Solar panel controllers

[Deleted member 1430]

I was doing some jobs on my Hymer E690 when I spotted the red and green lights. I presume that one of my solar panels is not working correctly. Any ideas? I have 2 solar panels which feed 1 LB

 

[Trek]

Each panel has its own SR100 controller ?

How are the batteries connected just the outputs from these two SR100’s teed together ?

Green light “Akku voll” = battery full So that looks good and suggests regulator thinks that the battery is full


So why is red led up on the other

laden = meaning load or charge in this scenario ??? So second regulator still charging battery ?

 

[Trek]

Maybe turn all your 12 v stuff on to drain battery a bit and see if both go red

Have you ever seen both green before ?


You could also try covering each panel at a time to see what happens

Noticed in your photo the bare wires at the connectors maybe worth putting some insulation tape on these or reterminating them

 

[Trek]

Does the brightness of the red and green leds change depending on state of charge of batteries

Eg as the battery approaches full capacity the green is dim but gets progressively brighter until its full on and battery full while red does the opposite and gets dimmer until off ?

And to confirm both panels just charge the leisure battery via 2 controllers , the engine battery is not charged via these

 

[Deleted member 1430]

Thanks Trek. All good ideas that I will try this weekend.

I'm fairly sure that the engine battery is not charged from the solar panels as it used to suffer during the winter whilst the leisure battery remained ok. When VanBitz fitted my alarm 2 years ago they also fitted a link between the batteries and subsequently the engine battery has always remained good, even in winter.
Dave

 

[Admin]

I recently had a chat with one of our members about having two chargers charging the same battery bank. He then performed some tests to see if I was right

Chargers supply a charge current based on the voltage they read from the battery. The higher the voltage, the lower the charge current. When two chargers are both connected to the same battery bank they both increase the voltage and cause the charge current to be lower. Charger A causes charger B to lower its output and Charger B cause charger A to lower its output. When the batteries are fairly discharged this is less of a problem as the battery pulls the charge voltage down to a level where both chargers are most likely supplying their full capacity. As the battery voltage rises the two chargers conflict and you get less charge than you would from one larger solar controller.

The member disconnected one of the chargers (pulled the fuse) and found he got more charge with only one charger connected than when he had both connected.

 

[nabsim]

I can confirm what Phil says as I am that member

Since connecting both panels through the one (suitably sized) controller I am seeing much better harvesting. I can post graphs as my display is just that. I thought it was working okay with 2 controllers due to the exceptionally good weather we have had this summer but I was at best only getting half of what I should.

The fact you have one controller taking load and the other shut down (red) says to me yours is the same. This is only through my own experience though not from any technical knowledge. If your controllers aren’t big enough to take both panels I would look at replacing them with a bigger one. Check where it goes from the controller though, if it goes straight to batteries no problem, if you get a dual controller you can take a feed to starter battery as well

 

[Deleted member 1430]

Thanks guys. I will investigate this with my limited technical knowledge. I inherited this set up 7 years ago and although sometimes they cause a buzzing sound at night, they haven't really been an issue. I had thought about replacing the LB as it is now 8 years old but it still seems to be fine.