Midnite solar Brat EQ time too short.

Started by Nitrous4us, June 06, 2016, 05:24:19 PM

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Nitrous4us

I have a 320 watt array, 450AH 12v bank. (4 T105's) my solar power system is working fantastically no problems on a day to day basis. My battery profile that I'm using is s1-4 on and s1-5 off. With this setting it should EQ for two hours. It does not. Only about 15 min. Any ideas???? I have no fault codes or anything. The voltage gets to about 15.1v that is kinda low as well.
24x165w EverBright solar panels. Midnite solar classic 16 x 280AH lifepo4 Magnasine ms4448pae inverter. All wired for 48v

Westbranch

Tell us about your loads... SoC in the morning, etc...
KID FW1811 560W >C&D 24V 900Ah AGM
CL150 29032 FW V.2126-NW2097-GP2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3Px4s 140W > 24V 900Ah AGM,
2 Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr, NetGr DS104Hub
Cotek ST1500 Inv  want a 24V  ROSIE Inverter
OmniCharge3024  Eu1/2/3000iGens
West Chilcotin 1680+W to come

Nitrous4us

No loads were on the batteries all day. SoC in the morning would have to be close to 100%
24x165w EverBright solar panels. Midnite solar classic 16 x 280AH lifepo4 Magnasine ms4448pae inverter. All wired for 48v

Westbranch

ave you attempted an EQ  AFTER you have drained the batteries to less than 85% SoC and then recharged?

I don't EQ my AGMs  so I am not that conversant with EQ other than it should only be done after a full charge profile has been done, and then the EQ is started...

that may well be your issue.
KID FW1811 560W >C&D 24V 900Ah AGM
CL150 29032 FW V.2126-NW2097-GP2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3Px4s 140W > 24V 900Ah AGM,
2 Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr, NetGr DS104Hub
Cotek ST1500 Inv  want a 24V  ROSIE Inverter
OmniCharge3024  Eu1/2/3000iGens
West Chilcotin 1680+W to come

brad.midnite

The Brat will attempt to EQ for 2 hours but if it cannot maintain EQ for a short amount of time (it may be 10 minutes, but my memory is rusty on this), it will give up and try again tomorrow. It sounds to me like it's making a best-effort to EQ your batteries but at 100% duty cycle, there's just not enough power available to bring your bank up to EQ voltage. So it gives up, tries the next day, then finally gives up until you request another Manual EQ or the normal Auto EQ delay (30 days) cycles.


brad.midnite

Here's something to try. When you want to EQ your batteries, disconnect The Brat and connect your panels directly to your battery. Watch the voltage for 15 minutes. Does it climb above the advertised EQ voltage? If you have problems with this, under approximately identical conditions, that's a good indicator.

And a note on the '10 minutes' rule. It is not a hard 10 minutes, it is a cumulative effect. A counter increases at fixed intervals when its unable to maintain EQ voltage, if it is maintaining EQ voltage, the counter decreases to 0. If the counter is at 0, it stays at 0, if the counter increases up to a value that signifies 10 minutes, it gives up. It also counts how much time it was able to maintain EQ voltage. When it attempts to start up again the next day, this counter resumes. That way, if it can do 90 minutes on day one and then fails, it will try to EQ for 30 minutes the next day. If it fails to complete EQ in those two days those counters are reset.

This logic was implemented to better take care of your batteries. If it's telling you it's EQing your batteries but it's unable to actually bring the voltage up to the setpoint, it's false advertising imo.


In short, it sounds to me like you're not getting enough input power at EQ voltage to bring up your battery in a timely fashion. The Brat is indicating it's having a problem.

Nitrous4us

Very good info from everybody. Thanks a bunch it is well appreciated.
24x165w EverBright solar panels. Midnite solar classic 16 x 280AH lifepo4 Magnasine ms4448pae inverter. All wired for 48v

CDN-VT

Seems light on the panel to AH of Battery size
VT
Canadian Solar 350W 37.6 VOC  30.6 VMP 8.22 ISC 7.87 IMP ,-15 c +30c max  4 strings in 2 in Series for 24v Classic 150 -1020 Ah  Freezers & fridges ~~~ Second Array same panels of 3sx3 parallel for 24 V Classic 150 -440 Ah Outback Barns & out blds.
48Vdc almost done,11Strings up of 3s11P same panels

russ_drinkwater

I have noticed when manual setting to equalize that the voltage for equalize 30.1 volts can not be provided by the panels due the position and being winter time ( I also need to get on the roof and give them a wash off). So your PV output may not be enough as stated to perform
the equalize and the reg drops out and does a reset for the next day.
Can you see what the input voltage is coming from the panels or test to check it?
Standalone. 20 Hyundai x 220 watts panels, 2 x classic 150's, Latronics 24 volt 3kw inverter, Whiz bang Jnr, 12 Rolls surrete  4KS 25P  batteries and WBJ.
Grid tie feed-in, 12.5 kw in 3 arrays generating 50 kws per day average. Solar river grid tie inverters