question

treva31 avatar image
treva31 asked

Current from solar but not to battery MPPT 100/30

I have a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30.

Charging a 12v Lithium from a single panel.


It used to work fine. In the history it looks like there was a high voltage on the PV (75.45v) and the battery (36.42v), and then no charging since then.


Luckily I also have a spare SmartSolar75/10 which still charges the battery just fine, so the panel and the battery are ok.

I am using the same battery settings and cables, just swapping out the charger.


When I try my 100/30 now it won't charge, even on a nice sunny day when the 75/10 does charge.

It shows the battery voltage and the PV voltage, but no current ever flows to the battery.


I have tried restoring default settings, disable/enable charging, temperature options disabled.


I did use the disable charging option before and am wondering if that is stuck off despite what the software says. I've tried turning it off and on again though. A hard/factory settings reset would be great but I don't think that's possible?

Or maybe something got fried inside from the high voltage surge? I guess not the fuse or the voltage sensors but maybe the MOFSET?


Hope you can help.

Thanks!

big-not-charging.pngbig-history-high-voltage.pngbig-battery-settings.png

75/10 Charger working correctly with same settings, cables, panel and time:

small-charging.pngsmall-battery-settings.png

MPPT SmartSolarchargersolarsmart solar charging behaviour
big-not-charging.png (92.4 KiB)
big-history-high-voltage.png (131.2 KiB)
big-battery-settings.png (121.6 KiB)
small-charging.png (105.0 KiB)
small-battery-settings.png (120.9 KiB)
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.

2 Answers
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi @treva31,

I suggest running through this pre-RMA check list:

https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/Pre-RMA_Bench_Test_Instructions/en/pre-rma-test-form---mppt-solar-charger.html

It's a good and thorough troubleshooting process to see if it's a hardware, installation, or configuration issue.

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.

Matthias Lange - DE avatar image
Matthias Lange - DE answered ·

The 100/30 can only handle 12V and 24V so I guess the 36V killed the MPPT.

2 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.

snoobler avatar image snoobler commented ·
Concur. If the battery engaged charge protection at peak MPPT output, it could easily over-volt. Seen it many times where 12V systems hit mid 20s voltage on a BMS cut off.



0 Likes 0 ·
treva31 avatar image treva31 snoobler commented ·
Oh dear!


Any advice for my next charger?

I'm actually upgrading to 2 x 250w panels and 2 x 100ah lithium batteries. And I currently only have the 75/10 Smartsolar.

Could I get away with a PWM charger?

0 Likes 0 ·

Related Resources

MPPT product page

VictronConnect manual

PWM or MPPT

MPPT calculator

MPPT codes

Chargers.

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic