Fitting solar from scratch

So does it sound like a dead panel then? I've still got a cheap regulator i can swap across to check thats not at fault.
If it is the panel then does anyone know someone with really skinny hands that wouldn't mind working 10ft up a ladder to stick their hand under the panel to hold a spanner on the nuts so i can undo the bolts holding the panel to the mounts?
Only other option to remove the panel is to cut through the sikaflex and remove the aero mounts which looks more of a PITA.

 

A battery at 14.1 volts is in charge absorbtion mode, the controller backs off to keep the voltage down.
The only time you will see full output is with the battery voltage well under 13 volts.

Try loading it up- turn on lights, fridges and so on , then the charger will crank up the amps.

 

I was going to message you about this very point Mike - my Epever shows up to 26 volts but only reads 0.6a max , that`s with a new leisure battery . I`m presuming the meter showed only what was being absorbed into the battery - not the amps produced by the panel so all`s well
I`ll try loading the battery next time i get chance to mess around .

Just thinking out loud , could i measure the amps produced by the panel by measuring across the leads into the Epever ??
I`ve tried reading the instructions but .......

 

Disconnect the panel from the controller and measure the short circuit amps at the panel tails. The spec sheet for the panel will tell you what it should be – under ideal conditions of course.

 

Had a couple of days with it out in the sun with fridge going, it seems I’ve had a lucky escape and the mppt has done it’s job, got it charging at anything upto 5A, 13-20v which seems decent. Thanks for your input guys.

 

You can measure the current by shorting the panel through the meter. Just dont forget to make sure its the panel not the battery connection...

 

Get one of those mini mole grips for the nuts, tie a string to it so it doesent fall far. And look at the colour of the metal strips in the panel. Should be silvery rather than dark grey/black/blue/greenish near the connection box.

 

Turns out its a dead 2 month old MPPT controller. Stuck an ebay £6 PWM one on today and the voltage at the controller input was 19V, the battery 12.6V when not connected and 14.4V when connected to the controller.

 

It has been very hot recently. My Epever tracer keeps shutting down, I think its when sun shines on it and the air in the bus is 30 to 40 degrees C.

Its quite possible that components get damaged or desolder themselves if they get really hot without protection in the charge controllree.

 

Some of the pictures of cheaper MPPT controllers that people have posted, show things like transistors poking up in the air rather than being on heatsinks, coupled with possible fake components being used by manufacturers in China ( not their fault often, its the people selling the components) .

I have been trying to build some solid state relays for experiments and I ordered some transistors that should have behaved almost like a relay contact when closed but actually drop about a volt across their connections at 4 amps when they are supposedly rated at 55 amps !
So they literally start smoking when running at 10% of the load.

I tried buying some that cost 3x as much and they are the same.. in an identical appearing ziploc bag with chinese and roman lettering.

 

Problem is you never know what you're buying online. Unless you can physically see/test it first you just take your chances on a lot of stuff.

 

Agreed , finally got around to fitting my cheapo 200w panel running through a 20w Epever mppt thingy. Panel was all the way from China - less than 90 quid
Initial thoughts are it's either a 100w panel or a crap 200w as the best results in good sunshine I got were 19v producing about 3.5-4 amps with the Propex on blow and fridge on full .

Not overly concerned but would expect better from 200w ??

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

Thats probably all you were using, unless its an absorbtion fridge. What was the battery voltage at? I noticed that it drops as you get to the limit of your solar output. I needed to draw over 7 amps (from 200w) at the weekend before mine noticably dropped. Absorbtion fridge on (5.4 amps), fan on, interior lights on, radio on, dvd player charging, dashcam on

 

I dont think the sunlight was at 100% recently, it was hazy. But 3.5 amps is about what I got from mine with a battery at 12.7 volts in the sun..

 

Thanks chaps , maybe i was expecting too much . I switched the Propex on blow and the fridge (CRX50) on freeze but in hindsight it probably wasn`t draining enough out of the leisure battery ...
I angled the van with the (Westie-ish) roof up towards the sun thinking that would work but to be honest i got better readings with the roof down (flat) !!

At least it all seems to work and didn`t blow off during the drive home so i`d call that a result

 

It's more of a result if you get blown off on the drive home.

 

You don’t half get some funny looks when you stop at traffic lights though.

 

Your a bit higher up in the camper, so most other road users can't tell

 

That’s another one to add to the list of pros to owning a camper