question

retired-dave avatar image
retired-dave asked

SmartSolar Charger High Voltage Alarm #33

Just completed our first travel trailer trip of the season. Towards the end of each travel day we got multiple notifications from the SmartSolar Charger of high input voltage. This occurred on 3 of our 5 travel days - all between 5-8 hrs long. There were multiple days of running solar only at our various campsites with no issues. Would the issue be with the DC-DC charger overcharging from our truck? This is our 2nd camping season with the Victron system - zero issues last year.

1682431737768.png

smart solar charging behaviour
1682431737768.png (765.4 KiB)
2 |3000

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

3 Answers
andreas-siebenmorgen avatar image
andreas-siebenmorgen answered ·

How many solar panels do you use?

How are these connected? How many panels are in series?

What is the Model number of the installed panels?

It looks like input voltage of solar is too high.

2 |3000

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

retired-dave avatar image
retired-dave answered ·

I have 4 of the 200 watt 24v panels in a 2 series 2 parallel configuration.

Rich Solar RS-M200D.

Why would it work flawlessly for a year - nothing has changed. Also only occurs while driving, not a problem while parked at a campsite.

2 comments
2 |3000

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

klim8skeptic avatar image klim8skeptic ♦ commented ·

@Retired Dave 2 series x 2 parallel of Rich 200w will generate a Voc of 100v @ 14f, should they get that cold.

Check the history of the mppt for errors and the days highest PV voltage.

0 Likes 0 ·
andreas-siebenmorgen avatar image andreas-siebenmorgen commented ·
The open circuit voltage is 45,4V, so 90,8V in series, which is not too far away from the limit of the mppt.

I have the same situation, when just reading datasheet the Voc is within specs, but depending on weather situations it will be higher.

Especially when you are driving, the panels could be very cool because of the wind flowing over the roof. When there is a sun peak on the cooled down panels, Voc can exceed the spec, because of the Victron trying to find the mpp and "shoots over" bouncing up and down.


0 Likes 0 ·
retired-dave avatar image
retired-dave answered ·

The cold does appear to be the culprit. This trip was the coldest driving weather we have had with our 1 yr old solar system. The high voltage error messages appeared on 3 of the 5 driving days. Those 3 days were very sunny and below 50 deg F. In the future I will just flip the solar panel breaker off during cold and sunny weather - not a big deal.

Thanks for your help!

2 |3000

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

Related Resources

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic