WorldwideDave
New Member
Summary: One battery. No solar panels connected. No inverter. One fuse panel. Two DC loads. One load works the other does not. Both loads are charging cables for solar generators. Need some suggestions on why this might be.
Thanks for reading.
Long version:
No solar connected right now.
I have a 200 AH LiFePO4 battery.
It is fused and connected to a Blue Sea fuse panel, recommended by Will P himself.
I have 2 loads coming off the fuse panel.
One goes to a cigarette lighter socket (female)
The other goes to an SAE connector.
In the SAE connector I plug in another SAE connector that has a wire which goes to a 7mm barrel-type connector. I then connect this to a different solar generator (225Ah) to charge it. All day long the SAE connector charges the solar generator just fine. I know this because of the discharge meter on my shunt, and the DC Watts In on the solar generator both match at about 50 watts. The amp rating on the solar generator will not permit more amps than this to flow in from a 12v source. All good. I get it. When I use solar panels plugged into the solar generator directly, they run at a higher voltage, and I get more wattage to charge with. Brilliant. No problem.
In the cigarette lighter socket (female), I plug in a cigarette lighter plug (male) that has a cable attached. At the male end there is a red light to indicate good fuse. At the end of the cable is a 5mm barrel-type connector. I then connect this to a solar generator (small 150Ah) to charge it. Earlier today it was charging the solar generator. I know this because the discharge rate on my shunt, and the screen of the solar generator also indicates around 30 watts were coming into the solar generator. However, now I am seeing something unique. It seems that while the solar generator is flashing that it is charging, I see zero watts coming into it on its screen, and zero watts being discharged.
If I connect both generators at the same time, I can see that one generator (the one connected to SAE) keeps on charging but the other solar generator does not charge.
If I then I connect the solar generator (smaller one) that is not charging to the SAE cable with an adapter to go from 7mm to 5mm, the solar generator also does not charge.
I do not have an adapter to go from the small 5mm up to the 7mm so I cannot test charging the bigger Solar Generator with the cigarette lighter cord. However, there is a fuse in the cigarette lighter male part, and if you remove the fuse or if it has a bad fuse the red light on the case will not light up.
I don't know if I have a bad solar generator, or if there is just not enough watts coming out of the fuse panel, or if the 200AH battery BMS is in some funky only send 50 watts mode or what. Battery is currently low at 11.75 volts according to the shunt, and the solar charge controller reports 11.75 volts as well. However this is with load (shunt reporting 60 watts going through it right now to charge the other solar generator).
I know I can disconnect my load, wait 2 hours, then see voltage and compare it to my battery manufacturers chart. Right now it would report zero percentage on state of charge, but not accurate with the load.
I guess I can get a reading of SoC tomorrow morning. I can also try hooking up solar panel directly to smaller 150Ah solar generator to see if it wakes up with more voltage, amps, and watts in the sun tomorrow.
It may be that the voltage requirements are higher for the smaller solar generator. Although it lights up like it is charging and flashes, it shows zero watts, so its internal charge controller might be at play here. DC Input on the side of the small solar generators it reads 15v at 2.4 amps (that is 36 watts max). Maybe at 11.75 volts it just says no thank you.
Thanks for reading.
Long version:
No solar connected right now.
I have a 200 AH LiFePO4 battery.
It is fused and connected to a Blue Sea fuse panel, recommended by Will P himself.
I have 2 loads coming off the fuse panel.
One goes to a cigarette lighter socket (female)
The other goes to an SAE connector.
In the SAE connector I plug in another SAE connector that has a wire which goes to a 7mm barrel-type connector. I then connect this to a different solar generator (225Ah) to charge it. All day long the SAE connector charges the solar generator just fine. I know this because of the discharge meter on my shunt, and the DC Watts In on the solar generator both match at about 50 watts. The amp rating on the solar generator will not permit more amps than this to flow in from a 12v source. All good. I get it. When I use solar panels plugged into the solar generator directly, they run at a higher voltage, and I get more wattage to charge with. Brilliant. No problem.
In the cigarette lighter socket (female), I plug in a cigarette lighter plug (male) that has a cable attached. At the male end there is a red light to indicate good fuse. At the end of the cable is a 5mm barrel-type connector. I then connect this to a solar generator (small 150Ah) to charge it. Earlier today it was charging the solar generator. I know this because the discharge rate on my shunt, and the screen of the solar generator also indicates around 30 watts were coming into the solar generator. However, now I am seeing something unique. It seems that while the solar generator is flashing that it is charging, I see zero watts coming into it on its screen, and zero watts being discharged.
If I connect both generators at the same time, I can see that one generator (the one connected to SAE) keeps on charging but the other solar generator does not charge.
If I then I connect the solar generator (smaller one) that is not charging to the SAE cable with an adapter to go from 7mm to 5mm, the solar generator also does not charge.
I do not have an adapter to go from the small 5mm up to the 7mm so I cannot test charging the bigger Solar Generator with the cigarette lighter cord. However, there is a fuse in the cigarette lighter male part, and if you remove the fuse or if it has a bad fuse the red light on the case will not light up.
I don't know if I have a bad solar generator, or if there is just not enough watts coming out of the fuse panel, or if the 200AH battery BMS is in some funky only send 50 watts mode or what. Battery is currently low at 11.75 volts according to the shunt, and the solar charge controller reports 11.75 volts as well. However this is with load (shunt reporting 60 watts going through it right now to charge the other solar generator).
I know I can disconnect my load, wait 2 hours, then see voltage and compare it to my battery manufacturers chart. Right now it would report zero percentage on state of charge, but not accurate with the load.
I guess I can get a reading of SoC tomorrow morning. I can also try hooking up solar panel directly to smaller 150Ah solar generator to see if it wakes up with more voltage, amps, and watts in the sun tomorrow.
It may be that the voltage requirements are higher for the smaller solar generator. Although it lights up like it is charging and flashes, it shows zero watts, so its internal charge controller might be at play here. DC Input on the side of the small solar generators it reads 15v at 2.4 amps (that is 36 watts max). Maybe at 11.75 volts it just says no thank you.