Electrical Jayco expander 16.4 9 BMPro J35C problems talking to JControl

[ianm67]

Hello,

I need some help with my J35C. I just got back Fromm weekend away to Patonga. It was a test to see if my 2 x 130AH were up to scratch and they failed dismally, what made these worse is that BC300 and comlink could not give me an accurate reading. It is hooked up a JControl display.
The biggest issue was that the JControl would not display time left I had no idea what was going on with my batterie. It was displaying that the batteries were both full but that was not the case. I have an 4000/2000 inverter hooked up to the batteries and I couldn‘t even start up the coffee machine let alone actually make a coffee. It shut down within 5 seconds of being turned on. i know it’s because the batteries have nothing left in them.

I have already purchased 2 new 135’s to replace these old ones. BUT!! I need help with the J35C talking to the BC300 shunt through the Commlink.

Also a have a solar question. The J35C can handle up to 450w of solar input through it’s build in mppt. Can I use another separate MPPT hooked up
directly to the batteries and add further solar charge to the batteries. It might be a dumb question but I need to know.

I hope there is a guru out there.

regards

battery novice…

I live in the hills district If anyone can recommend a BM pro specialist around that area will be great

 

[Boots in Action]

Hello,

I need some help with my J35C. I just got back Fromm weekend away to Patonga. It was a test to see if my 2 x 130AH were up to scratch and they failed dismally, what made these worse is that BC300 and comlink could not give me an accurate reading. It is hooked up a JControl display.
The biggest issue was that the JControl would not display time left I had no idea what was going on with my batterie. It was displaying that the batteries were both full but that was not the case. I have an 4000/2000 inverter hooked up to the batteries and I couldn‘t even start up the coffee machine let alone actually make a coffee. It shut down within 5 seconds of being turned on. i know it’s because the batteries have nothing left in them.

I have already purchased 2 new 135’s to replace these old ones. BUT!! I need help with the J35C talking to the BC300 shunt through the Commlink.

Also a have a solar question. The J35C can handle up to 450w of solar input through it’s build in mppt. Can I use another separate MPPT hooked up
directly to the batteries and add further solar charge to the batteries. It might be a dumb question but I need to know.

I hope there is a guru out there.

regards

battery novice…

I live in the hills district If anyone can recommend a BM pro specialist around that area will be great

Hi @ianm67 , could be that the batteries have dropped below the Low Voltage Disconnect and need charging from an external source to get battery voltage above 12.8 volts before things start working properly again. If voltage at any time goes below 10.5 volts ( this could occur when using your inverter to power coffee machine with low/faulty batteries even for a very short time!!!), no power is available for loads and your battery indicator. Also have a good read of the link for the BMpro 35 series as below especially page 8. There is also something on pages 14 to 18 regarding Eco Mode, and going into storage mode if battery switch accidentally touched, also how to get unit out of battery storage mode.

BMPRO BATTERYPLUS35 SERIES OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download

View and Download BMPRO BatteryPlus35 Series owner's manual online. BatteryPlus35 Series controller pdf manual download. Also for: Bp35-ha bp35-pm, Bp35-sr.

www.manualslib.com

Always better to put all solar input through the same MPPT controller to avoid conflict between different controllers, but can be done if both same type and same settings/algorithm for charge and discharge levels etc.

 

[ianm67]

Thanks for your help. I will wait and see how things look after installing the new batteries

 

[Drover]

As @Boots in Action said I would say batterys charge state meant the BM wouldn't charge, have had that before........... A couple of reads of the manual for the thing is absolutely needed to be on top of these things, especially when you connect up new batteries, things have to be set up so the monitor can display, on the BMPro set ups I have seen often the batteries have been hooked up wrong as well as the shunt, especially when an invertor is involved....

The 450w solar is actual input not what the rating of the panels adds up to, be lucky to see 400w with even 600w on roof......................

Your displays wouldn't show anything as once the batteries drop down they are shut out of the system until you charge them up with a 240v charger, best to disconnect and then charge, once charged up all works again happily.................. If van parked up without power or solar then it doesn't take much sometimes for the batteries to drop, certainly if some things are left running in the background..... quite a few things in modern vans draw a small bit, which all adds up, those little leds for example... Just make sure you charge up your batteries and connect them up correctly. Van Pos to one battery and Van Neg to the other battery otherwise they wont give you long life.

 

[ianm67]

As @Boots in Action said I would say batterys charge state meant the BM wouldn't charge, have had that before........... A couple of reads of the manual for the thing is absolutely needed to be on top of these things, especially when you connect up new batteries, things have to be set up so the monitor can display, on the BMPro set ups I have seen often the batteries have been hooked up wrong as well as the shunt, especially when an invertor is involved....

The 450w solar is actual input not what the rating of the panels adds up to, be lucky to see 400w with even 600w on roof......................

Your displays wouldn't show anything as once the batteries drop down they are shut out of the system until you charge them up with a 240v charger, best to disconnect and then charge, once charged up all works again happily.................. If van parked up without power or solar then it doesn't take much sometimes for the batteries to drop, certainly if some things are left running in the background..... quite a few things in modern vans draw a small bit, which all adds up, those little leds for example... Just make sure you charge up your batteries and connect them up correctly. Van Pos to one battery and Van Neg to the other battery otherwise they wont give you long life.

In regards to the inverter what is the best way to hook it up?…..directly to positive on number 1 battery and to negative on number two? Or do I go through the shunt And positive to positive on other battery?
I currently have it hooked up positive to one battery negative to the second battery with a isolator switch on positive cable.

 

[ianm67]

As @Boots in Action said I would say batterys charge state meant the BM wouldn't charge, have had that before........... A couple of reads of the manual for the thing is absolutely needed to be on top of these things, especially when you connect up new batteries, things have to be set up so the monitor can display, on the BMPro set ups I have seen often the batteries have been hooked up wrong as well as the shunt, especially when an invertor is involved....

The 450w solar is actual input not what the rating of the panels adds up to, be lucky to see 400w with even 600w on roof......................

Your displays wouldn't show anything as once the batteries drop down they are shut out of the system until you charge them up with a 240v charger, best to disconnect and then charge, once charged up all works again happily.................. If van parked up without power or solar then it doesn't take much sometimes for the batteries to drop, certainly if some things are left running in the background..... quite a few things in modern vans draw a small bit, which all adds up, those little leds for example... Just make sure you charge up your batteries and connect them up correctly. Van Pos to one battery and Van Neg to the other battery otherwise they wont give you long life.

Thanks Drover,
I will have a read of the manual before installing the new batteries. I’ve also just bought another set of solar panels totalling 390W I could put the two together and use a double Anderson plug leading to the hitch Anderson plug to increase the solar input as you said given the time a year I would be lucky to go anywhere near the 450W maximum capacity. The other set of solar panels is it 300W.

 

[Boots in Action]

Thanks Drover,
I will have a read of the manual before installing the new batteries. I’ve also just bought another set of solar panels totalling 390W I could put the two together and use a double Anderson plug leading to the hitch Anderson plug to increase the solar input as you said given the time a year I would be lucky to go anywhere near the 450W maximum capacity. The other set of solar panels is it 300W.

@ianm67 , by my calculations a rating of 450 watts input into your MPPT controller in your BMpro 35C is about 26 amps at 17.0 volts. So as long as you stay under say 30 amps input (actual), you should have no problems. If joining extra panels into the MPPT input controller, don't forget to bypass the controller/s on back of portable panels. Whilst you may get away with two different controllers working in PARALLEL on to the same battery (if settings are close), you do not want to have two solar controllers in SERIES connected to the same battery.
The advertised output of all solar panels is max Working voltage (not max voltage) multiplied by max Current at STC.

P max (watts) equals Vmp (Volts) X Imp (amps) at STC.

A good link to understand the electrical jargon and how they are affected by temperature, cleanliness and time of day .

Understanding Solar Panel Output Specifications: STC, NOCT, Pmax and More | Solar 4 RVs

Navigate the complex world of solar panel specifications with our comprehensive guide. Learn about STC, NOCT, and more to choose the right solar panel for your needs. Explore our range of high-quality panels

www.solar4rvs.com.au

 

[Hitting the road]

Thanks Drover,
I will have a read of the manual before installing the new batteries. I’ve also just bought another set of solar panels totalling 390W I could put the two together and use a double Anderson plug leading to the hitch Anderson plug to increase the solar input as you said given the time a year I would be lucky to go anywhere near the 450W maximum capacity. The other set of solar panels is it 300W.

Hi Ianm67, I have a 2nd separate MPPT solar controller besides the fitted BMS controller in my van to hook up extra panels, as the J35B in my van only accepts up to 300w in panel input. I can add up to an additional 450w or alternatively 80v of external panel rating thru the second Controller if I choose to do so...as Drover mentioned above, you are unlikely to see anything near the manufacturers panel max wattage rating being pumped in anyway.

Though when I pair up any extra panels I connect them in series rather than parallel to extract as much as I can from the panels by utilising the MPPT controller's ability to have large voltage supplied to reduce to what the battery bank needs are. This also gives the ability by connecting panels in series to connect more than 450w rated if I so desire. Parallel is fine too as that can be simpler being you can just plug all the panels straight in to Y connectors....providing as Boots in Action wrote you bypass any solar controller attached to the panels otherwise the panels may not offer very much at all as the controllers could clash.

When using two solar controllers, ir the one in the BMS and the external one, it is important too that the controllers can see the battery pack they are connected to. That way they read the battery, not the other controller. You can do this by disconnecting the solar panel/s from the controllers individually, and then allow each one to "see" the battery bank without the other....then re connect to the panels. Alway connect a controller to the battery bank before connecting to the panels anyway.
Usually this will overcome either one of the controllers shutting down to float early should they be incorrectly take in to account the other controller's input

 

[Drover]

440w on roof, 120w portable sometimes hooked up together thru the main MPPT unit or roof on the MPPT and portable on PWM, I have never seen any conflict they both work happily together and when batteries near full the one with the least amount of sun may shut down, if you have a decent amount of storage so you don't flog the batteries each night then you won't see anywhere near the rated output of the panels which would only be for a short while at midday anyway and my batteries are at 100% and float charge by about 0830 with the portable, well before the roof gets going...........
With just the 440w on roof running I'm lucky to see half the rated amps and mostly its single digit because my batteries are rarely run down, so things are just trickling..... If your batteries need heaps of power each morning then you are running them down and need more storage.......

If you have more wattage on the roof than the unit is rated for it will still work very well, just that on the rare occasion you get to that limit it won't provide anything over , still work just clip the power, well it should anyway... never managed to get mine up that high to see though.

Got to remember the bumpf on this stuff is all lab work with a perfect bit of sun and everything rosy, once outside the variations mean all the lab stuff is like tare weight a myth............. On a perfect day my lot should put out around 30 odd amps, I don't think Ive ever seen more than 15, probably should shut off the solar till about 1030, to let the batteries drain a bit more with phones and laptop charging then switch the system on to see ............... be an interesting test i suppose.

 

[ianm67]

440w on roof, 120w portable sometimes hooked up together thru the main MPPT unit or roof on the MPPT and portable on PWM, I have never seen any conflict they both work happily together and when batteries near full the one with the least amount of sun may shut down, if you have a decent amount of storage so you don't flog the batteries each night then you won't see anywhere near the rated output of the panels which would only be for a short while at midday anyway and my batteries are at 100% and float charge by about 0830 with the portable, well before the roof gets going...........
With just the 440w on roof running I'm lucky to see half the rated amps and mostly its single digit because my batteries are rarely run down, so things are just trickling..... If your batteries need heaps of power each morning then you are running them down and need more storage.......

If you have more wattage on the roof than the unit is rated for it will still work very well, just that on the rare occasion you get to that limit it won't provide anything over , still work just clip the power, well it should anyway... never managed to get mine up that high to see though.

Got to remember the bumpf on this stuff is all lab work with a perfect bit of sun and everything rosy, once outside the variations mean all the lab stuff is like tare weight a myth............. On a perfect day my lot should put out around 30 odd amps, I don't think Ive ever seen more than 15, probably should shut off the solar till about 1030, to let the batteries drain a bit more with phones and laptop charging then switch the system on to see ............... be an interesting test i suppose.

Lots of variables isn’t there I just type with these two brand-new batteries my problems are going to be solved and with 450 W of solar I’m sure I’ll be right for the eight days away. I can always hook up the ute to the caravan if I really need too

 

[Drover]

Lots of variables isn’t there I just type with these two brand-new batteries my problems are going to be solved and with 450 W of solar I’m sure I’ll be right for the eight days away. I can always hook up the ute to the caravan if I really need too

I park up beside a river for a couple of weeks and so long as the sun is shining its only running out of gas or water thats the concern, never power, batteries at 100% each morning, then I will drive to next camp and do it again, can go away for 3 mths and its all solar power, my van cannot be charged from the tug at all so cannot see where this thing about running out of power, even when I run genny for washing machine the 240v charger isn't switched on as no need...... long super cloudy and rainy days 4 or more I may need the genny on for a few hours and even if I had the capability of charging from tug I wouldn't be idling it for a few hours to charge the batteries...... if the weather is that bad Ive moved on anyway or at least shut down non essential.
I have 440w on roof 210a/h of batteries GELs, so if you can't manage a week then the set up is not right at all... if you use an invertor don't leave it turned on, only turn on when in use or you will be chewing power.