Electrical Solar Panel not charging battery

[NoWorries]

I would have thought that it always would be showing some amps
Battery chargers and Solar regulators mostly work the same way
Bulk Charge at first to get it back to 95% full
Steady Charge to get it from 95% to 100%
Float Charge to keep it at 100%

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I would have thought that it always would be showing some amps
Battery chargers and Solar regulators mostly work the same way
Bulk Charge at first to get it back to 95% full
Steady Charge to get it from 95% to 100%
Float Charge to keep it at 100%

The standard TPM1230 is a PWM charger (pulse width modulation) which reduces the power being supplied to the batteries as they become charged.

It's not a stepped charger so doesn't have a float charge as such.

Once the battery voltage starts to drop and there is solar available it will start to supply current to the battery.

If you are on mains power, the Setec is charging the battery thus the TPM1230 sees it as being full and won't supply power to it.

 

[Crusty181]

My drifter is off it head, displaying all kinds of wierd info.

After reading the very good info you guys are posting, it would appear i have ample power ... and i should ignore the drifter until i get a chance to check the wiring

Off the grid my solar panel reg is testing at 17v odd panel side, with 14v ish on the battery side. The reg itself sometimes reads upto 8amp ish going to the battery and sometimes in full sun reads zero.

Im now assuming? the zero is when the batteries are charged?

Idiot Drifter panel shows charge when using it and discharge when connected to mains. Sometimes we have 199hrs, then sometimes 20hrs left.

If anyone is a Drifter expert, the manual shows yellow to battery side of shunt and all other wires to appliance side. Mine has power only to appliance side and all others to battery side.

 

[icetechaus]

Hi Crusty
From the Drifter manual that I just downloaded it shows the brown wire going to the load (appliance) side and all others to the battery side of the shunt.
The basic principle of operation is that you have the current flows through a resistor (the shunt) and the Drifter measures the voltage drop across the resistor.
What you have described sounds like the Setec charger is connected to the wrong side of the shunt.
http://rvpartsexpress.com.au/_instruction_manuals/the_drifter_instruction_manual.pdf

 

[Crusty181]

Hi Crusty
From the Drifter manual that I just downloaded it shows the brown wire going to the load (appliance) side and all others to the battery side of the shunt.
The basic principle of operation is that you have the current flows through a resistor (the shunt) and the Drifter measures the voltage drop across the resistor.
What you have described sounds like the Setec charger is connected to the wrong side of the shunt.
http://rvpartsexpress.com.au/_instruction_manuals/the_drifter_instruction_manual.pdf
View attachment 38612

I would normally just unravel it all and re-wire it, but i was a little reluctant to dive straight in that because Jayco have stuffed up this wiring with some very professional and beautiful loom work. The quality of the balls up had me second guessing myself and the Drifter Manual

 

[mfexpanda]

I disconnected 240 volt power and ran a few appliances on battery/solar to discharge the batteries a bit. Hey Presto the regulator showed amps coming in from the solar panels. So... The regulator will not show any amps coming in from the panels if the batteries are fully charged.

Ours usually shows .2 amps when batteries are full

 

[Bellbirdweb]

My drifter is off it head, displaying all kinds of wierd info.

After reading the very good info you guys are posting, it would appear i have ample power ... and i should ignore the drifter until i get a chance to check the wiring

Off the grid my solar panel reg is testing at 17v odd panel side, with 14v ish on the battery side. The reg itself sometimes reads upto 8amp ish going to the battery and sometimes in full sun reads zero.

Im now assuming? the zero is when the batteries are charged?

Idiot Drifter panel shows charge when using it and discharge when connected to mains. Sometimes we have 199hrs, then sometimes 20hrs left.

If anyone is a Drifter expert, the manual shows yellow to battery side of shunt and all other wires to appliance side. Mine has power only to appliance side and all others to battery side.

@Crusty181 the estimated hours remaining will fluctuate depending on the current being drawn at the time (its a live display).

When I have everything running (all the 12v lights etc) it can drop down to 40-50hrs remaining, but as I reduce the number of devices it comes back up, until it gets to >199.

We were free camping for a week at Christmas, which is the first time I have been truly running on solar for any length of time.

I found the solar was working perfectly, and would show current that seemed to match well with the amount of power being taken from the batteries.

Having said that, it seems to show outgoing current, but not the incoming from the solar. I suspect this means the solar is connected directly to the battery and not via the shunt.

Job for this afternoon to have a look and see.

 

[Crusty181]

@Crusty181 the estimated hours remaining will fluctuate depending on the current being drawn at the time (its a live display).

When I have everything running (all the 12v lights etc) it can drop down to 40-50hrs remaining, but as I reduce the number of devices it comes back up, until it gets to >199.

We were free camping for a week at Christmas, which is the first time I have been truly running on solar for any length of time.

I found the solar was working perfectly, and would show current that seemed to match well with the amount of power being taken from the batteries.

Having said that, it seems to show outgoing current, but not the incoming from the solar. I suspect this means the solar is connected directly to the battery and not via the shunt.

Job for this afternoon to have a look and see.

Our Drifter is all over the shop. It fluctuates dramatically within the same load, although yesterdays its been playing nicely. Ours can show 20hrs on 2x120amp charged batteries with no load.

Panels are connected directly to the battery terminals via the reg

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Our Drifter is all over the shop. It fluctuates dramatically within the same load, although yesterdays its been playing nicely. Ours can show 20hrs on 2x120amp charged batteries with no load.

Panels are connected directly to the battery terminals via the reg

Hmm, something definitely amiss there then @Crusty181.

reading the Drifter panel manual , it indicates the shunt needs to monitor both incoming and outgoing current. With the solar connected directly to the battery, it cant really know what is coming in, all it depends on is the battery voltage rising.

I'm going to see if I can wire it so the solar -ve traverses the shunt as well to see how smart it actually is.

 

[davemc]

I have been worried about my solar on the 22.68 as the 17.58 I used to see it charge when not plugged in. The Solar was put on afterwards by the same people who did my bike rack and drilled the holes for AFK in the wrong spots.. Hence the worry.
So I did a test the other weekend turned all 12v things on inc fan nothing for a while until the battery dropped then it started charging.
Seemed to not kick in to the battery dropped a bit first. Our solar regulator is next to the battery under the bed facing battery.
Weird as the same setup with drifter, solar regulator as 17.58 although seems not to kick in to the battery drops.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I have been worried about my solar on the 22.68 as the 17.58 I used to see it charge when not plugged in. The Solar was put on afterwards by the same people who did my bike rack and drilled the holes for AFK in the wrong spots.. Hence the worry.
So I did a test the other weekend turned all 12v things on inc fan nothing for a while until the battery dropped then it started charging.
Seemed to not kick in to the battery dropped a bit first. Our solar regulator is next to the battery under the bed facing battery.
Weird as the same setup with drifter, solar regulator as 17.58 although seems not to kick in to the battery drops.

I was orignally worried about the same thing, but it certainly seems to work OK, and seems to be how PWM solar controllers work

 

[davemc]

although pretty sure my 17.58 showed the solar charge to controller even when not charging.
Used to match the controller next to it pretty sure?
The 22.68 only shows the charging rate. So if your using 5amp and your getting 7amp from the sun you see 2amp charging.
Thats what it looked liked. Might play again today now the suns out.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

although pretty sure my 17.58 showed the solar charge to controller even when not charging.
Used to match the controller next to it pretty sure?
The 22.68 only shows the charging rate. So if your using 5amp and your getting 7amp from the sun you see 2amp charging.
Thats what it looked liked. Might play again today now the suns out.

If it's working correctly, then that's what you should see, what's being generated, used and residual going to the battery

 

[Luke72]

Same thing happened to my solar. Full sun drawing 0.00 amps. Pulled the cover off the terminal box, was a bit tight but gentle pry with screwdriver did the trick & found both cables leading to the regulator had come loose. Re terminated cables & problem sorted.

 

[jbell6660]

Thought I had this drifter thing sorted!!! For those that have solar panels connected does the solar negative connection go to the drifter shunt or direct to battery?? I have a ctek d250s but I am not getting any charging amps showing on the drifter. So my question where does the solar negative connect to?? I assume it has to go the drifter shunt??

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Thought I had this drifter thing sorted!!! For those that have solar panels connected does the solar negative connection go to the drifter shunt or direct to battery?? I have a ctek d250s but I am not getting any charging amps showing on the drifter. So my question where does the solar negative connect to?? I assume it has to go the drifter shunt??

Everyone seems to have theirs direct to the battery (including mine) but I don't think that's correct.

In order for the Drifter to know what's coming on and out, I believe the -ve should be going through the shunt, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

 

[jbell6660]

I should add drifter shows battery voltage when being charged from solar just not amps or does it only show amps being discharged??

 

[Bellbirdweb]

I should add drifter shows battery voltage when being charged from solar just not amps or does it only show amps being discharged??

Yes it will show volts no problem, but it can't see the amps coming in.

Unless it's smart enough to see the amps going out vs the voltage, but I don't think it is.

To use the amps properly and to show the capacity remaining it must need to know the total amps in and out ???

 

[Crusty181]

Everyone seems to have theirs direct to the battery (including mine) but I don't think that's correct.

In order for the Drifter to know what's coming on and out, I believe the -ve should be going through the shunt, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

What you say make sense, but the dealer was adamant solar is connected directl . I might email Setec and get a definitive answer

 

[jbell6660]

Ok yep has to be connected to the shunt. Now showing amps. I covered up the solar panels so no charging happening while I changed the connection. Now my take on it is this. While the battery is being charged, the >199 hours does not show on the screen and "dis" disappears from the discharging wording above the battery level - now shows charging. When the battery is not being charged (and if the battery switch is on) the no of hours left reappears and the "dis" reappears to show discharging above the battery level. Just my thoughts and I hope I have this correct???