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diy solar

Help…error code 14

D

Dennis Marks

New old guy
Joined
Nov 1, 2023
Messages
11
Location
North Carolina
What a ride. Just trying to get into the solar world. This is my 2nd small unit. I have a Redodo 100ah battery, PWM ( brand name) charge controller and a 1100 watt JJN inverter. Running great until i decided to add a battery shut off switch and dropped nut that landed between the pos and negative connecting bars on back of inverter. Had to get screw driver to pry unstuck….(stupid rookie). Have taken the system completely down at least 5 times, left unconnected overnight and E14 looks back at me every time. HELP,
 
You think you are stupid, well then I know you know lots more than me about all this. Everyday I work on my solar unit, I am amazed at what I keep learning. From what I can find it says battery disconnection, in other words the battery is wired wrong. but it is not. Has worked great for several months until I dropped that d… nut! What gets me is the lights I run off this unit still work with no problem. I guess it is draining my battery. OK, now I am going to show you what a noob I am…it is a IIN, 30 amp controller. Don’ t you just love us new guys.
 
Dennis Marks said:
You think you are stupid, well then I know you know lots more than me about all this. Everyday I work on my solar unit, I am amazed at what I keep learning. From what I can find it says battery disconnection, in other words the battery is wired wrong. but it is not. Has worked great for several months until I dropped that d… nut! What gets me is the lights I run off this unit still work with no problem. I guess it is draining my battery. OK, now I am going to show you what a noob I am…it is a IIN, 30 amp controller. Don’ t you just love us new guys.
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Supposed to be JJN controller. Sorr.
 
uhm, does it list/have a fuse?

If the battery wires were off you would still have a rush of current from the capacitors. Could have blown a fuse (internal most likely) and now it doesn't see the battery.

If you have nothing to loose, check for the fuse with an external door and when you don't find it take the case off and look at whatever is close to the battery connections.
 
robbob2112 said:
uhm, does it list/have a fuse?

If the battery wires were off you would still have a rush of current from the capacitors. Could have blown a fuse (internal most likely) and now it doesn't see the battery.

If you have nothing to loose, check for the fuse with an external door and when you don't find it take the case off and look at whatever is close to the battery connections.
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No fuse found on external check. Will check inside. Thanks for info. May I ask a few more questions? My first small build was basically an oversized solar generator in an ammo can. Has worked great using it all day, every day, for over 2 years. This build I tried to upgrade some but how does one know what to buy? From reading, Victron is best, then Renology or Epever. How do you know what is the best bang for your buck. Even the PWM VS. MPPT discussions are contradictory. I sure have made a lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of money, but I HAVE learned a lot. Thanks again and I will keep reading, trying, and learning.
 
What to buy, there are quality mfg and some not so much. Renology is know for horrible customer service. And their stuff a lot of times lasts just long enough for the warranty to expire.
Victron is known to last but be impossible to repair the mppt because ot the potting compound used inside.

Mainly it comes down to buy quality once or buy cheap junk over and over. If you choose cheap stuff and run it near the limits it won't last long.

PWM works by turning on and off really fast so the apparent voltage at the battery is the charge voltage. It is not very efficient and leaves a lot of energy unused. It also only works with panels for the battery voltage but a bit higher. Typical '12 volt' panels put out about 18v. The upper limit in size for that is about 200watts. They are cheep because of low component count.

MPPT work as a buck converter. They track the maximum power point of the panel output and step that down to specific voltage and current for the battery. This means they can use much higher voltage than the battery and instead of wasting the energy over the battery voltage they convert it to battery voltage at a higher current. They only waste energy by 'clipping' when there is more energy available from the solar cells and the current to the battery is maxed for the charge profile. This is why a MPPT for multiple voltages lists lower output watts for the lower voltage. More efficient, but more components on the board means higher cost.

Efficiency difference between the two is a moving target, but the MPPT can always gather more power for the battery.

For both they list a max voltage and current. Exceed the max voltage on the MPPT for even a short length of time and it will fry. On the PWM it is a little more forgiving because it is a much simpler device.

I am on the fence if I will buy victron MPPT or something like the Li Time MPPT for half the cost. I like the big heatsink on the Li Time better than the whole thing being the heatsink. So far everything from Li Time has been first rate and exactly as advertised. And when I contacted their customer care they were really interested. I have a 20a charger, bus bars, batteries, battery ,monitor with shunt, and a disconnect.

The only thing I found that wasn't good was the ends of the wires where the lugs were soldered and crimped they used what looked like 6awg lugs on 10awg wire. I had to clip them off to add a bigger one for the shunt.
I contacted them about it and they offered a refund or replacement and wanted pictures to send to their qa dept.

I also asked them about the bus bars. They said they were brass on amazon and when I meassured them the numbers didn't make sense. Turns out they use an ampacity similar to copper when figuring the size. But brass will carry about 1/2 as much. In the end the 300amp bus bars will carry 308amps so all is good.
 
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Wow! What a wealth of info. Thank you very much for taking the time. Out of the few things I have learned is quality normally equals price, so on this build I upgraded all the components. I have waited on some replies from you guys before replacing my controller because I I fried mine. I have looked at all you mentioned. Li Time had good reviews and a good price, so it is ordered. Thanks again. Just to let all you "solar heads" know, all us new guys appreciate your time and patience.
 
Dennis Marks said:
Wow! What a wealth of info. Thank you very much for taking the time. Out of the few things I have learned is quality normally equals price, so on this build I upgraded all the components. I have waited on some replies from you guys before replacing my controller because I I fried mine. I have looked at all you mentioned. Li Time had good reviews and a good price, so it is ordered. Thanks again. Just to let all you "solar heads" know, all us new guys appreciate your time and patience.
Click to expand...

Oh, make sure the MPPT you get is for the battery voltage you select. Almost all cover more than one voltage, but not so many cover all 4 common voltages.
 
My build is very elementary. Just trying to learn something new. Not that it matters, but I am a totally disabled, 76 year old Vietnam Infantry vet. Don’t get around so good anymore and my brain sure isn’t what it use to be. This unit consists s of a 100ah Redodo LiPo, LiTime 30 amp MPPT controller (just ordered yesterday because of info provided), and a JJN 1100 watt inverter. I did install a battery disconnect, and a pv disconnect for convenience. I used 6 guage wire, and fused the battery to inverter and pv to controller. Sounds so simple and great when it works, but the learning curve is steep so THANKS again for any suggestions.
 
Here is my cpap backup, very simple with the option for an inverter if power is out for an extended period so I can run the fridge or freezer. No solar but that could attach in place of the wall charger or in addition to. Or plugged to the anderson style connector

Glad to help
 

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I guess you are a Navy Vet by your insignia. Your cpap unit is what I have in my outbuilding. I tried to print your diagram but couldn't figure it out. I got a message from EPEVER telling me to connect the inverter directly to battery instead of the controller. WHY?
 
I guess I need to clarify that it was not your diagram I could not figure out, it was how to copy it I could not get to work. Never did get to print correctly . Thanks.
 
You always connect the inverter to the battery terminals or a bus bar connected to the battery terminals. The inverter is the highest draw out of a battery and any SCC is only a fraction of that.
 
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