No power being used battery down to 50%

[Paul standen]

Think my solar charge controller may be faulty. It literally has just 3 lights to indicate power levels. The power has been turned off on the inverter and a 310w solar panel should have been keeping this battery at maximum I'd assume but today I see the battery level light is at 50%
Charge controller is cpy2410
During install the solar negative did seem a bit weak and may possibly be the cause of my issues I fear.
So 2 questions how do I make sure it's the charge controller? Do I just have to buy another and see if it improves? I'm on a show string budget for now so if anyone could recomend a great mppt around the £30 mark?

 

[A J]

Sounds like the controller is drawing "More than a bit" of idle-current from the battery, when the solar panel is not charging. Meaning, it will be drawing this current 24 hours a day, pulling down the battery!

How long dose it take for the battery to fall to ~50%?
It has USB? That may seem a issue. It's always on? 5V at 1 to 2Amps?

Can you explain this a little better if you can >
"During install the solar negative did seem a bit weak and may possibly be the cause of my issues I fear. "

I understand the tight budget scenario, do you have any test equipment? If not can you borrow any?
I am hinting a Clamp meter, A ring like contraption that measures current through one cable... If not we will just make do...
Unfortunately I found this stuff to be expensive, it took me some tight budgeting to get where I am.
People do get by their way though.
Someone else will make suggestions to help you probably better than me .
There are more Q's I will ask but this is a start.

 

[Supervstech]

If you have a volt ohm meter, you could turn everything off, including the solar panels, and feed the negative to the battery through the meter leads on amp setting and see how much it is drawing.

Also, measuring the solar input to the battery should cause a voltage jump when the controller is charging... maybe only .1v, but something...

 

[Paul standen]

The negative terminal for the solar panel on the charge controller side seems almost like it was push fitted and was loose if that makes sense? Solar light came on though so I assumed it had made the connection still.

I did actually find my home meter but no way of "turning off" the solar panel its wired straight to charge controller.

 

[Paul standen]

After thought I did cause a short that blew the 30a fuse i had on my fuse board when changing the charge control panel round. I'm 99% sure the solar panel had been disconnected at this point. When all wires where in place and the lights on charge controller weren't on i panicked thinking the worst but then a new fuse and the power to charge controller came on

 

[A J]

"The negative terminal for the solar panel on the charge controller side seems almost like it was push fitted and was loose"
Keep a sharp eye on that, that may get hot under heavy load... If it is what I'm thinking, anything sluggish like that is a resister and get hot.
That is not draining the batt.

"I did actually find my home meter but no way of "turning off" the solar panel its wired straight to charge controller"
That is bad mate you should have some type of disconnect weather it is a blade fuse or ceramic fuse, breaker and a break-away type plug (not so much the break-away but handy for diagnostics)..
If you are not watching and something fails the solar panel (of a day) will keep giving power... unless the panel fails with it! Just kindly think about it It's your rig.

You shorted it and blew the fuse, don't see that as a biggie, that's kinda what their for.. remotely could be the problem 2/10 (damaged component).

Cable your using from the batt to controller. Size (AWG), are they equal length?
How old is the Batt, it's Chemistry "sealed lead acid"? 12V, 24V capacity 120Ah?. May be self discharging (old)? (Charging parameters, Over charging?)
What about the USB port, 5V 1A or 2A, 50% discharge over night seems to much pending the Ah of the batt... eg say 8 hours of night 2X8=16Ah from the batt.
? What is the Volts of the Solar panel at NIGHT ~<9, >10V? I am not going to speculate on whats what their.
(~ their about, < Less than, > More than)
Narrowing this down will give us the answer, bear with it.
Hint when you go to bed next have a full batt, measure your batt voltage at the terminals and again when you wake up whats the diff... < or ~

Anyone else give us a hand!

 

[offgriddle]

The negative terminal for the solar panel on the charge controller side seems almost like it was push fitted and was loose if that makes sense? Solar light came on though so I assumed it had made the connection still.

I did actually find my home meter but no way of "turning off" the solar panel its wired straight to charge controller.

My first solar charge controller was a Windy nation PWM. The screw terminal connections were so wimpy, that I overtightened and stripped out the negative terminal, causing intermittent charging. I had to open up the controller and solder the negative wire directly to the foil landing on the circuit board. Worked fine after that.

 

[Paul standen]

I can pull the fuse from the 12v board to kill power to the charge controller, that's easiest way right? Cable I used to take from charge controller to fuse board and then on to the batteries was the solar panel.cable as it came with 5m on each reel and due to it being a teardrop caravan I only used about 3m from panel to charge controller so had 2m spare roughly. This is all new components in a new build caravan. Only thing that's reused is the chassis its built upon. Battery is calcium lead battery. I'll check the battery voltage when the charge controller indicates the solar is no longer being generated for the night and then again tomorrow morning. I rang amazon and arranged a return of the charge controller. It was a few days past return date but they let me off when I explained how I've come to realise theres an issue. I'll box it up tomorrow and send it back. Should I buy another one the same model and hope it was just a one off duff as everything worked with last charge controller but it was a pmw charger and the 310w panel was giving exactly 5a constantly when the sun was out even just a little bit. The voltage from the panel and amps seemed ok but not great. Now the new but possibly faulty one gives very little info. Just 5 leds. Solar, load. 0%, 50% and 100% ?‍ but many videos of people testing and it is a true mppt charge controller seems to be the verdict. Cpy2410 if you want take another look at it

 

[Paul standen]

My first solar charge controller was a Windy nation PWM. The screw terminal connections were so wimpy, that I overtightened and stripped out the negative terminal, causing intermittent charging. I had to open up the controller and solder the negative wire directly to the foil landing on the circuit board. Worked fine after that.

I'm not sure opening up and messing round with it is for me I'd rather just get a fresh one. Be good to confirm its definetly that though as the solar system should be able to make this a true off grid holiday trailer

 

[offgriddle]

I wish you the very best of holidays. No matter what, may I suggest obtaing an inexpensive, $10-15, multimeter so you can at least see how many volts are on the + - input terminals on your charge controller on the solar input on a sunny day. Also, it would be good to know the voltage of your batteries on a sunny day as well as at night, under load and no load conditions. Are your batteries lead acid and how old are they?

 

[offgriddle]

I can pull the fuse from the 12v board to kill power to the charge controller, that's easiest way right? Cable I used to take from charge controller to fuse board and then on to the batteries was the solar panel.cable as it came with 5m on each reel and due to it being a teardrop caravan I only used about 3m from panel to charge controller so had 2m spare roughly. This is all new components in a new build caravan. Only thing that's reused is the chassis its built upon. Battery is calcium lead battery. I'll check the battery voltage when the charge controller indicates the solar is no longer being generated for the night and then again tomorrow morning. I rang amazon and arranged a return of the charge controller. It was a few days past return date but they let me off when I explained how I've come to realise theres an issue. I'll box it up tomorrow and send it back. Should I buy another one the same model and hope it was just a one off duff as everything worked with last charge controller but it was a pmw charger and the 310w panel was giving exactly 5a constantly when the sun was out even just a little bit. The voltage from the panel and amps seemed ok but not great. Now the new but possibly faulty one gives very little info. Just 5 leds. Solar, load. 0%, 50% and 100% ?‍ but many videos of people testing and it is a true mppt charge controller seems to be the verdict. Cpy2410 if you want take another look at it

CAUTION: Just make sure you NEVER disconnect your batteries from your charge controller without first disconnecting your solar panels, and make sure you reconnect your batteries before connecting your solar panels. If pulling the fuse from the fuse holder mounted on the charge controller's circuit board shuts down the charge controller, then that should suffice as a test to see what the static voltage of your batteries are under no load and no charge condition.

 

[offgriddle]

The MPPT controller uses a more efficient method of processing incoming current from the panels as opposed to the older PWM charge controller. You will have to make sure your charge controller is capable of properly charging your calcium lead acid batteries.

 

[Paul standen]

I'm at 13.26 v a few hours after dark without using anything so its definetly full at the moment, maybe it just showed a drop in battery capacity because i had just turned on the power and might have read 100% a few minutes later.

And yup got a multimeter it's been lost in the garage for a decade and still works without a battery change or anything. Think it cost me a quid from the pound shop many eons ago lol

 

[Paul standen]

So if I installed fuse with everything hooked up during the daylight could that be also perhaps giving the charge controller a hard time.recogniaing true battery level? Or would that have sorted itself out when the sun fell and it had time to sync again?

 

[offgriddle]

I'm at 13.26 v a few hours after dark without using anything so its definetly full at the moment, maybe it just showed a drop in battery capacity because i had just turned on the power and might have read 100% a few minutes later.

And yup got a multimeter it's been lost in the garage for a decade and still works without a battery change or anything. Think it cost me a quid from the pound shop many eons ago lol

Well today is the first time I'd ever heard of a calcium lead acid battery, or at least noticed, so I thank you for introducing me to a somewhat improved version of the the good old ancient technology of lead acid batteries! As far as no load voltage reading, anything over 12.5 volts is excellent! A reading under 12 volts on a freshly charged lead acid is worrisome, and a reading under 11 volts on a freshly charged lead acid is cause for alarm indicating a possible dead cell or multiple weak cells. I assume the calcium lead acid would behave in a similar fashion but I am not absolutely certain. Now, have you used your trusty meter that you have been recently reunited with, to monitor the voltage for awhile under normal load conditions?

 

[Paul standen]

Alas I can have spurts of laziness and only noticed this issue less than 48 hours ago. That was only my first reading I'll check it again in the morning hopefully before the solar panels get enough light fall to kick up anything and I'll be able to see if that voltage has dropped over night. I dont like the idea of leaving the solar panel disconnected whilst returning the other one and have bit the bullet and thanks to help from bank of mum I will be the owner of this victron charge controller on tuesday....

Victron Solar Regulator MPPT 75/12-24 V 10 A https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B018M88G5C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zNlRDbREVEYNM

I dont understand why only Tuesday though as its amazon prime and I'm buisness. I used order sunday before midnight and still get things on the monday... inconvenient but not the end of the world. Guess I'll have start watching more on prime video to make more from the monthly fee lol.

9pm here now so I'll be able to update with morning figures around 8 or 9am. Sun only gets over the house at dinner time so should still be stable a reading

 

[offgriddle]

I do so love the bank of mum, easy terms, no credit checks same day turn around. Regarding your choice of controller, I applaud you for selecting a unit with the most important feature of all; colour and I must say what a vibrant, dreamy, gorgeous blue colour that Victron is! ~ If the specifications of the model selected fall within the parameters of your PV system, I am confident that you will be one happy camper! The Victron is nicely configurable too, this should be a fun project for you! Enjoy!

 

[offgriddle]

If you have a volt ohm meter, you could turn everything off, including the solar panels, and feed the negative to the battery through the meter leads on amp setting and see how much it is drawing.

Also, measuring the solar input to the battery should cause a voltage jump when the controller is charging... maybe only .1v, but something...

I've never put my amp meter in line with the negative side, only the positive side. But I guess it stands to reason that an equal electron flow is happening on the negative too, otherwise, no current would be flowing. Still ... after a device consumes it's cut of power, wouldn't the negative, returning current flow amperage measurement be less than the positive, supplying current flow?

 

[SCClockDr]

One electron in, one electron out. Just like hydraulics.

 

[A J]

If I did't get MidNite Solar's The KID, Victron was next best.
Bank of Mum that's a good one...
Nice of Amazon to return the product.
All sorted then!
As offgriddle said "this should be a fun project for you! Enjoy!" With Victron you will not look back.