question

@David Kennedy

I have a 75/15 has been running the 1.59 for a while with no issues.

Suggest checking you panel.

Have you verified all the settings are what they should be?

If it never works, it may just be coincidental that it occurred during the update. If you are absolutely certain that the panels are spot on, you may have to take it to a repair center to test it for you.

If it does still work just not as often then the fault is most likely still external.

Hi David... It was me who posted up on reddit.

I have the same issue and I can say with 100 percent certainty this was the 1.59 upgrade that did this..

My issue occurred immediately after I upgraded my firmware.

My panel is fine and showing 25.9v earlier when read using multimeter at cable end.

I have a raspberry pi running venus, invertor, smart shunt and orion-tr smart dc-dc charger

I am certain this is a firmware issue

I've reported it for you.

I am the third person from reddit. 130 watt panel and I can reproduce this on multiple 75/15 running 1.59. It works fine for a while then the PV voltage starts showing .1v less than the current battery charge.

I’ve only reproduced the issue with one of my 3 panels. But i am also certain it started the day after the firmware upgrade. It was working flawlessly for 3 months prior.

Hi all,

Thanks for the reports.

First to re-assure, this 1.59 firmware version has been out now for over 12 months and installed in millions of solar chargers - we are quite sure it stable and reliable.

BUT to rule it out as the cause we need to get a bit more information.

Can everyone who is experiencing issues that they think might be related to this firmware version take the following screenshots in VictronConnect and post them here:

Summary

History

Settings -> Battery

Settings -> Product Info;

Thank you Guy.

I can't quite believe it but I am getting some charge this morning. The only thing I have done is placed the battery on charge via pms mains hookup over last 18 hours.

The upgrade was done 6 days ago

2 days ago I was driving so the battery was being charged by the orion I guess

I also disconnected the battery yesterday and that will explain the 3.96 min. At that point I was getting some readings from the solar, albeit not 5v+ over 12v

Thanks

I have gone to check again and it's not working again...

@Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) I also found @Ericloe comment on reddit interesting...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Victron/comments/wt4iyq/mppt_7515_not_charging/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Hi @Ericloe, @Andy H, @David Kennedy and anyone else who suspects a 75/15 SmartSolar MPPT fault caused by the v1.59 firmware update.

I am attaching a previous firmware version v1.56.

Please see here for the instructions for how to use a self-supplied firmware update - https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/VictronConnect_Manual/en/firmware-updates.html

You will need to unzip to extract the .DUP firmware file first - let me know if this is an issue and I can organise the .DUP without requiring the unzip.

It would be great if you could be somewhat scientific with how you approach further testing.

Ideally the systems are on VRM, and you'd be willing to let me know the system names.

It would also be very useful if you could do a screen recording of the entire procedure, showing the behaviour before, doing the update and then after. Otherwise screenshots.

Also please report back again after 24 hours, so we can see if there are any changes after a complete cycle.

Looking forward to hearing your results!

Solar Charge Controller MPPT 75-15 SMART v1.56_A053.dup.zip

Hi @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) I'm also seeing similar issues with a Bluesolar 150/35. Is it also possible to get the older version (1.56) linked for this one as well?

Hi @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) I was able to put the 1.56 firmware on, but am still seeing the issue occuring

Essentially I did the downgrade of firmware via VRM, but obviously I cant change any settings from (not that I was going to) from the Victron app as you get the message "Settings disabled, Update to the latest firmware is required in order to view, modify, load or save settings"

You can see the graph below shows I was getting a small amount of solar in this morning, and then its dropped off completely. Yes the battery is almost fully charged and its not a "Sunny" day, but would be expecting there to be something going in.

Once I get the drop off, the MPPT seems to think voltage isnt above 12.5v but the panel says otherwise when read directly via multimeter. There is no shading of the panel from trees etc

I know you have emailed directly and I appreciate that, but prior to following up on those actions, I wanted to post here in case theres something else you wish for me to look at or you can access the VRM

Thanks

Andy

I've had a small win, but then even more confused. I've found that my issue can be cured by having a fan blowing onto the 150/35 unit and since doing so, haven't had the same issues since.

Prior to the fan I did think it was very warm but not scorching hot, but must have been enough to throttle the charge controller down to basically nothing. I'm almost wondering if it must be reading the wrong temperature reading from it's internal sensor.

I'm pretty disappointed that I have to try and permanently retrofit a fan solution to my quite expensive Victron MPPT controller but just glad at least I now know what's going on.

Just providing the update in case it helps others. - Still running the 1.59 firmware.

Hi @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) any update on the email I sent to you please? Pretty much seeing this unit is misbehaving so would like to get it sorted. Thanks

Hey @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager)

Apologies for me taking so long, I am disabled and had to get help getting to the mppt, but I have, even though I couldn’t really afford it, bought a new 75/15 and plugged it in and it works perfectly.

For whatever reason, whether coincidental or not, upgraded to 1.59 on the previous one, just killed it, the new one, plugged into exact same system, same battery same panel, everything is working, obviously I’m going to keep the new one now but should there have been any sort of warranty on the original one and if so can I send it somewhere for you to have a look at, appreciate I’ve already spent £100 or thereabouts on a new mppt, but would appreciate you looking at what happened to the original one and why it stopped working at 1.59, and if possible, reimbursement for the faulty product would be appreciated.

Screenshot of new mmpt in place and not getting the charger off error despite rest of setup being exactly the same, so mppt is failure point, immediately after update as mentioned before

Let me know and sorry it has taken me so long to reply, not easy for me to do this stuff and had to wait for a friend to help

Heres my update...

New mppt received recently and just fitted. It mandated the firmware upgrade (so I did that) - and now have exactly the same issue.

1. My Panel is reading circa 25v right through to the very end connection. It is absolutely not the wiring from panel to mppt.

2. When I plug it into the mppt, the mppt will not go above 13v-14v.

3. Its very obvious as well that the MPPT starts to work early in the day, but then drops off. This isnt a shading issue, the mppt simply seems to report a different V to me reading directly from a Digital Multimeter)

This leads me to assume that the mppt is failing, or the mppt has logic to not go above the current 13-14v based on infromation its getting elsewhere ie battery health, teh raspberry pi, bmv-712

I will also reitterate that the setup was working perfectly up until I did the 1.59 upgrade and it immediately started these issues.

I understand that many installs of this in the wild and they dont have this issue, but I find it very odd that a few of us reported the issue (after we did the firmware upgrade)

Very happy to allow VRM access to Tech support - as at this stage I dont have any real options left.

any help very much appreciated.

Hi all,

I am also having the same issue as described by others above.

Mines been charging fine for months. Gone away this weekend, did the update and haven’t had any charge since.

It was charging fine this morning until I ran the update. That’s what you see on the graph, and then nothing since.

I’ve also tried rolling back the firmware to 1.56 to no avail. Seems like the damage is done?

Regards

Chris

Hi @castle

So when you look at status it's not doing anything?

My new mppt has worked fine today. So am hopeful it's sorted for me... But will see how it fairs over week. I think there's some condition that's being set to stop it working, and then it resets itself and works again. Here's today's activity showing it working better than anytime since the upgrade

Today my mppt has remained off despite being in sun.

I would say this problem is going to be tricky to solve.

Hey all, I've just gone to connect my solar up yesterday and my 75/15 has prompted me for an update. After update, having the same issue as all of you. No charging!
State switches from "off" to "BULK" and controller recognizes solar voltage but there is no "current" registering.

Never had any issues in the past 3 years, the mppt controller is barely used as its in my 4 wheel drive and not needed unless we go away on a trip.
12v setup and I've tried a few different solar panels now (200W house panel and 160w solar blanket) both have the same effect.

read all through these forums last night and rolled back the firmware to 1.56 and there was no change.

I'm in Australia and dealers here are few and far between.
By the looks of all these other people with issues I'm hoping Victron can revise a firmware update for us quickly to un-brick these devises.

@mvader (Victron Energy) @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) Any update at all (i know you only had the unit a couple of days so completely understand if not)

Thanks

Andy

Hi @mvader (Victron Energy) is there any update to this, because I've updated to 1.61 and still have the same issues.

So @Stuart Browning, myself and @mickymac still having this issue.

My units back with victron and whilst they say the unit looks fine, there's clearly still an issue affecting us only.

Hoping we can get more info on what else we might try.

Thanks

Thanks @Andy H I've ended up having to go back to the 1.59 firmware as I've noticed massive mppt issues since the 1.61 update.

Still not working. PV is putting in more than enough voltage. Mppt is changing from "off" state to "bulk" however no current is being transferred. Have gone back to firmware 1.56 with no change.

I have exactly the same symptoms everyone else here is having. PV is roughly 0.1V lower than the battery, no power going through. Problems seem to have started after the update was pushed (1.59). The setup is a VW Grand California, PV, fuses, cables, connections checked or replaced, everything seems to be ok. Next step - getting a Votronic charger sent, that should fully isolate the issue. (MPPT fault or not). Will update once test complete.

Received a new unit under warranty today.

Still no idea what had happened to the old one however I'm glad it's sorted.

Right....

I am back again and on my third victron mppt now (all have the same issue) . The solar input rarely gets beyond 13.5volts for me. Meaning I have no charging from the panel.

Fyi - I have tried with success a renogy 20amp mppt using the same wiring.

Back to using the victron, When I measure voltage at the pv connections just before they go into the victron mppt they are around 26.5v. When they are plugged into the mppt, it registers as 13.25 within the app . Coincidence that it is 50%?

When I connect the multimeter to the screws I also read 13.25

Whilst I recognise others have this sorted I don't, is there any information in the above that might help?

Thanks in advance