Mppt woes

Swap it out for a votronic duo, it also puts a small charge into the starter battery.
Easy to wire up.
Has its own inbuilt fuse on input side.
votronic a.jpg
votronic b.jpg
 
Bottom line here there is a fuse or fuses somewhere.
If the unit is completely dead it’s almost certainly a fuse which has blown.
Most chargers are independently fused.
The fuse can be of different types from the bladed fuse shown on Trevs post which tend to be external, (but can be internal) to a glass fuse on the printed circuit board.
But your vehicles 12v system will be protected with a fuse box, and the charger will definitely be protected from there.
Simply putting probes on the + and the - power terminals at the charger will let you know if the supply is reaching the charger. If there is no reading there, then it’s your vans fuse which has blown, if not it will probably be a fuse within the charger.
Find out the model and look for instructions and spec online, this could give you what you are looking for. It’s odds on there’s a supply issue, and if there is replacing the solar controller won’t solve the issue if the supply problem is from the 12v supply in the van.
 
oppy said:
Ah well, thanks folks for your advice but I now think that it's kernaked, but hopefully our batteries will last our stay
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You're probably not far from a Screwfix, they do a cheapie for £10.99. Take some readings and post them, it'll help diagnose the problem. Maybe worth it if it'll keep you on the road?
 
Where are you just now? There might be a forum member nearby who can help (or are you Froggyside again?)
 
bartman said:
Where are you just now? There might be a forum member nearby who can help (or are you Froggyside again?)
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Yup, in the land of the rising frog,,.But we've just driven 70 klicks and fully recharged the batteries and now doing the campsite thing for the next few days
 
Peter. When are you back in the UK? I still have my old PWM controller that was installed in my van when I got it. The one that charges two batteries (Cab and Hab if you have a cable running to the cab). Its yours if you want it FOC if your sure its the controller thats kaput. We will be off ourselves in a couple of weeks though.
 
oppy said:
Hi folks and help, our solar panel controller has gone blank ,the van electric seems to be ok, any ideas or advice please
Peter
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I had the same problem with an expensive controller which originally cost over £100 with its associated display. I looked on Amazon and found a replacement for under £20 with built in display. I couldn’t believe how things have come down in price over the last 5 years. I suggest you order a cheap replacement like I did and use it as an aid to diagnosis. My van is now fixed and running on the £20 controller and I am tempted to order another as a spare!
 
Now here's a howdydo, I think that it is due to swapped polarities because the van exterior gives me jolt when I touch it. Sadly my polarity tester is on the bench with the multi tester, could I be on the right track..
 
oppy said:
Now here's a howdydo, I think that it is due to swapped polarities because the van exterior gives me jolt when I touch it. Sadly my polarity tester is on the bench with the multi tester, could I be on the right track..
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You have a problem with your van electrics it would appear, the solar controller might be kaput, and when on EHU your van is tripping the site, swapped polarity shouldn't cause the outside of your van to give you a jolt, I would suggest you refrain from using EHU until the van is checked.
 
a) Any other Brits around who can loan you a polarity tester ?
b) I thought it was tripping things when attached to the MoHo, so how come it gives you shock?
Is the tripping intermittent?

I think you need to adopt a structured approach to diagnosis rather than just posting sit reps without specifying the exact environment.
At the moment you are guessing at possible causes (cable / reverse polarity) and there are many many possibilities.

So your starter for ten.
The first thing is to identify where the problem is. We do this by dividing the system into two parts.
So we know the problem is somewhere between a French power station up stream and devices in you MoHo.
The test is easy, plug the EHU cable into the supply post but not into the MoHo.
If this doesn't trip the supply we know the problem is down stream of the male plug built into the wall of the Motor home. This covers anything from the male plug to a faulty device.
If it does trip then the problem is upstream. i.e. between the power station and the female socket on the end of your EHU cable.

The next step depends on the outcome of this test. Without this result we cannot proceed with a structured approach.

Sorry to adopt such an apparently pedantic attitude, but it will be worth it in the end.
 
Technispark said:
I had the same problem with an expensive controller which originally cost over £100 with its associated display. I looked on Amazon and found a replacement for under £20 with built in display. I couldn’t believe how things have come down in price over the last 5 years. I suggest you order a cheap replacement like I did and use it as an aid to diagnosis. My van is now fixed and running on the £20 controller and I am tempted to order another as a spare!
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At that price it will be a old pwm unit and not worth 2 d.
They can be bought for a few pounds on temu, you require a mppt unit which cost a lot more.
 
Ah well folks, I can't do anything until I get back to the UK, but thanks for all the help. We are cutting our trip short and will coming back from France soon after the ceremony at the British Memorial on the 6th at Gold Beach, so there will be lots of time to fiddle about and try to make sense of your wonderful suggestions
Ta again
Peter
 
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