question

Hi Tom. You could try 'rebooting' it by powering it down from both batt & pv sides. Leave for a good while and reconnect batts first.

That said, the load terminals don't suit some loads, and I suggest you take those straight off the batts, especially with distance involved. Add a relay if you need to retain the protection functionality.

Thanks for the answer. I will try rebooting. This is surprising to me. I was not aware that some loads are not compatible with the Smartsolar. Is this a permanent situation, or may there be a firmware fix?

Unfortunately, it is not an option to pull another cable all the way through the cabin. So I may have to abandon the Smartsolar and get another kind of device. That is too bad, I like the app and this forum.

I tried rebooting the smartsolar by removing battery and solar panel cables. I let it sit for four hours and reconnected the cables, batt first. There is still no load output. I also tried removing and reinserting the fuse.

The smartsolar was powering up two of these devices connected in parallell when the load output broke down. They were idle/not connected to anything. I have been using them with my old PWM regulator for 10 years, with no troubles:

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-accucell-6-50w-6a-balancer-charger-lihv-capable.html?___store=en_us

Is my smartsolar shorted and permanently damaged?

I tried to connect my new Pioneer car stereo to the load output of my SmartSolar 100/20 MPPT, but it does not accept it. The load output stays in "Off" position as long as the car stereo is connected. Also, the SmartSolar does not accept my 12v->230v PC power inverter.

Did anybody try to connect a Pioneer car stereo to the load output of one of the smaller SmartSolar units? Is it supposed to work?

hi there @Tom56, I have the exact same problem. Load is in state on when nothing is connected, but as soon as I connect something, eg an inverter, the load output switches to state Off.

This looks like a real issue with the SmartSolar MPPT controller. It drives me nuts. I have everything ready to use but can't use the load.

I'm by no means an expert but I have had some experience with 100/20 load-output problems. Best is to only use small loads on the output. Led-lights are fine for instance. Any other loads, generating (temporaraly) high currents should be connected directly to the battery.

The load output of the SmartSolar MPPTs is so sensitive to possible shorts, that many devices can not be run directly from it: I am using the SmartSolar 100/20 with the load output port in a simple cabin setup. I can not connect my Pioneer car stereo, 12v car vacuum cleaner, 12v->230v inverter (unloaded), lipo chargers (unloaded), 12v->20v PC boost converter (unloaded) directly to it. The same goes for quite a few refrigerators I have read.

Generally, it seems the SmartSolar is not happy about devices with onboard capasitors, requiring an instant initial charge. They are misinterpreted as a short.

One solution is to stop using the load output by taking all loads directly from the battery, bypassing the logic that to many was the reason for buying the SmartSolar in the first place.

Another soluting is the workaround mentioned by ray_pridham@bigpond.com here:
https://community.victronenergy.com/comments/23445/view.html

I also found out that I am able to connect and use a few of the above mentioned devices by adding a few extra meters of cable in front of the device. An inferior solution, but it works. E.g the vacuum cleaner will run efficiently from the Smartsolar load output with 7 meters (and possibly less) of 0,75mm2 cable in front of it.

Team.

I managed to sort these issues out with a simple 12V 10A relay. Just connect the relay coil to the load terminals and the charge controller will turn the relay on and off which turn the load on and off. The relay puts a low load on the controller and it’s doesnt go to off state. I will post a video very soon on this forum so I can break it down

Where to buy a relay ?

Just go to any automobile shop and ask for a 12V relay. Bosch makes some good relays. Don’t buy a large one as it will draw a large current. Buy something that can handle 10Amps.

I have the SmartSolar 75/15 and experiencing the same issue. One of my loads has a capacitor and the controller thinks it's a short when powering on. Luckily, I have each load connected to Blue Sea fuse block, so I pull the fuse with that load, power cycle, and it comes on. I can then add the fuse back and all is well. This needs to be address by Victron. I'm not adding a relay and my cheap PWM controller never had this issue.

The problem was solved by connecting the chargers to a soft start DC motor controller from eBay, that connects to the smart solar mppt.

I know, topic is a bit old. But actually I am experiencing the opposite problem. Load output is permanently active no matter what I choose from the load output dropdown in the connect app (even "always off"). There is no jumper attached. If I change it, setting is accepted an I get the green confirmation sign, but load stays activated. Although load output permanently delivers voltage, power metering in the app is not working. I think something maybe broken but never heard or read of that behaviour. Input (MPPT) side, charging and controlling via app seems fine. But maybe I'm missing something? Next try would be a connection via VE.Direct an trying to find some more settings. If anybody had an idea, I would really appreciate! ;)