question

bluey avatar image
bluey asked

100/20 load output continually dropping out every 5 seconds

Hi guys, 6mths ago swapped out my old regulator on my boat to a 100/20 regulator & 2 x 80w panels to maintain the cranking and the house batteries it seemed to work well.

Over the break I had a chance to hook up the accessories to the load output to monitor the useage, everthing powered up LED nav lights and stero, then went off this continued approx 5sec intervals for some time. I put a load on waco fridge unfortunatly change.

There is good 14V going into the batteries and with the accessories disconnected from the load out put i get 12.5v, then it continues to dropout every 5 seconds then restoring current at 12.5v.

any help would be appreciated as my knowledge is limited

Bluey

MPPT Controllers
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2 Answers
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·
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bluey avatar image bluey commented ·

Thanks Guy, sorry most of that straight over my head. I dont for one minute claim im tech savvy, It looks to me it is not as simple as swapping the old regulator over and the Victron matched with the app doesn't do what I bought it for to monitor loads, shame i wasted $215.

Thanks for your feed back

Bluey!

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ bluey commented ·

The short version is that the load terminal on the MPPT has limits and not designed or able to run everything. There are things you can do to make it work with tricky loads like a fridge, but they need a bit of technical know how.

The long version as to why, how, etc are in those links. If you already had a working charge controller and just wanted to monitor loads, the Victron accessory is a BMV-700.

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bluey avatar image bluey Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

What i cannot understand is why with nothing connected to the load a multimeter accross the terminals it still repeatedly drops out and when the accessories are connected (radios, sounder, stero, and lights without the fridge still continues to drop out. The controller has been restored back to factory settings and load set to always as per the manual. What's the use of an app and regulator if you cannot connect anything to the load output.

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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi Bluey. Don't tell me - Australian and red haired? :)

The LOAD terminals aren't designed for inductive loads like a compressor fridge, and can do what you describe. Take your fridge power direct from the batts. If you want to retain the batt protection function, you could do that with a relay driven from the load terminals.


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bluey avatar image bluey commented ·

Thanks JohnC, yep you got the bluey bit spot on!

Thanks for the feed back, I learnt a good lesson if it is working leave it alone. I only changed the controller to monitor my usage by the app and was advised by the so called solar experts, well thats a good $216 wasted and time better spent enjoying the boat, back to the old system. Simple and i can understand it.

Thanks again JC.

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Leslieanne avatar image Leslieanne bluey commented ·

Hi Bluey,

Possibly everyone is misunderstanding everyone else. Your description sounds to me simply like the low voltage cutout, which is incorporated in the load output to protect your bats from overdischarge, is operating at 12.5v....You could try setting it to say 11.5V and see how you go (look under settings and battery in the victron app). Also check and clean your battery terminals and all connections. You may be getting voltage drop at the terminals whenever there is a load on tne battery. Worth a look anyway before you give up on the 75/15. I use one on our van and very pleased with it. (Engel fridge runs fine off the load output, but seems folk with many other brands have trouble.)

Cheers, Leslie

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