I was sitting in the camper doing paperwork and noticed the battery voltage getting low from running the inverter. I reached up to the solar charge controller to press the button to show amps charging and a large static discharge occurred. It seems to have fried the voltage display readout. The amperage readout still works however. I can always get my DVM to check voltage in a pinch or get a secondary display unit to show a readout all the time. Or I can bend over and get a new charge controller. I was going to wait on that until I get another 170 watt solar panel and install an MPPT controller. I still have to determine if the unit is still even working, charging the batteries. I'll keep you posted. Perhaps people should wear static bracelets while in the TC.

My MPPT charge controller has a ground terminal on the case. I'm guessing that yours wasn't grounded.Wisdom counsels THREE wires all the way from the panel frames to the controller to the RV chases to the best ground you can find, probably the city water pipe (if you are connected to shore water). One of the hazards of shoving electrons around is static buildup.

It wouldn't matter if the controller was grounded. A massive jolt of voltage can jump and go through components that aren't designed to take even a tiny fraction of that much energy. ESD destroys parts in all types of electronics. The only way to protect them is to not subject them to it.

Disconnect all power, wait a few minutes and reconnect it.. maybe it just needs a "reset"

My controller is a Kyocera from 1999. That's pretty old technology. The Tech at Discount Solar told me to be careful handling it because just touching the components could wreck the circuitry. I was careful in handling them. This unit has no ground but could be grounded through the negative which ultimately grounds to the truck battery negative or the shore power ground when plugged in. Looking at getting a Go Power MPPT controller to replace.

How does the charge controller know what charge regime to provide if we ourselves can only read the rate of charge voltage being pumped in and not the actual batteries state of charge, unless the controller is shut off and the batteries are allowed to settle? Sorry about the lengthy question.... how does any stage charger know for that matter? Is it a preset charge sequence based on the batteries initial state of charge. After all is said, I understand the only real way is to check specific gravity in each cell.This may sound off topic, but what I'm getting at is if there is an alternative or simpler way in avoiding a controller altogether???

Static Shock! | Good Sam Community

naturist
Nomad
Feb 06, 2019
My MPPT charge controller has a ground terminal on the case. I'm guessing that yours wasn't grounded.

Wisdom counsels THREE wires all the way from the panel frames to the controller to the RV chases to the best ground you can find, probably the city water pipe (if you are connected to shore water). One of the hazards of shoving electrons around is static buildup.
ScottG
Nomad
Feb 06, 2019
It wouldn't matter if the controller was grounded. A massive jolt of voltage can jump and go through components that aren't designed to take even a tiny fraction of that much energy.
ESD destroys parts in all types of electronics. The only way to protect them is to not subject them to it.
deltabravo
Nomad
Feb 06, 2019
Disconnect all power, wait a few minutes and reconnect it.. maybe it just needs a "reset"
Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
Feb 06, 2019

My controller is a Kyocera from 1999. That's pretty old technology. The Tech at Discount Solar told me to be careful handling it because just touching the components could wreck the circuitry. I was careful in handling them. This unit has no ground but could be grounded through the negative which ultimately grounds to the truck battery negative or the shore power ground when plugged in. Looking at getting a Go Power MPPT controller to replace.
covered_wagon
Explorer
Feb 06, 2019
How does the charge controller know what charge regime to provide if we ourselves can only read the rate of charge voltage being pumped in and not the actual batteries state of charge, unless the controller is shut off and the batteries are allowed to settle? Sorry about the lengthy question.... how does any stage charger know for that matter? Is it a preset charge sequence based on the batteries initial state of charge. After all is said, I understand the only real way is to check specific gravity in each cell.

This may sound off topic, but what I'm getting at is if there is an alternative or
simpler way in avoiding a controller altogether???
Grit_dog
Navigator
Feb 06, 2019
Jeff, your de-humidifier must be working overtime! Most up here are trying to keep their walls from dripping condensation and you’ve got static electricity!
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2019
Are you in Washington state?
We have to deal with static electricity in Las Vegas. It come to the point that we can't use vacuum cleaner on carpet without getting thousands of electroshocks.
When I try to wash my hands, I get one spark touching the faucet and 2nd touching the water.
The critical humidity for those occurrences seem to be 25-30%. _(we are getting single digit in Vegas)
The 1 gallon humidifiers are useless for the house. I bought $600 central humidifier.
In camper I let the shower steam to go inside main room and that usually is sufficient.
Wild_Bill_888
Explorer
Feb 06, 2019
Sorry about the damage. If static is a common problem there are spray treatments for the carpet and furniture.

Or you could add a ground plate that you touch before touching the instrument. It could be as simple as an unpainted round head screw in the panel attached to a ground wire behind the panel. To avoid the big zap put a 100K ohm resistor in series. Inbed the resistor in silicon rtv to avoid flashover.
Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
Feb 06, 2019
Well it's official, the controller is dead. No reset with power off. Not sure the Go Power controller is what I want. Will be doing research into products rated about 30 amps input current for future upgrade to 404 total watts of solar.
Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
Feb 06, 2019
covered wagon wrote:
How does the charge controller know what charge regime to provide if we ourselves can only read the rate of charge voltage being pumped in and not the actual batteries state of charge, unless the controller is shut off and the batteries are allowed to settle? Sorry about the lengthy question.... how does any stage charger know for that matter? Is it a preset charge sequence based on the batteries initial state of charge. After all is said, I understand the only real way is to check specific gravity in each cell.

This may sound off topic, but what I'm getting at is if there is an alternative or
simpler way in avoiding a controller altogether???

Solar panels put out about 17 or 21 volts which is too high for batteries. The controller converts that to an appropriate voltage as it senses battery state of charge. You tell the controller what batteries you have, it does the rest.
Torklift makes an armored battery box with a small unregulated solar panel to maintain batteries. I understand this works ok because the panel is small and provides little current.
There are members who have this setup and could add much more.

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