Electrical - smoked up the cabin

Forget the 18v! Your controller will pass "12v" battery voltage to the array once it is connected to the battery. With no battery you are just seeing array voltage with no battery. You seem to have a 12v array with that 18v. Connect the controller to the battery.

Actually, if it is a 12/24 controller, you should first connect it to the battery so the controller knows it is a 12v system or a 24v system and it sets for that, then you connect the solar panel array to the controller. In this case, it might work just connecting. It will not fry. If it doesn't work right, then do it the proper way around, connecting battery first.

BigWapiti wrote:
Thanks again for the reply,

18v from the solar panels, sure (yes, that seems low) - but from the solar controller to the battery? 18v seems like it might cook a battery? Hence, maybe, the low water levels in my less than year old battery?

If the voltage from the controller to the battery is 18v, yes that is too high. You should get no more than 14.4v or 14.6v, tops, to the batteries. I wonder if you fried the solar controller when you wired the battery backwards.

Oh, we smelled something similar briefly while it was on the generator. Who knows, but it very well could be attributed to the generator - its a Harbor Freight knockoff to the Honda. ??? But it's maybe a month over a year old and rarely used (still.. yes, could be).

Just wish I could find the source of the smoke... that was a lot of smoke and I can't find a single burned wire. Thinking maybe I need to tear the Power Controller apart and give it a look inside. Not something I really want to do for fear of busting something - they don't give a whole lot of wires so it's still partially in the mounting hole.

Thanks again for the reply,

18v from the solar panels, sure (yes, that seems low) - but from the solar controller to the battery? 18v seems like it might cook a battery? Hence, maybe, the low water levels in my less than year old battery?

18 volts from the solar panel is perfectly normal specification. Maybe even lower than some. The controller will reduce voltage to the proper level to charge and maintain the battery.

Follow the directions and polarity closely on the controller. Most will fail if connected wrong. Most controllers need to be connected to the battery first, then connect the panels. Reverse for any service... remove panels first, then remove battery connection.

Good to hear the converter is just needing fuses. Frequently this will be the only damage done. Replace the fuses and move forward.

You mentioned the smoke was on generator time... are you sure everything is OK with the gen?

BFL13 wrote:
The gen starts from house batts. The trouble started before you swapped batts and got the RP? Look at the gen DC cables for any melting. (Guessing here!)

To be clear though, unless I'm misunderstanding your statement, my generator is a separate unit from the camper. It starts by me pulling the cord. :)

All those cables are so dang tightly bound in there, I can barely get my hand in and even then, no way to check each wire. I'm'a tryin' tho.

profdant139 wrote:
BigWapiti, I still don't have anything useful to add, other than that I really admire your careful "matrix" approach to the multiple problems. Hang tough!

Hey, thanks! Yeah, I'm a retired software nerd too, so it's how I think. I was lost until I took the methodical approach - well, apparently I'm still lost...

I have to have something to be proud of today - my electrical skills are not my strong point:
Testing matrix - heh

Thanks for the reply -

Oh shoot I forgot to include the jacks in my tests - yes, I did test them and they all work as well. Together and individually.

The trouble initially started with just a short wiff of electrical smell while out camping. I had the generator running (not an onboard gen). I immediately shut it off. We did think we smelled it again a few hours later - but weren't certain. Either way, it was always brief.

When I got home, I removed the camper but had to run jacks one at a time because the jack switch (light) to enable the jacks kept shutting off when I'd run more than one jack at a time. One at a time though, worked.

I assumed this was due to a low battery? That's when I removed the battery to put it on my good charger and to test the battery (seems to be running low more quickly than it had in the past). Water levels were really low - filled them with d.water - but the charger kept throwing an error.

Ended up pulling my good agm out of my boat and putting it in the camper.. that's when I believe I reversed the cables (black to me is ground - lesson learned). And that's when the smoke poured out.

Now the solar panels show 18v out of the controller - seems way high to me. And I never tested them until today so not sure how they were before all of this, including the wire reversal. 18v is too high, isn't it?

BigWapiti, I still don't have anything useful to add, other than that I really admire your careful "matrix" approach to the multiple problems. Hang tough!

Good that the converter works after you replaced the RP fuses. You had that right it would protect itself.

Some controllers want you to always disconnect the array first and connect last or they might fry. Yours obviously does not care about that. So connect it to the batts.

What smoked? Did you answer the earlier question about the jacks? Didn't see that. Usually RP just means the lights work but the fans run backwards.

The gen starts from house batts. The trouble started before you swapped batts and got the RP? Look at the gen DC cables for any melting. (Guessing here!)