Victron solar controller.

1 Cup

1 Cup

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Well all worked well the panels via SC are the only input to battery . Invertor the output.
Solar charges battery 280ah but the solar controller has a different voltage to Chinese jk bms !.
Bms = 13.29v
SC. =13.99v

The solar controller also shows 14.20v as max votage on daily History ?. At that point 14 volts it changes from bulk to Abosobrpion . Why as the battery has never reached over 13.40 volts?
TIA
Screenshot_20230815_114629.jpg
Screenshot_20230815_112830_BMS.jpg
Screenshot_20230815_111102.jpg
 
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You are "pushing" voltage into the cable from the solar controller end of the cable, and that cable has resistance. Because of the resistance, you will get a voltage drop on the cable. I don't know what size cable you have used or what length the cableis, so I cannot calculate the expected voltage drop for you. You can use the link below and enter the details:

first, enter the cable you are using i.e. 16mm
Then enter the system voltage, which is 13.99v
Then enter the current, which is 19.50A
Then enter the cable length for your solar controller to your battery.

This will then tell you what voltage drop to expect at the battery.


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Yes will do thanks not got the 50 only the 100 30 at this time
 
Just changed the absorption time to 16 hours and voltage to 14.2 volt on the 100 30 sc
The tail thingy is at 0
 
My Bulk charge only works till 14 volts ! So up to midday. Then absorption. but run NEW battery free standing and wired battery up Saturday to SC with what i had, when it reached 20 % DOD. since then has not reached 60% of 280 ah . as I'm now full electric and still away in van to Hereford.
20230815_174623.jpg
 
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Your MPPT goes into absorption when your battery reaches 14.2v read at the terminals of the MPPT controller. Because you are using the wrong cable between the MPPT and the battery, the MPPT is not reading the correct battery voltage due to a voltage drop on the cable. You need to correct the cable sizing not only based on maximum current carrying capacity but also on the voltage drop. I don't know how close your MPPT is to your battery, so I can not give you the correct cable sizing. It is also very important that all your connections are made correctly. Bad connections can also increase resistance and cause a voltage drop.
 
Should I be running input long or output long to mppt ?.

Looking to get 4x 8mm nut bus bars at both ends of the 35mm red and black as its run 4,5m battery to mppt , and run b2b which is 16mm wire from both to bus bar to from same bus bar back to batteries, hoping that will be OK. will have cerbo at Hereford.and try to be able to Linked to all. Including invertor. Smart shunt. Making the 100ah relion battery dormant. But 100ah is still live till then. Charged from b2b.
 
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Time to get a dvm out and do some point to point and local measurements, e.g. if you have used 4mm cables from the controller there shouldn’t be excessive volt drop at the relatively low current shown in your last screen I.e. 5A if all the connections are good.

Measure voltage between positive output of the controller and positive on the battery terminal
Do the same for the negative.

Pay attention to any significant difference especially if multiple chassis bonding points are in the loop.

Don’t assume controller and BMS apps are accurate verify everything with a dvm.
 
Screenshot_20230816_080903.jpg


I get some slight variations as well.

The orion and solar are really close to each other, in 16mm cable. I haven't checked, but I would be surprised it I've got any dodgy connections yet its 13.19V vs 13.32V

I'll try and check with the multimeter at some point.
 
st3v3 said:
View attachment 122471

I get some slight variations as well.

The orion and solar are really close to each other, in 16mm cable. I haven't checked, but I would be surprised it I've got any dodgy connections yet its 13.19V vs 13.32V

I'll try and check with the multimeter at some point.
Click to expand...
It would be interesting to check both when the Orion is active and not active whilst you are checking (can see the amount of drop under load that way).

Next may or may not be applicable to the Orion, but is to the rest of the connected Victron kit ....
If you have a Venus OS device, such as a Cerbo GX or a Raspberry Pi running the Venus OS, you can enable some settings so all the physically connected devices have the same correct (actual) battery voltage, and also battery temp. Enable SVS (Shared Voltage Sense) and STS (Shared Temperature Sense) in the DVCC settings. That is a good idea to counter the inevitable voltage drops between chargers and batteries.
If you don't have a Venus OS system but your Victron kit is Bluetooth enabled, you can enable Smart Networking to do the same thing. I don't know if the Orion-Tr can be part of Smart Network or not (I might see if the one I have installed can be. As I run a Cerbo GX it is of not much interest to me directly). The Orion-Tr has still not been undated with a VE.Direct port which is quite disappointing so cannot play in a Venos OS system :(
 
The first time I installed a solar panel I got a 120W one, based on a chart I saw in a MH dealer. Basically it said '2 people, 120W panel'. I got one and a cheap Chinese regulator with two battery outputs, installed it all and it worked fine. Being a retired electronics engineer I did use thick cable with the cheap Chinese thing near the LB. It worked fine, so my logic now is not to get too concerned about the precise charging times or two decimal places of volts, I am only interested if the LB gets too low to work. In the intervening years I have never had a problem with subsequent similar installations. I did have a Nuevo with a Sargent system, I took it apart and noticed that it had the 10A version of the Cheap Chinese regulator inside. As I had a 20A version in my garage, I fitted the 20A in place of the 10A because I also fitted a second LB, and at the same time upgraded the high resistance Sargent wiring. I seem to remember that I fitted an additional solar panel. However, I don't know if it was necessary, I don't remember the one LB running low.
I am about to take delivery of a 2019 Autosleeper Bourton. It comes with all the usual A/S fancy showroom gimmickry, but lurking hidden from the casual showroom visitor are the usual several not-quite-up-to-the-mark hidden assets. Salesman: 'It has a solar panel". 80W. (And one LB). Salesman: "It has a fresh water tank." 67 litres, good for three days. Salesman: "It has touch sensitive ceiling lights". Would you buy a house with ceiling light switches? These things need to be rectified asap.
 
1 Cup said:
Cerbo is Bluetooth but not installed so don't know if it's victron VE direct, network
Click to expand...
When it comes to the Cerbo type setup, effectively forget Bluetooth. doesn't come into it.
Any devices* that you want to see via the Cerbo unit must be physically connected with a comms cable

*There are RUUVI temp sensors that DO connect to the Cerbo GX via Bluetooth, but they are a minor thing. Currently no chargers, controllers, monitors, inverters, etc do. May and probably will change in the future but assume wired only right now.
 
Victron Direct bluetooth network and the cerbo is internet only then ? But I've seen it on a phone tube you, without internet via Bluetooth they said.
As that's what I want to turn my invertor on. They will be hard wired to cerbo and invertor for settings changes.

Will I need to hard wire the mppt and smart shunt and B2B TO THE CERBO ?
 
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