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rcampbell avatar image
rcampbell asked

Smart solar 100-20

Greetings,


I am part of a local sign shop and last year we installed a monument sign with zamp-zs90L and a zamp -Zs170, a Victron MPPT 100/20 as well as a lifeline GPL-27T battery. It was all Picked out by a company. Now i am generalized with electrical, I can we wire homes and mess with low volt. But we are having a tough time with this one sign, it’s our intro into green Electrical work.

Based off the history 29 days ago it was working great but sense then on the history chart it has shown a downward trend. Our PV power does not get past 6w When charging.


the panels are wired parallel, no moisture in cabinet, panels are cleaned, aimed to the south. Only load coming off of MPPT box is 2 sets of led lights, it worked just until out first big rainstorm.


we got called out by the property manager and explained it was blinking. His words not ours, last 3 times we went out it was blinking and yet we have not been able to replicate the blinking. All the connections are tight, nothing is stand out to why the lights are blinking. Can someone help me out to where to start Troubleshooting? Our battery starts out at like 14v no load, but apply load it drops to 8.5ish. is My MPPT box go bad? Or did the battery shit out?



MPPT SmartSolarvictron
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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·
A wiring diagram maybe is helpful.
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rcampbell avatar image rcampbell Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·
Added pictures below
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3 Answers
kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

Winter means less sun and shorter days. Much less power. My 600 W panels barely give 50W at the moment.

The MPPT is smart. If you install the victron connect app, follow the instructions and connect to the MPPT with it (not the phone bluetooth) you can read power in/out and also check the settings. As it is fairly public there it would be a good idea to change the pin from the default six zeroes.

By the way the victron toolkit app has the interpretation of the less. Next time they blink, get him to tell you which and see what it means.

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kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

Is it winter where you are? Could be simply the reduction in daylight.

Rewiring the panels in series may help, so long as the controller can handle it (Voc and temperature changes).

What is the load? And what are the panel specs?

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rcampbell avatar image
rcampbell answered ·

a06a0cc1-8af2-4b1a-9f65-5ce1fdcca3bc.jpeg

mppt box with disconnect from solar panels 602827e1-5bb1-4d04-a5bf-305638d28849.jpeg

both solar panels on top wired parallel to mppt box, thick black wire on bottom ran to battery. White wires are the led lights that are around 10-12 watts (2 sets of leds on either side of cabine.
c158e089-55ff-456f-8c49-3f8606efcf9b.jpegbattery location With inline fuse

be1af132-6450-4694-bd2a-4f145f44d348.jpeg Top of cabinet with solar panels


Solar panels are zs90L bought though AMsolar company that made it is Zamp. I have 2 90w panels


Yes it is winter, would that lower the ability to charge battery? We had it set up to run only 3 hours useing the streetlight mode. I have a saved file from the property manager but I don’t know how to read it and troubleshoot the system.

we went out there Monday 11-29 and checked all connections made sure it was tight, as well as checked for water damage and everything is still tight and dry.


a06a0cc1-8af2-4b1a-9f65-5ce1fdcca3bc.jpeg (151.5 KiB)
602827e1-5bb1-4d04-a5bf-305638d28849.jpeg (171.6 KiB)
c158e089-55ff-456f-8c49-3f8606efcf9b.jpeg (147.3 KiB)
be1af132-6450-4694-bd2a-4f145f44d348.jpeg (152.2 KiB)
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Related Resources

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

MPPT product page

VictronConnect manual

PWM or MPPT

MPPT calculator

MPPT codes