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Thread: Solar system Upgrade

  1. #31
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    It happened again yesterday but this time voltage spiked to 37 ! Inverter shut down. Dammit. I lowered my charge level this morning. Sun is just poppin over the Peak. I'll sit here and babysit it. This Mate gizmo-thing is not at all helpful other than spitting out a high voltage error. Yeah,no shit. 37v high. Oh thanks.

    I'm working with Outback. They say it may be batteries or inverter. Oh OK.

    Trimetric is on my list. I'm losing patience. Setting up my other 2 solar systems in the past were painless, plug and play.

    As far as the noise issue goes? Who knows? The ex-mechanic in me says that wasn't a good thing - and may return -or it did some damage elsewhere. I'm shopping for another inverter, seriously.

    Rod, any recommendations on a 24v inverter 2000-2500w that can be hardwired in? If I can find something else I'll just swap them out and see what happens. I paid 2k for the Outback FXR.
    Last edited by Kola; 01-24-2020 at 05:55 AM.

  2. #32
    LHBA Member loghousenut's Avatar
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    Just Rod? What about the rest of us? Is our advice just s bunch of chopped liver?

    Hey, I'm the one that retrospectively solved your inverter noise issue in the first place! I feel slighted and if Bo were awake and sober, he would feel that I've been slighted too. Bo is a Marine and you know you don't want to get a Marine feeling all chapped in the cheeks... even an elderly Marine.

    Kola, I think you should ask all of us equally which inverter would be right for you.


    PS... I love chopped liver and don't feel maligned a bit by your hinted comparison.

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  3. #33
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
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    Yeah, I'm actually the worst person to recommend an inverter of that size. I've just been utilizing little baby inverters here and there.

    The CC output voltage must be set wrong. It's the only thing that will allow the voltage to increase, as you haven't yet tied in a genny to the inverter/charger function.

    Either the batteries don't have overvoltage protection built into the BMS, OR more likely, they are disconnecting and then open circuit panel voltage is hitting the inverter, triggering it to shut down.

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  4. #34
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Rod, so far I have things stabilized.

    When it hits my new set charge setting, it goes to float. I lowered it from BB rec of 28.8 to 28.0. I have been sitting here babysitting monitoring volages at different components waiting for the spike. so far so good. Fingers crossed.

    So now OB is telling me "OH, you need the "Hub" and and the "FNDC" controllers to have a fully integrated system."

    WTF !!! are you kidding me? I buy a OB inverter, alte store says..oh you need to buy the Mate3s to run it. I was like..OH, OK.

    Now I find out I need two more OB components to make this inverter run to have a "FULLY INTEGRATED SYSTEM." And they're saying because I chose lithium ion batts that I need all these doo-hickies ! Well alright then, lesson learned I guess.

    Friggin Crazy town I tell ya ! To top it off, this damn Mate POS thing does nothing for me at all.

    It woulda' been nice if OB and their sales peeps would say "If you buy this inverter and run lithium batts - you also need this and this and that and that."

    Blame goes on me - for being totally ignorant. For now I'll try and set this up with what I got. I'm not investing more cash into OB, that's for damn sure.
    Last edited by Kola; 01-24-2020 at 11:29 AM.

  5. #35
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Now wheres my friggin beer?? Ooops, the plumber just arrived, I gotta lend a hand. BBL.

    ##w.jpg
    Last edited by Kola; 01-24-2020 at 11:13 AM.

  6. #36
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by loghousenut View Post
    Just Rod? What about the rest of us? Is our advice just s bunch of chopped liver?

    Hey, I'm the one that retrospectively solved your inverter noise issue in the first place! I feel slighted and if Bo were awake and sober, he would feel that I've been slighted too. Bo is a Marine and you know you don't want to get a Marine feeling all chapped in the cheeks... even an elderly Marine.

    Kola, I think you should ask all of us equally which inverter would be right for you.


    PS... I love chopped liver and don't feel maligned a bit by your hinted comparison.

    Sent from my LGL83BL using Tapatalk
    LOL, I'm sorry, I missed your post too ! Oooooopsy.

    OK. Which inverter? Or maybe should I go back to lead acid batteries ?

    I'm open to anything if I can't tame this beast.

  7. #37
    LHBA Member loghousenut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kola View Post
    LOL, I'm sorry, I missed your post too ! Oooooopsy.

    OK. Which inverter? Or maybe should I go back to lead acid batteries ?

    I'm open to anything if I can't tame this beast.
    I am really the wrong guy to ask on this one, but thanks for asking. Maybe Rod will know.






    That was kinda fun, wasn't it.
    Every time I have strayed from the teachings of Skip Ellsworth it has cost me money.

    I love the mask mandate. I hardly ever have to bruh my teeth anymore.

  8. #38
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    lol. you goober..lol

  9. #39
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    Kola, I've gotten kind of lost about where this high voltage is. I do know that panels in very cold temps put out the highest DC voltage they're ever going to put out.

    When the charge controller is converting solar panel DC to battery DC, it puts a load on the panels and that pulls down the panel voltage. Is your alarm only happening when the batteries are topped off (no more load on the panels)?

  10. #40
    LHBA Member Kola's Avatar
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    Yes, my Outback FM80 will give warning errors at around 140 volts ( I forget the exact number)- andt it did happen on a super cold day with my old system. I then re-wired my solar array and tweaked her down a bit..

    But with this new system, I don't know EXACTLY when it happened other than it being around peak hours of CO sun. Interesting that you mention the load pull from my panels - because they normally come into my controller at 65-70 volts (full sun). But I've noticed at mid day the incoming volts drop to 50-55 volts ( still in full sun and that reading is from my controller) I was kinda scratching my head on that. But for the last 2 days (since I lowered my controller charge/bulk rate from 28.8 to 28.0) I've not had any high volt spikes. And yes I still see that panel volt drop (from 70 to 55) at mid day but all seems to be well. So far.

    What I have seen in the last 2 days is that the sun comes up and batt voltage is approx 26. In about 2-3 hours the batt volts are at 28. I have my absorb time for 4 hours ( the recommendation by Battle Born) but it absorbs for about 15-30 minutes then goes straight to Float. From there it may drop a bit, cycle to rebulk/charge and then back to Float. Most of the day it seems happy in Float which is 27.2v (BB's recommendation for Float and Rest) I may tweak the absorb time down to 2 hours ad see what happens.
    Last edited by Kola; 01-25-2020 at 04:50 PM.

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