Mppt woes

oppy · Tuesday at 1:18 PM

Hi folks and help, our solar panel controller has gone blank ,the van electric seems to be ok, any ideas or advice please
Peter

colinm · Tuesday at 1:46 PM

For most controllers the way to reset them is, disconnect +ve to panel, Disconnect +ve to battery, reconnect +ve to battery, reconnect +ve to panel.

barryd · Tuesday at 1:48 PM

Which controller is it Peter? What make and model?

oppy · Tuesday at 2:18 PM

barryd said:
Which controller is it Peter? What make and model?

Anonymous, sorry, Amazon purchase a couple of years ago

oppy · Tuesday at 2:21 PM

colinm said:
For most controllers the way to reset them is, disconnect +ve to panel, Disconnect +ve to battery, reconnect +ve to battery, reconnect +ve to panel.

Just tried but nowt

r4dent · Tuesday at 2:39 PM

colinm said:
For most controllers the way to reset them is, disconnect +ve to panel, Disconnect +ve to battery, reconnect +ve to battery, reconnect +ve to panel.

I think "disconnect +ve to panel, reconnect +ve to panel." would be exactly the same.
Only reason for disconnecting battery +ve is to avoid having a loose live wire around if the job is going to take a while.
If you do decide to disconnect battery +ve do it at battery end rather than controller end.

r4dent · Tuesday at 2:44 PM

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

a) check voltage across the panel output terminals.

b) check voltage across the panel input terminals (when the sun is shining)

c) test all fuses in system

d) tell us the results.

Good Luck

edina · Tuesday at 3:25 PM

r4dent said:
I think "disconnect +ve to panel, reconnect +ve to panel." would be exactly the same.
Only reason for disconnecting battery +ve is to avoid having a loose live wire around if the job is going to take a while.
If you do decide to disconnect battery +ve do it at battery end rather than controller end.

I thought disconnecting the battery would force the mppt to reset itself?

r4dent · Tuesday at 3:53 PM

edina said:
I thought disconnecting the battery would force the mppt to reset itself?

You're right, I apologise.

Kindly disregard my Post.

colinm · Tuesday at 3:55 PM

oppy said:
Just tried but nowt

Another check is put a meter cross terminals on controller, firstly to check that power is coming from panel to the controller, and secondly the controller is still connected to the battery

maingate · Tuesday at 4:42 PM

A typical solar controller appears dead when the fuse has blown.

trevskoda · Tuesday at 5:31 PM

edina said:
I thought disconnecting the battery would force the mppt to reset itself?

No that will bu==er up the control unit big time.

colinm · Tuesday at 7:29 PM

trevskoda said:
No that will bu==er up the control unit big time.

If the panel is disconnected, which I clearly instructed, disconnecting the battery should reset the controller, it will not damage the controller.
A couple of times I have accidently disconnected the battery before disconnecting the panel, with no ill effects, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.

oppy · Tuesday at 7:56 PM

r4dent said:
a) check voltage across the panel output terminals.

b) check voltage across the panel input terminals (when the sun is shining)

c) test all fuses in system

d) tell us the results.

Good Luck

Sadly my van multi tester is on my bench back home, I forgot to put it back.............bloomin eejit that I am

oppy · Tuesday at 7:57 PM

maingate said:
A typical solar controller appears dead when the fuse has blown.

Sadly I cannot find a fuse

oppy · Tuesday at 8:01 PM

Ah well, thanks folks for your advice but I now think that it's kernaked, but hopefully our batteries will last our stay

r4dent · Tuesday at 8:22 PM

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

Definitely worth testing the voltages before mending it with a new one.

Also worth while double checking for fuses and putting fuses in the circuit if you haven't got them.

trevskoda · Tuesday at 10:09 PM

colinm said:
If the panel is disconnected, which I clearly instructed, disconnecting the battery should reset the controller, it will not damage the controller.
A couple of times I have accidently disconnected the battery before disconnecting the panel, with no ill effects, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.

Yes if panels disconnected first, i have seen folk not do this.

trevskoda · Tuesday at 10:11 PM

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

Engine should charge the batts up, strange no fuse, poor workmanship by installer.

maingate · Tuesday at 10:34 PM

oppy said:
Sadly I cannot find a fuse

Some have a built in fuse (like Trevs), others are fused through the Hab fuse system. I don't know what van you have and if it is a British model, I would be of no help anyway. I had foreign vans. It's worth checking the main fusebox, or tracing the wiring back (yes I know, almost impossible in a motorhome, especially at our age).

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