery."

http://www.solarmegastore.es/en/formula-star-fs155-solar-12v-155ah-battery.html

Inverter in English is here....(the top one 500w).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BEREL-Invert...productDetails

First based on what you have provided I will first tell you that your CMTPO2 regulator is not really an MPPT type so it is really only using about 67% of your panel wattage or about 194 watts which is not a reason for your issue but may be a problem with charging your batteries back to full when you get less sun.

Now that you have mentioned that everything is working when the sun has gone down that tells me it is not your batteries or inverter. While I think it is your regulator I can't figure out how it is causing a power disruption to your washer.

It is possible that the starting current of your washing machine may briefly cause the inverter to max out which then puts a big drain on your batteries that may then cause the regulator to see a "low battery voltage" and shut it down. But the regulator doesn't control the inverter or batteries so it shouldn't bother the washer. The only "load" the regulator controls is what is connected to those + & - terminals on either side of that "lamp". Those should only be used for low wattage lights and not be used for large wattage loads like your washer. So hopefully you have nothing wired to those terminals.

So either that CMTPO2 regulator is bad or your circuit wiring has somehow allowed that regulator to take control of your inverter if one of it's safety parameters like (low battery voltage or max load current) is seen then the regulator shuts down.

Again I am just guessing without knowing more about the regulator (since the manual does not give a possible reason for your issue) or your system wiring.

If your washer didn't run without the regulator I would think that your batteries may be going bad and can no longer support big loads when they start. But as you have stated that is not the case.

[dark86]

First based on what you have provided I will first tell you that your CMTPO2 regulator is not really an MPPT type so it is really only using about 67% of your panel wattage or about 194 watts which is not a reason for your issue but may be a problem with charging your batteries back to full when you get less sun.

Now that you have mentioned that everything is working when the sun has gone down that tells me it is not your batteries or inverter. While I think it is your regulator I can't figure out how it is causing a power disruption to your washer.

It is possible that the starting current of your washing machine may briefly cause the inverter to max out which then puts a big drain on your batteries that may then cause the regulator to see a "low battery voltage" and shut it down. But the regulator doesn't control the inverter or batteries so it shouldn't bother the washer. The only "load" the regulator controls is what is connected to those + & - terminals on either side of that "lamp". Those should only be used for low wattage lights and not be used for large wattage loads like your washer. So hopefully you have nothing wired to those terminals.

So either that CMTPO2 regulator is bad or your circuit wiring has somehow allowed that regulator to take control of your inverter if one of it's safety parameters like (low battery voltage or max load current) is seen then the regulator shuts down.

Again I am just guessing without knowing more about the regulator (since the manual does not give a possible reason for your issue) or your system wiring.

If your washer didn't run without the regulator I would think that your batteries may be going bad and can no longer support big loads when they start. But as you have stated that is not the case.

thank for that.

I think you're right - the batteries get super full - then the regulator is controlling the inverter and giving it intermitent power.

today bigger problem - the batteries got full to 14.5v and now even light bulbs and laptop power is pulsing.....eek.

i suppose in the morning i need to eat some of the battery load so they never get "super full" later in the day - with a juicer or doing wasing.

[SunEagle]

thank for that.

I think you're right - the batteries get super full - then the regulator is controlling the inverter and giving it intermitent power.

today bigger problem - the batteries got full to 14.5v and now even light bulbs and laptop power is pulsing.....eek.

i suppose in the morning i need to eat some of the battery load so they never get "super full" later in the day - with a juicer or doing wasing.

Must be some type of conflict between the regulator and inverter. I do not believe it has to do with your batteries being too full.

When the batteries get full and the sun keeps shining the regulator should stop charging. That is a normal function of a CC.

An inverter usually shuts down when the battery voltage gets too low but not too high. So I don't understand why the inverter is having an issue when the batteries are full.

There must be something the regulator is doing (like continuing to charge the battery) which is affecting the inverter in some way. I have not see an inverter that shuts down when the battery voltage is too high so maybe there is another parameter in the inverter that is being exceeded because the regulator is still charging even if the batteries are full. It is still a mystery to me. Do you have any other literature on that inverter?

I did go back and look at that Amazon listing. The inverter does have an input voltage range of 10.5 to 15.5vdc so it could be shutting down due to high input voltage. I don't know how that is happening since the regulator should stop charging when the batteries are full. The problem may still be with the regulator.

[Sunking]

You are chasing a ghost. Problem is not the panels, charge controller, or batteries. Its your inverter. Replace it.

[dark86]

You are chasing a ghost. Problem is not the panels, charge controller, or batteries. Its your inverter. Replace it.

I can see why you say this, but:

* Inverter is ok when batteries not full (and its german, and german things don't break )
* The only place I can see any error is on the regulator's "panels-in led" - which flashes green when batteries full - so surely the regulator is not "allowing" more power from the panels.

What rings true is that the regulator is poor (china, cheap on ebay, not true mppt according to above poster) and is taking over the inverter when "bypassing the batteries as they are full" .....but, i'm no expert.

[SunEagle]

You are chasing a ghost. Problem is not the panels, charge controller, or batteries. Its your inverter. Replace it.

I would have also thought that but he can run his loads with just the inverter and batteries so there has to be some link between the charge controller (when it is running) and the inverter. I just don't know what it is without more inverter specifications or wiring details.

[inetdog]

One possibility to explore is that if the CC is actually working in dump mode (shorting out the batteries via PWM to prevent overvoltage rather than cutting back the panel output) it could be dropping the battery terminal voltage below the low voltage cutoff threshold of the inverter during each pulse. This would probably also depend on some problems with the way the CC inverter and battery are wired, but seems a strong possibility.
Make sure that the CC and the inverter are both connected directly to the battery terminals, and make sure that the CC is not set up as a shunt type controller.
Putting an AC voltmeter and/or a scope on the input terminals of the inverter should allow you to check this out.

If the CC is connected directly to the input terminals of the inverter and then a length of wire goes from there to the battery, I would give it a 95% chance of being the right explanation.

According to the tech data you linked, the green LED flashing indicates that the LOAD output of the CC is pulsing on and off. That is NOT what you should ever see during charging, and indicates that the CC is defective or that you have connected the inverter or some other large load to the LOAD terminals of the CC.
The LED that flashes during absorb stage of charging should be the RED one.

[SunEagle]

According to the tech data you linked, the green LED flashing indicates that the LOAD output of the CC is pulsing on and off. That is NOT what you should ever see during charging, and indicates that the CC is defective or that you have connected the inverter or some other large load to the LOAD terminals of the CC.
The LED that flashes during absorb stage of charging should be the RED one.

I missed that explanation with the green "load" light.

Like you I believe there is an issue with the CC or a wiring issue between the CC and the inverter which may be the OP using the "load" terminals.

I tried to explain to him in an earlier post that he shouldn't use those except for low wattage lights but I now think he has somehow wire the CC to the inverter that way.