Solar panels only trickling?

[ian81]

Installed 2 x 100w ecoworthy panels and a votronic mppt controller but getting less than 1amp output.

Off load the panels are showing 19.3 v off load but on connecting they only charge batteries at less than 1amp.

The panels are wired in parallel using MC4 connectors. Disconnecting 1 panel and current drops to half.

Reinstalled an older PWM controller with smae result.

I am baffled. Are the panels faulty?

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Ian

 

[maingate]

The batteries could be fully charged.. What leds are lit on the controller?

 

[ian81]

Have a battery meter showing 75% charge. Green mppt light shows but not battery full light.

 

[Snapster]

What is the weather like? Full sun on 2 panels with a partly discharged battery should give you a few more amps.
Low sun or a cloudy day will only give you a low output like you are seeing.

 

[trevskoda]

Mine can hardly do any charging with gray sky, id say connect up and should be ok on bright day, make sure the feed wires are thick and not to long a run on the ones from control unit to batts

 

[Nabsim]

The Votronic mppt controllers have an output to trickle charge a battery (usually used for starter battery) at up to 1 amp. It sounds like you may be using that connection instead of the main charge output

 

[maingate]

Have you set the sliders up for the correct battery type?

 

[ian81]

The Votronic mppt controllers have an output to trickle charge a battery (usually used for starter battery) at up to 1 amp. It sounds like you may be using that connection instead of the main charge output

The starter battery terminal will only accept a 5a cable!

Sliders are correctly set.

 

[trevskoda]

She is on float then.

 

[ian81]

She is on float then.

Battery is not fully charged ...so not being float charged.

 

[maingate]

Perhaps you connected up the system in the wrong order.

Info here.

How to Connect a Solar Panel to a 12V Battery? [Diagrams]

Here I will show you how to connect a solar panel to a 12V battery. You will need a charge controller to prevent overcharging. I use diagrams to explain...

cleversolarpower.com

 

[trevskoda]

Battery is not fully charged ...so not being float charged.

Did you connect the battery bank first and then the panels, or the batteries could be on the way out, if sky is gray then the panels wont be charging.

 

[colinm]

He's left off the 'part shaded' bit.

 

[Nabsim]

I currently sit under a very overcast sky and my 150W panel is providing 38W through my Votronic MPPT Duo. You either have it connected wrong or a faulty unit if all cables are correctly sized.

 

[trevskoda]

200w here and just about holding as the sky is mid gray

 

[maingate]

Ian put a photo on another forum and his batteries are fully charged, so the problem seems to be resolved.

 

[trevskoda]

Took a lot of brain CELLS to sort this one folks.

 

[ian81]

Solution!!

Having revisted everything wiring etc I decided that it must be a panel issue.
Thanks to Amazon's speedy delivery I ordered 2 replament 100w renorgy's and plugging them in charging jumped from less than 1 amp to over 5.

Thanks to everyone for their interest and suggestions.

 

[wildebus]

Solution!!

Having revisted everything wiring etc I decided that it must be a panel issue.
Thanks to Amazon's speedy delivery I ordered 2 replament 100w renorgy's and plugging them in charging jumped from less than 1 amp to over 5.

Thanks to everyone for their interest and suggestions.

Interesting.
I will just comment that I have used quite a few EcoWorthy 100W panels (I had 2 on my VW T5, 4 on my VW LT Camper and have 2 in the garden for parked-up recharging and testing) and never had any issues with any of them.

 

[molly 2]

Result