boondocking, need help asap....

[campermama]

Just put a new controller in for my 55w solar panel. It charges batts (2 12v) to full charge, but once the sun starts to go down the batts start to discharge and the controller shows red by morning. Why is this happening? Thought the controller controls this? How do I stop the discharging?
thanks in advance!

[Jetta03]

Haven't read the whole thread, but I think OP problem is the 55watt panel is just too small to put enough current into the batteries in one day. Max output of that panel might amount to about 30 amp hours at the absolute most in perfect conditions.

If he's watching voltage the batteries may appear charged but once the surface charge dissipates or he applies a slight load he'll get an accurate reading. I'm guessing his battery bank is rarely fully charged with that setup.

I've got a 230watt panel and mppt controller and in bad conditions I can see 14.6 volts at the batteries, but only a couple amps current output from the charger. Voltage is a bad indicator of soc in this scenario.

[Almot]

mena661 wrote:
I really don't mean to pile on but a voltage check while a battery is being charged doesn't indicate anything other than it's being charged. In order to get anywhere near the correct SOC using voltage, you have to disconnect all charging sources and loads, wait 24 hrs, then take a reading.

...Round 7, cycle parameters unknown, battery condition unknown. Starting all over again ...

[mena661]

campermama wrote:
the new morningstar is working, solar is charging batts to full every day I have sun! I checked with a volt meter.
End of story!

I really don't mean to pile on but a voltage check while a battery is being charged doesn't indicate anything other than it's being charged. In order to get anywhere near the correct SOC using voltage, you have to disconnect all charging sources and loads, wait 24 hrs, then take a reading. When I come home from a trip, hook up the charger, the batteries voltages eventually comes up to 14.8V. Guess what? They're not fully charged. Eventually the charger goes into float as 13.65V. Guess what? They're STILL not fully charged. Eventually 50W will get your batteries in the high 90% range but it will not be in a day.

[campermama]

Ok again.....the bad controller was a solar30. It WAS NOT working, thus NOT charging the batteries!
the new morningstar is working, solar is charging batts to full every day I have sun! I checked with a volt meter.
End of story!

[Almot]

Campermama, which controller was bad - new Morningstar? Correct me if I'm wrong, you don't know that the batteries were NOT running down with 50W panel before, until the old controller died. All this time you have been relying on the "fair/good" indicator that one author called "an idiot green light", I think it was Handy Bob. Going in circles...

[campermama]

Almot wrote:
Always good to hear when somebody's pain is over.

campermama wrote:
The batteries were just too low for the solar to keep up and like I mentioned before I use very little energy so now the solar can keep up. 🙂

What makes you think it's all good? 🙂
If 50W solar can keep up, your battery should always be full or almost full, at least on sunny days, and problems like before would have never happened. That's why I doubt it can keep up, and I'm not the only one.

Moreover, if the battery was discharged too low and for too long, it has been irreversibly damaged. It will work, but will die sooner now.

One good news is that new 10A controller allows adding 80W or 100W to your existing 50W, as noted.

Wow doom and gloom! The batteries were running down for about 5 days until I realized the controller was bad. Long story short.....ran genny, charged up batts, got new controller and yes now batts are fully charged each day. So yeah, right now its all good until something else happens 🙂

[Almot]

Always good to hear when somebody's pain is over.

campermama wrote:
The batteries were just too low for the solar to keep up and like I mentioned before I use very little energy so now the solar can keep up. 🙂

What makes you think it's all good? 🙂
If 50W solar can keep up, your battery should always be full or almost full, at least on sunny days, and problems like before would have never happened. That's why I doubt it can keep up, and I'm not the only one.

Moreover, if the battery was discharged too low and for too long, it has been irreversibly damaged. It will work, but will die sooner now.

One good news is that new 10A controller allows adding 80W or 100W to your existing 50W, as noted.

[mena661]

Nice!! And thanks for posting the fix.

[campermama]

Genny now starts on first pull like it used to thanks to Seafoam!
And solar is now working great once batts were brought back up.

Thanks everybody!

Now to get trailer tire fixed (has a nail in it) 🙂

[time2roll]

If the generator will be used more frequently to charge it would be a good time to review the charging system. Some converters are great, most are slow and weak.

[campermama]

jmckelvy wrote:

campermama wrote:
......
Genny is really hard to start but it will start, then it surges when on ECO, but off of ECO it runs fine. If its not one thing its another.

Get a can of Seafoam and put about 1/4 of the can in the gas tank. Your surging in ECO mode is most likely a gummed up carb jet. I had this exact symptom with my EUi2000. Cleaned carb and fixed problem.

Yup got some seafoam put in a few oz's half can is way too much for a gallon of gas, and it is running pretty good right now! Going to let it run for a few hours. It is dark and rainy here anyway so not a lot of solar action.
big test will see if it starts easier tomorrow.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I thought the general consensus here, arrived at a conclusion that Sea Foam was mouse-milk. ???

[jmckelvy]

campermama wrote:
......
Genny is really hard to start but it will start, then it surges when on ECO, but off of ECO it runs fine. If its not one thing its another.

Get a can of Seafoam and put about 1/4 of the can in the gas tank. Your surging in ECO mode is most likely a gummed up carb jet. I had this exact symptom with my EUi2000. Cleaned carb and fixed problem.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Mother Fletcher's Do-It-Yourself Self Diagnostic Flooded Battery B.S. Detector