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andrewr avatar image
andrewr asked

Water ingress

Hello all, I wonder if there is anybody with a practical solution to a problem that has occurred. I purchased a SmartSolar 75/15 bluetooth smart controller earlier this year: It has been subject to a slight dousing due to a leak in the box in which it was installed; when the flooding was discovered the controller's blue L.E.D was flashing ( just as it would if the charger was no longer receiving sufficient solar power ), the 20 amp fuse was found to be servicable. I totally disconnected the unit and left it in a warm place in order to attempt drying it out. The issue I now have is that although I can connect the battery with no problem, when I connect the solar panel the 20 amp fuse blows; the puzzling thing is, my Victron connect app still communicates with the charge controller; even more puzzling is; although the battery shows the resting voltage to be 12.81v, ( this being roughly consistent with the history since new ) the app also shows a 12.71 volt reading on the solar side, even though the panel is disconnected and the charge is switched off in the settings battery section of Victron Connect. I am continuing to attempt recovery by means of cool air blown through the unit from a hair dryer but have little hope of it's restoration; any other suggestions or observations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in anticipation.

charger
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2 Answers
Justin Cook avatar image
Justin Cook answered ·

@Andrew.R, the batt and PV terminals aren't fully isolated from each other; it's fairly common to see ghost voltage on whichever one isn't connected (ie, voltage from PV on the batt side if a battery isn't hooked up, or voltage from batt on the PV side when the panels aren't hooked up). I call it ghost voltage because it doesn't have any actual current behind it; if you apply a load at the open terminals, the voltage will abruptly drop off without powering the load.

It's also not surprising that the unit is still functioning, sort of... it will take power from either batt or PV side and power itself enough to report out to the app.

All that being said, sorry to say, it's not going to come back. If that fuse is blowing, it's because something inside is shorting out, and you're not going to recover the unit. Contact the Victron distributor from whom you purchased the unit and get a return started; different distributors have different processes so I won't speak to what you'll need to do or how long it will take, but you should be able to get a replacement unit without too much hassle. While you're waiting, you can always get out the ol' caulking and seal up that box!

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andrewr avatar image
andrewr answered ·

@Justin CookGood morning Justin, thank you for your quick response; I was not optimistic about the outcome, but your post was both comprehensive and very helpful. I shall contact the company and keep trying the dryer in the meantime ( out of sheer cussedness ). Thanks once again.

Andrew


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