Kid 31 day data logging, WTH?

Started by Kindavacant, January 30, 2018, 10:36:13 PM

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Kindavacant

Under Today: VBATT MIN 12.2V. I'm 12.4v now using NOTHING during the day because i was working. Woke up this morning at 12.5V , same as when I shut everything down last night.

Under 01 Days ago 11.0V, again crashed for the night at 12.5 no loads on. Woke up at 12.5. (Edit: had a .3amp fan on testing load outs 'Daylight' on/off function which turned the fan on at 6am in total darkeness which woke me up but still 12.5v at 8am when I actually got  up.)

Under 02 Days ago 12.0v, crashed again at a flickering 12.4/12.5..Woke up at 12.5.

Currently Input is 9.5V. 8:26pm sun been down awhile, 4 panels all in series putting out 9.5v so know that input ain't affecting the display.

What am I missing here?


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               



Resthome

Quote from: Kindavacant on January 30, 2018, 10:36:13 PM
Under Today: VBATT MIN 12.2V. I'm 12.4v now using NOTHING during the day because i was working. Woke up this morning at 12.5V , same as when I shut everything down last night.

Under 01 Days ago 11.0V, again crashed for the night at 12.5 no loads on. Woke up at 12.5. (Edit: had a .3amp fan on testing load outs 'Daylight' on/off function which turned the fan on at 6am in total darkeness which woke me up but still 12.5v at 8am when I actually got  up.)

Under 02 Days ago 12.0v, crashed again at a flickering 12.4/12.5..Woke up at 12.5.

Currently Input is 9.5V. 8:26pm sun been down awhile, 4 panels all in series putting out 9.5v so know that input ain't affecting the display.

What am I missing here?


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Well if your asking about the low mins it could be any thing that loaded the batteries down. It may have only been for a few seconds. As the log will catch the lowest reading. Now if you absolutely have no loads even connected during the day then you have something strange going on.

As for the voltage input at night it is mostly likely not coming from the panels. Not really familiar with the kid but the Classic will read a factor of the battery voltage at night.for input.

John

10 x Kyocera KC140, Classic 150 w/WBJr, Link10 Battery Monitor, 850 AH @ 12v Solar One 2v cells, Xantrex PROwatt SW2000
Off Grid on Houseboat Lake Don Pedro, CA

boB


Yes, the input may show a few volts at night.  This comes from the battery side.

Maybe you will be able to catch it during the morning and see what is happening ?

boB
K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

Kindavacant

Okies, I'll check input voltage tonight. Turns out last night it was probably the moon, woke up at 10pm-ish, my roof vents were open and was trying to figure out who installed a streetlamp over the RV, looked out the vent, went near blind from the moon.

As for loads, been off grid over two years now, only loads always on is the 12v panel of the the propane fridge and now the Kid. Don't drink coffee, water pump is manual rocker switch only on when needed, inverter is a simple 1000w Power TechOn pure sine that runs only when I turn it on and it's not connected to the house wiring it runs my laptop, speakers and an extention cord to the back for a hair clipper (inverter is 0.9 amps to run itself before its single fan turns on- btw: It's China built but survived the brutal heat of SW Arizona in the summer and is quiet, highly recommend it). Haven't ran the microwave in all this time or heavy loads that would temp draw down the volts.

I did have an issue for a year where I could only use a Xantrex C40 PWM controller with no display since around 12pm to 3pm a frequency would pop up, hearing the buzz from both the controller and a negative battery post, that would disrupt any digital display from the controller to the batteries but not an analog amp meter also inline. Volts and amps were correct reading off the lines but the displays were all over the place, 1 amp then 15 amps then 7 amps, 1V then 20V then 12V, each display change changed the pitch of the frequency buzz. No one had a clue what was going on. Solved that finally, a week at a half ago, was a 100amp 12v 10 guage RC meter overheating, having been I guess damaged when I went 24V in to 12V out using 10/2 wire out for a 8 foot run to the batteries the summer before it began. (And yes, 24v to 12v out NEVER USE 10 GAUGE WIRE! It gets HOT! My yellow butt connectors turned brown over the summer, surprised the whole place didn't catch fire, using #6 welding wire now with 2 small #10 stubs into the Kid.)

BTW: Had the Kid connected to batteries for a week, no Solar. I did see the frequency scrambling the in-line meter, but not the Kid display which ruled out a battery issue, only thing that remained constant in all the changes trying to figure the problem out was that meter was always there.

Work is finally slowing down, I'll more dilegently check when possible that the frequency issue is truly squashed. I check at the regular times popping in to make a sandwich and I believe it's gone but have to prove it. Like during a day off..can feel one coming, slithering off in the distance, teasing..

Resthome

Again not a Kid person, but min voltage readings are going to be pretty had to track down. With the Classic the local app would find it if you left it connected as it will log data at 2 sec intervals and you can dump all that data to an excel spreadsheet and look for when the voltage dips down. Does the Kid log tell you the time that the Min Voltage occurred?

Any one with a Kid ??  Is there something similar as the local app for the Kid?
John

10 x Kyocera KC140, Classic 150 w/WBJr, Link10 Battery Monitor, 850 AH @ 12v Solar One 2v cells, Xantrex PROwatt SW2000
Off Grid on Houseboat Lake Don Pedro, CA

Kindavacant

Quote from: Resthome on February 02, 2018, 12:54:16 AM
Again not a Kid person, but min voltage readings are going to be pretty had to track down. With the Classic the local app would find it if you left it connected as it will log data at 2 sec intervals and you can dump all that data to an excel spreadsheet and look for when the voltage dips down. Does the Kid log tell you the time that the Min Voltage occurred?

Any one with a Kid ??  Is there something similar as the local app for the Kid?

I do think some voltage is backflowing from the batteries but it's much lower then the logs Vbatt Min.

No local app for the kid  :'(, some data polling is available using Aurino(sp) and custom code but that's a whole new field I've no time to learn about (maybe this summer). And no time stamp in the logging menu. After installing some Classics and quickly showing the customers the various fields, I feel lost and alone, the Classic being a computer nerds dream, and the Kid a hardware programmers tasty nut to crack. I'm the former. Ah well.

Volts, Amps and Watts were steady, then reset to factory defaults to clear the log. Min volts then read as current volts; however, all three values began flickering immediatly by a tenth on Volt and Amps and watts just changed with the other 2 values. Think now my batteries are the culprit. Short day tomorrow and off Sunday, will be looking for huge swings of the values.

Wondering what will happen to the values of the Whizbang Jr if it ever shows up.



Kindavacant

#6
Determined my Kid is broken. It works but 31 day log is broken, values way out of range. Solar Clock for using load out is broken, Clock never adjusts, a factory resets to 12am and never adjusts itself to 'Solar time' just 12am to 12pm like a regular clock. Got the Kid back over a year ago and there it sat unused for a year, put it back in action and know for a fact it wasn't the one I sent out due to the Data Save button was stuck on, got back one that a hole was drilled into the back plate for a grounding lug, the load fuse cover was missing, the 2 internal jumpers were gone. Just saying it works but the features are totally broke. Tested it enough.

EDIT: Testing the 31 day log VMin howto? Shut everything down when I crash at 12.4 or 12.5, total darkness. Wake up next morning in darkness, batteries at 12.5, Vmin always 11.9ish. Broken.

KyleM

Quote from: Kindavacant on February 06, 2018, 09:57:36 PM
Determined my Kid is broken. It works but 31 day log is broken, values way out of range. Solar Clock for using load out is broken, Clock never adjusts, a factory resets to 12am and never adjusts itself to 'Solar time' just 12am to 12pm like a regular clock. Got the Kid back over a year ago and there it sat unused for a year, put it back in action and know for a fact it wasn't the one I sent out due to the Data Save button was stuck on, got back one that a hole was drilled into the back plate for a grounding lug, the load fuse cover was missing, the 2 internal jumpers were gone. Just saying it works but the features are totally broke. Tested it enough.

EDIT: Testing the 31 day log VMin howto? Shut everything down when I crash at 12.4 or 12.5, total darkness. Wake up next morning in darkness, batteries at 12.5, Vmin always 11.9ish. Broken.

Could you give me the serial number of that KID and who you purchased it from?

-Kyle

Kindavacant

Quote from: KyleM on February 07, 2018, 10:53:31 AM
Quote from: Kindavacant on February 06, 2018, 09:57:36 PM
..blah blah my post blah

Could you give me the serial number of that KID and who you purchased it from?

-Kyle

Sure, where's the serial number located at?

KyleM

Quote from: Kindavacant on February 07, 2018, 11:20:35 PM
Quote from: KyleM on February 07, 2018, 10:53:31 AM
Quote from: Kindavacant on February 06, 2018, 09:57:36 PM
..blah blah my post blah

Could you give me the serial number of that KID and who you purchased it from?

-Kyle

Sure, where's the serial number located at?

Serial number is located on a sticker on the bottom of the KID. It will start with KB

-Kyle

Kindavacant

Quote from: KyleM on February 08, 2018, 10:21:04 AM
Quote from: Kindavacant on February 07, 2018, 11:20:35 PM
Quote from: KyleM on February 07, 2018, 10:53:31 AM
Quote from: Kindavacant on February 06, 2018, 09:57:36 PM
..blah blah my post blah

Could you give me the serial number of that KID and who you purchased it from?

-Kyle

Sure, where's the serial number located at?

Serial number is located on a sticker on the bottom of the KID. It will start with KB

-Kyle

KB04519, purchased at Solar Bills probably through the distributor Don Rowe. A Kid install came back today and installed his Whizbang, checked his 31 day logs and even not knowing his power usage they looked correct.


KyleM

I verified that the KID KB04519  did come in for repair:

"REC'D KID WITH RMA# XXXX...
VERIFIED S/N KB04519
TOOK TO HANK FOR EVAL PRIOR TO FIX
Posted By: Reception - Feb 23, 2017"

Unfortunately the Technician that worked on your unit has retired so I can't ask him about the repair. I would be happy to send you a new back to the KID if you feel that he mixed it up with another plate. We also include extra jumpers for the KID in the hardware bag that comes with the KID, but they are not needed unless you are networking multiple KIDs together.

-Kyle

CDN-VT

Mr Kyle to the rescue !
I have had Mr Kyle help / fix / replace a WBjr .
This IS one Great Company , Like I have Read Robins post , Just start a ticket & we will deal with it .

Folks , I have NO QUALMS of dealing with there products . I have had bad flavours left  from some asian  , but Morningstar & here are 100 % .

Just so you @ Midnite  know ( Ya only hear the bad , never the "Thanks " or not enough)

Thanks Kyle & Ms Cole , good folks .

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

Kindavacant

Thank you Kyle but none of that is needed. Don't care about the back, someone else installed a Kid and not the jumpers so have those back- why these other installers aren't including all unused Kid stuff I dunno, but with many sighs gathered up enough parts to replace what was missing and then some (except the load fuse cover).

Don't really care about the 31 day log being screwed up as it's not affecting anything else. And the 'solar clock' acting like a real clock is actually nice as it's more predictable. As long as the Whizbang screen works I'll be back in Heaven and that's all I really need. Kinda interested to see how it reads with the Kid, a wind turbine and the C40 with its own solar all on the negative.

Again Kyle, thanks for the offer.

Kindavacant

So finally got the Whizbang today, hooked it up, activated it and nothing. No light on the whizzy and "WBJR Unplugged check wire" message. No voltage between the WBJR port and battery ground, no light on WBJR when wire connected to battery positive. Will swap it out tomorrow and see- I've installed this on both a Kid and Classic 150 so know what should happen. Know this Kid ISN'T mine from repair, the other stuff is internally screwed up, will try another from stock and this one on another Kid in stock id replacement is the same..