newby with classic lite

[dynomyte]

Hi All.
Lucking for help and advice, just connected my classic lite 150 with one 250w suntech solar stp250s-20/wd panel and 12v lead acid battery. The problem is ive only had 17w output even on a clear day. am i using wrong type of panel or is pv voltage too low ?.
My name is Allan from central ENGLAND.  Wot have i started LOL.

[Westbranch]

look for a loose connection in the system, this can significantly affect production. Is the battery fully charged?
what loads are you powering?
what other stuff do you have running? ie inverter, lights etc

[boB]

I could not find a Suntech STP250  250watt module but did find  STP225 and STP280 modules.
Assuming your STP250   is similar, the Max Power Point voltage is right around 30 volts at 25C so may be
slightly lower than that when in the sun...  Probably greater than 25 volts.  It should be around 36 Volts
open circuit (Voc)...

Do you have a volt meter ?  Either that or hook up the Lite to a PC and use our Local App to view the
input voltage when it is operating.  The input should be somewhere in the high 20 volt range.

OR...  Maybe the battery is full ?   In this case, the Classic Lite would be in either the Absorb or Float
stage and if so, that is why you would see a very low output power.

I tend to think that your battery may be full because even if the Lite got the max power point voltage
lower than it is supposed to be, you should be getting maybe around 1050 watts or so.
In this case, the PV input voltage operates closer to Voc than it does at Max Power point voltage (lower).

And, if the batteries are full, in full sun, try turning on some loads and the power should go up.

boB

[dynomyte]

disconnected panel to checked Voc and Isc both spot on. reconnected panel and the darn thing worked 234W at 16.2A to battery
no idea what was wrong but it now works, will test it again tomorrow.

[Westbranch]

disconnected panel to checked  ......     it now works,

Obviously that is where the poor connection is....
look for a loose crimp or incorrectly joined connector...??