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brooks340 asked

Smart Solar not charging

I have 585w of solar connected to my 100/30 charger. Battery bank is 4 6v Armada deep cycle batteries in series/parallel. My issue is the controller is showing 64.75v but 0 amp and 0 watts of solar. The BMV712 shows the batteries are 88% charged. Is it not charging from solar because they’re nearly fully charged?

MPPT SmartSolar
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2 Answers
rickp avatar image
rickp answered ·

The solar charger is reading the batteries as fully charged, and is in float charge mode, hence the 0 watt reading.

There are two likely possibilities. 1, the batteries are fully charged and you need to syncronize the 712 with them so it will read this status as 100% or, 2, the batteries are 88% charged and the SCC is in float mode because the charge profile is set incorrectly and is going to absorption/float too soon.

With the voltage reading 13.7, my guess would be #1.

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Or 3. there is a blown fuse/a switch between MPPT and battery.
Or 4. the negative is not connected to the correct side of the shunt so the energy from the MPPT can not be counted.

What voltage shows the BMV?

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brooks340 avatar image brooks340 Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Turns out it was the fuse link between the controller and the battery. It was installed as part of the solar prep on the Montana HC 294RL. The fuse, which was only 10a, was blown. I replaced it with a 35a fuse and everything works now.

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brooks340 answered ·

BMV screenshot as of this morning. I’m connected back to shore power. If there was a blown fuse between the controller and the battery would it still show the battery voltage on the controller?


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wkirby avatar image wkirby ♦♦ commented ·

If a fuse is blown between the battery and the MPPT, yes it will show the Voltage for that stage of the charge cycle that it is in, absorb or float.
The MPPT aims to reach a certain Voltage for a certain stage and it is east to reach these target Voltages during the day if the battery is missing.
If the MPPT reads a very low battery Voltage at night, then you know the battery is not connected for whatever reason, like a blown fuse.

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image Matthias Lange - DE ♦ commented ·

Look at the history tab of the MPPT.
If the lowest battery voltage is 0V everyday than you have a blown fuse.

Or disconnect the shore power and switch on some loads.
Then compare the battery voltage shown at the BMV and the MPPT.
If the fuse is ok both voltages are nearly the same.

Or simply check the fuse.

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