Solar Controller Question for Newby

[ab56452001]

Hi all , Allan from OZ here . I have for about a year powered my Shed with 4 - 150ah no name AGM Batteries, running 4 - 300w Ebay Panels through Charge Controllers that came with the Panels , all this in Parallel . Up till now its worked great using a n Ebay 1500psw Inverter . This week i decided to add an additional 300w Panel/Controller , overkill ? probably !. Now ive hooked up the controller like the others B01 , 14/4v bulk charge , no load setting. I checked the Panel 22 volts , ok , but the controller does not seem to be running and putting out 3.5volts or thereabouts , is something wrong or does the Controller need time to adjust itself ? , by the way all other Controllers seem to be doing ok , at sit at 13,9-14,0 trickle charge and same for the batteries ,,,,, Cheers ,

 

[sunshine_eggo]

1500W / 12V = 125A

Many AGM are tolerant of up to 0.2C charge rates, so 120A. Given that panels rarely put out max, I don't see any issues, but you should check with your battery to confirm rated charge current. Worth checking your battery is rated for that.

Based on the lack of model information provided, the described outlier behavior, it sounds like you have a defective controller.

 

[ab56452001]

Thanks for reply , you are probably correct . Ive orderred a new 100amp controller that i plan on joining all 5 Panels to , might make things easier 2 wires going to the Batteries instead of 10 ! , mind you its worked ok so far . By the way , when i went through the Controllers settings i noticed Load on and of were set up at around 27 and 23 volts , this seems to be set up for 24v , could this be my problem ? , thanks ,

 

[pollenface]

They are very cheap pwm controllers which come with those panels.

You should always connect the battery to the controller first so that it can detect the battery voltage.

 

[ab56452001]

Yep , and i reckon 1 of the Battery connections may have slipped out , could of damaged the unit , thanks ,

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Thanks for reply , you are probably correct . Ive orderred a new 100amp controller that i plan on joining all 5 Panels to , might make things easier 2 wires going to the Batteries instead of 10 ! , mind you its worked ok so far . By the way , when i went through the Controllers settings i noticed Load on and of were set up at around 27 and 23 volts , this seems to be set up for 24v , could this be my problem ? , thanks ,

Yep.

 

[ab56452001]

Gee , just dug out an old 10a/30v controller set to b01 , and all good ! , sorry for being a Pest , but i didnt think the new controller was damaged by me , or Faulty from the Supplier , cheers ,