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amander avatar image
amander asked

BlueSolar MPPT 150/70 weird hunting behaviour

Hi all, I believe my off-grid charge controller is experiencing the same issue as seen in this post:

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/7329/bluesolar-15045-weird-behavior.html

Unfortunately I don't have a spare controller to swap out for testing. I don't currently have logging but plan to in the future. I've only caught it doing this type of thing when I'm physically looking at the unit. The system usually runs as expected but I've seen it do this several times a day to not noticing it happen for a week or so.

The watts coming from the panels and going to the batteries fluctuates from 0 to the max watts available at the time, stays there for a second and then falls back to 0 and starts that cycle again. The battery voltages rise and lower accordingly.

I've yet to see it "fix" itself or stop doing it on it's own. I stop the rise/fall/rise cycle by going into the set up menu and then back out. This resets it back to bulk and the charge cycle operates as normal. Any help would be appreciated!

System specs: 4x400w panels (1600w), 4x190ah SLA batteries (48v), firmware version 2.03.



MPPT Controllersoffgrid
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5 Answers
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi Amanda,

The best thing to do with a potentially misbehaving unit is contact your dealer for support.

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amander avatar image amander commented ·

Hi Guy, thanks for the reply. I've emailed the dealer requesting support. The unit was purchased in April of 2015 so hopefully it can still be replace or serviced under warranty. Is this issue rare? I've searched the forums here and could only find the one post about it (linked above). Do you feel that upgrading the firmware might help to resolve the misbehaviour?

@Guy Stewart (Victron Energy Staff)

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amander avatar image amander commented ·

Hi again Guy, I tried to contact my dealer via email last Friday (05/07/19) with no reply, so I tried to call today and unfortunately the number has been disconnected. Can you tell me who I contact for support at Victron if the dealer seems to be no longer in business?

I've looked into updating the firmware and did some searching for the necessary CANUSB interface. About $650AU is the lowest cost I found online and that is a bit cost prohibitive for me, especially if I don't know if it'll fix the issue. Is it really necessary to spend this amount of money to update the firmware?

@Guy Stewart (Victron Energy Staff)

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natebert avatar image
natebert answered ·

@Amander
Are there any other Victron components in the system such as a SBS, or CCGX, or BMV?

Have you power cycled the MPPT?

  • Disconnect PV
  • Disconnect Battery

Then

  • Reconnect Battery
  • Reconnect PV
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amander avatar image amander commented ·

Hi @Natebert, thanks for the help. We only have a BMV-700. It is not connected to the 150/70.

The system was last power cycled in June of 2018 when we had new panels installed. The rise/fall/rise misbehaviour was present before that shutdown and is still present afterwards. We were hoping the new panels would help alleviate the issue but they did not.


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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @Amander

Ok, a couple of options:

-use a Venus device connected to internet to update the firmware


Use this new support form to get 'local' support:

https://professional.victronenergy.com/support/?is_next=www.victronenergy.com

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nigelfxs avatar image
nigelfxs answered ·

Hi Amander

Out of interest, are the panels wired as 4 in series or 2 parallel strings of 2-in-series?

Edit: The reason I ask is that having 4 panels in series will trigger the over-voltage protection circuit in the MPPT which will collapse the power output to zero.

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amander avatar image amander commented ·

Hi Nigel, I hadn't noticed this question earlier, apologies. The panels are 2 parallel strings of 2-in-series. They have a Voc of 49V and I've never seen then put in much over 100V.

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amander avatar image
amander answered ·

Hi, thought I'd update. The charge controller has been replaced under warranty. It cost $45 for shipping the unit. We uploaded a video to show the problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96rqwwuT6Nk&feature=youtu.be

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