question

incagarcilaso avatar image
incagarcilaso asked

Blue Solar 150/85 not charging

The installation has two Blue Solar 150/85s. These have been running fine for about a month but suddenly they have stopped charging. Their state stays in "off" rather than moving to bulk when the sun comes up. During the day voltage is present but there is a 0W reading and the chargers don't move from "off" to bulk charging as they did before.

I've checked all cabling and all seems fine. No changes were made. Not sure why they suddenly stayed on "off" after a month or so working fine. They have firmware v.1.39.


MPPT Controllersbattery charging
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

5 Answers
Murray van Graan avatar image
Murray van Graan answered ·

Have you unplugged them from the Venus device, and see if they work in standalone mode?

4 comments
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso commented ·

I haven't. Do you mean to just disconnect the VE Direct cables between the CCGX and each regulator? I assume from this that you think the CCGX might be keeping them off for some reason? I thought the VE Direct cables connecting the regulators to the CCGX were just for reading data.

If you think this might work I'll try it tomorrow when the sun's up again.

0 Likes 0 ·
Murray van Graan avatar image Murray van Graan incagarcilaso commented ·

Yes, disconnect the ve.direct cables. The Venus device has the ability to control the MPPT, so let’s eliminate that possibility.

0 Likes 0 ·
Show more comments
Mark avatar image
Mark answered ·

Its surprising that the issue has not yet been found, but you checking all the right things...

Have you maybe got the 'low temperature cut-off' feature active? (Under 'Settings' > 'Battery' in Victron Connect app.)

If so, what is the battery temperature reported in the Victron Connect app vs the cutt-off setting? If on also try to disable it.

Are there any errors reported in the 'History' tab of the Victron Connect app? These come up as an orange circle with a number in it, then click on the circle to show the error(s). They should also be reported on your Venus device in the 'Daily History' tab, it would be good to go through the last few days to see if an error came up at some stage.

Is it possible that you exceeded the 150v PV voltage limit of the MPPT? You can also check the daily maximum PV voltage in the 'History' tab of the Victron Connect app or via the Venus device.

Lastly, do you have DVCC enabled on your Venus device? If so, have you enabled a system charge current limit & is it possibly set to 0A? Worth a check.

While your at at, maybe also give the Venus device a 'reboot'.

3 comments
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso commented ·

Hi @Mark and thanks for all the suggestions. Your last one is the solution that worked, as @Murraynated suggested above, but it only worked by physically disconnecting the VE Direct cable between the MPPTs and the Venus device first, waiting a couple of minutes, reconnecting and then rebooting. It seems that some kind of interference left the CCGX in need of a reboot and it froze the MPPTs connected to it. A good lesson learned as in the 6 years I've had the CCGX it has never caused this problem. It also has a Wifi module connected to it which I noticed had also stopped working. The reboot also cleared that problem.

To answer your other questions in case it helps others, the low temp cut-off feature was not activated and there were no errors reported anywhere on the Venus device for any of the devices connected to it. DVCC is not enabled.

It might have helped if the CCGX had reported an error because there clearly was one but whatever caused it, it didn't pick it up.

Thanks again for all your help.

0 Likes 0 ·
Mark avatar image Mark ♦♦ incagarcilaso commented ·

No problem. Glad to hear that it was fixed in the end & good information if the same issue occurs to someone else.

Just in case your CCGX is not running the latest firmware, it would be a good idea to update as I remember reading of an update in one of the change logs that automatically re-boots the CCGX in certain scenarios such as a freeze. Sorry I can't recall if this was in the upcoming 2.30 beta version or the currently released firmware.

Edit: These are 2 possibly related updates/fixes coming in Venus v2.30;

0 Likes 0 ·
screenshot-2019-04-24-23-57-37-1.png (68.2 KiB)
screenshot-2019-04-24-23-58-39-1.png (47.0 KiB)
incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso Mark ♦♦ commented ·

Great pointer. I have the latest stable version, as I updated only a couple of weeks ago, so this must be the 2.3 beta that you mention because I currently don't see the "auto reboot if no data sent" option in the version I have. I'll certainly be updating to that when the release is stable as it will save special journeys to site to manually reboot when this happens - this has happened a few times over the years.

Great stuff!

0 Likes 0 ·
Mark avatar image
Mark answered ·

Check solar voltage at the MPPT terminals with a multimeter. Then check battery voltage at the MPPT terminals with a multimeter.

The solar voltage must be 5v above the battery voltage for the MPPT to start charging.

Check that the short cable link in the MPPT remote on/off terminals is still there & secure.

If you have access to Victron Connect via Bluetooth check that the 'charger enabled' toggle switch is on. Also check that the charge voltages are all set correctly.

7 comments
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso commented ·

Thanks for the input.

Voltage at MPPT terminals from solar is 106v. Voltage from batteries at terminals is 52v. Charger is enabled and all charge voltages are configured correctly. As I mentioned, this was working fine for a month and has suddenly just stopped. After switching to the "off" state after sunset, which is normal, the next day it just never switched back to bulk and has been like that for 3 days now, permanently off.

Where is the short cable for the remote on/off?

0 Likes 0 ·
wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ incagarcilaso commented ·

This is the jumper connection the Mark speaks of (on the right with the little loop of wire). It needs to be present otherwise the charger stays off all the time.

0 Likes 0 ·
1556029676380.png (18.8 KiB)
incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso wkirby ♦♦ commented ·

Thanks WKirby. So I've checked the remote control shunt and it is still there on both. This all seems to suggest it is internal. Could it be the fuse that the manual says can only be replaced by sending the regulator back to Victron? If the fuse had blown I'm sure it would show an error but there is no error showing.

0 Likes 0 ·
incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso incagarcilaso commented ·

Here's the info on one of the regulators from the CCGX. As you can see everything seems normal except for the fact that it is "off" instead of in one of the charge fases!

0 Likes 0 ·
mppterror.png (44.6 KiB)
buzzlightyear avatar image buzzlightyear incagarcilaso commented ·

You can also disable charging through VictronConnect, are you sure that was not done by accident?

0 Likes 0 ·
incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso buzzlightyear commented ·

How is that done? How can I check? All I can see in Victron Connect is the "enable" button, which is used for maintenance. This is on for both regulators. Or is there somewhere else where charging itself can be enabled or disabled?

Here's the config in the "battery" section in Victron Connect. This hasn't changed since they were working.

0 Likes 0 ·
screenshot-20190423-210125.png (159.7 KiB)
buzzlightyear avatar image buzzlightyear incagarcilaso commented ·

The Charger Enabled slider. But I see it is active. Maybe deactivate and activate again?

0 Likes 0 ·
wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

Blown internal fuses is a logical assumption, but I'm struggling to accept that both units blow their internal fuses at the same time for no apparent reason.

Is the charger enabled? In the App, there is an option under the battery settings to enable or disable the charger.

Are you certain that the battery is actually connected?
Does the battery Voltage still show 52.35V in the night time?

Is it possible to "turn it off and then on again"? I'm not entirely convinced, but let's give it a go anyway.
Remove the PV and battery cables, wait a few minutes and then connect the battery first followed by the PV.

3 comments
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso commented ·

Thanks @WKirby Yes, I tried removing cables as you describe to "reset" everything, but this did not resolve it.

The battery voltage reading is accurate in the regulators - it coincides with that shown on the BMV702 as well as with manual readings I have taken. It fluctuates according to load and charge state but it is accurate in the regulators.

0 Likes 0 ·
incagarcilaso avatar image incagarcilaso commented ·

Is there a test for confirming whether the fuse is blown? If the fuse was blown would this not show as an error? If the fuse was blown does the regulator still show all the readings of PV array and battery voltage on each side?

0 Likes 0 ·
wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ incagarcilaso commented ·

If the fuse was blown then I would not expect it to show Voltages like that, maybe just small Voltages. If the battery Voltage is still showing correctly, even at night, then that is not the problem and the fuse is likely to be OK.

This is quite strange, it is making me think a lot.

0 Likes 0 ·
giorgos avatar image
giorgos answered ·

I have the same problem from time to time on an MPPT 250/70. If for some reason I need to reboot the system, the solar controller will not produce any power ( only 5-15 W). I can see the correct voltage for both solar & battery but tyhe current is 0A

Restarting the MPPT a few times even after I wait a few minutes in between it will not help. If I will ignore it for the day, it will come right the next morning.

No errors are showing on the system.

After trying the tip from Murray van Graan to disconnect the VE cable, it did help the MPPT to start producing again. This make me suspect a wrong setting somewhere ?

2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Related Resources

MPPT Product Page

MPPT Error codes

MPPT 150/60 up to 250/70 Manual

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic