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Brian Brown avatar image
Brian Brown asked

MPPT RS 450/100 intermittently turning off charging during bulk/absorption

I have a new (3 weeks old) installation with a MPPT RS 450/100 (firmware v1.09) and (2) serial strings of (8) 415W panels, 10.3A (Impp), 48.2V (Voc) that are intermittent turning off charging on both trackers during bulk and absorption multiple times a day. There are no errors. I'm driving to the maximum of 5760W but want the extra headroom for winter months. Everything is working great otherwise. Is this expected behavior or does my unit have a problem?screen-shot-2022-04-27-at-102942-pm.pngscreen-shot-2022-04-27-at-103335-pm.pngscreen-shot-2022-04-27-at-103348-pm.png

mppt rs
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3 Answers
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @Brian Brown I've sent you an email, we'd like to exchange the unit so we can research this one that is giving you trouble.

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dennis avatar image dennis commented ·
Hi @Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff)

i have this same problem at my MPPT RS 450/100 too! Could you please assist.

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dennis avatar image dennis dennis commented ·
Hi @Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff)

Now after an turn off and on with the switch at the bottom, error 200 DC Error occurred. Some sounds like lightning appears randomly. Battery DC and Solar DC double-checked and OK. Device not working anymore. Try to get get an RMA of this brand new device over my distributor. Hope he will answer to my question. :-(


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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ dennis commented ·
Hi @dennis yes if it is clearly defective, pleas contact dealer for RMA.
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Brian Brown avatar image Brian Brown commented ·

Hi @Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff). My replacement MPPT RS 450/100 is doing the same thing as the original failed unit. Has the research group determined the cause and a fix for this yet? Upgrading to firmware v1.10 may have reduced the dropouts but hasn't eliminated them. I can go for days with no dropouts, other days I can get 3 dropouts. Solar conditions and inverter load don't seem to have an effect on what is causing the dropouts. The BMS's in my batteries aren't showing any errors either. Sometimes only the charger relay opens, both most of the times both the mppt state and the charger sate turn off momentarily. My last unit ultimately hard failed with an error #200 just like @dennis. My biggest concern is that this unit will hard fail again. I can't afford to have that happen. Thanks.

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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ Brian Brown commented ·
Hi @Brian Brown

This is due to having an over-capacity of panels, in previous versions of firmware you'd get an error, now the tracker restarts if it goes over it's limit. Note that this only takes some seconds.

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jonnyjnr avatar image jonnyjnr Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

Hi Daniel, I have 2x mppt 450/100 each tracker has 8x 390w panels. Both my mppts aren't charging as per the thread. What is going on. This a brand new system.

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Juhani Lehtonen avatar image Juhani Lehtonen Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

Can you specify what limit you are talking about? The single string PV production limit(Max. DC output charging power 4000 W per tracker) or the Maximum PV array size per tracker limit(7200W)? I am planning on getting the RS 450/200 and using it with 4 equal strings of large 8x580W Bifacial panels. The limits of the manual seem to allow this plan of mine, but are you saying that the reality is different than in the manual and the system will start to constantly boot up? If so, what is that actual limit per string if all 4 strings are equally loaded with panels(thou with different orientations)?


Edit, I do realise that I can only get 200A in total out of the system and my idea is to maximise the charger with 4 different orientation for the strings to get as much out of the Finnish summer hours with 10kW max power(52V Float 15S 48V battery with 60kWh capacity and 3xMP2-5000/48 grid tied for the excess). The panels from the Chinese factory are so cheap that I plan to overuse them as long as the MPPT allows me.


https://jinkosolar.eu/wp-content/uploads/JKM560-580N-72HL4-BDV-F3-EN.pdf

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dennis avatar image
dennis answered ·

@Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) : thanks a lot for this fast reply. Hope the dealer can regulate it fast ;-) sun is coming

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Harold Lopez avatar image
Harold Lopez answered ·

Hello everyone,

Im having a similar trouble with an RS 450/100. This one is working with 2 different arrays, one 385VDC and the other one in 128VDC. It worked perfectly fine for about 6 months, but now, witthout any reason, it starts to turned off and stops producing. In two occation we reset it by taking out all sources, but now it doesnt respond anymore,


any ideas,

thanks a lot for your help.


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