General Classic 150 questions

[Wxboy]

I just hooked up my classic 2 days ago so I'm still learning but for now I have 2 basic questions...

1.  In the status screen the Watts In number, is that actual watts going to the battery or is it watts from the panel?  Meaning, does it account for the losses in the controller?  Given that it's called Watts In I would think it's from the panel but since the charge controller has it's own power draw I would think at 10 watts that nothing would be going to the battery but in monitoring voltage on a volt meter it looks like power is going to the battery even with the low power.

2.  Going back to those 10 watts, I know from another thread that the controller rests every 90 seconds when the output is less than 15 or 20 watts.  My question here is, can this be disabled or is there a work around?  With only 1 panel I want every watt I can get and when it rests for 17 seconds every 1:27  I am losing watts so just curious if I can get around this.  Today I had a prolonged time when the panel was shaded and it was reading 10-13 watts and it kept resting.

That's all for now.  My next question will probably be about the log screen since I can't get it to tell me the daily kwh's on this screen but I will play around for a couple of more days before asking a specific question.

I do love the Classic already and can't wait to understand it better.

[boB]

I just hooked up my classic 2 days ago so I'm still learning but for now I have 2 basic questions...

1.  In the status screen the Watts In number, is that actual watts going to the battery or is it watts from the panel?  Meaning, does it account for the losses in the controller?  Given that it's called Watts In I would think it's from the panel but since the charge controller has it's own power draw I would think at 10 watts that nothing would be going to the battery but in monitoring voltage on a volt meter it looks like power is going to the battery even with the low power.

2.  Going back to those 10 watts, I know from another thread that the controller rests every 90 seconds when the output is less than 15 or 20 watts.  My question here is, can this be disabled or is there a work around?  With only 1 panel I want every watt I can get and when it rests for 17 seconds every 1:27  I am losing watts so just curious if I can get around this.  Today I had a prolonged time when the panel was shaded and it was reading 10-13 watts and it kept resting.

That's all for now.  My next question will probably be about the log screen since I can't get it to tell me the daily kwh's on this screen but I will play around for a couple of more days before asking a specific question.

I do love the Classic already and can't wait to understand it better.

Thems' watts is output watts...   It's what is output after the idle watts, normally, or as best as can
be calibrated out pretty much.  One reason that it rests lower than 15 to 20 watts is because
current sensing can drift slightly.  If it starts drifting up around, say, 10 watts, then the Classic
can run the risk of not shutting off altogether and then you could lose more watt-hours
than you would want to.  Although, there ARE ways in software of getting around this,
it's kinda tough.  We took a lot of pains to try and get the Amps measurement accurate and
I think we did a real good job.  The zero offset calibration for input current and input voltage
calibration leaves a bit to be desired at the moment and can be off somewhat if you try
to calculate watts given input current and amps.  It's still very close compared to most
of the other charge controllers out there.  We will make that even better in the future though.

The dropout watts is becoming adjustable so you will be able to change that if you want to.
OR, you can try turning on the tweak called  "INSOMNIA" which tries to keep the Classic
from resting, but that is really intended for Hydro mode.  It will do something for
Solar mode too but I haven't completely tested it in that mode.  Feel free though !

boB

[Wxboy]

Thanks for the quick response Bob!  This kind of service is one of the reasons I bought the Classic over the other chargers out there.

[Wxboy]

This morning it's overcast and I'm only getting 10 watts or less so I tried to find insomnia in tweaks without any luck.  Is it only in the latest firmware revision because I haven't updated the firmware yet?  It is a fairly new unit though(s/n 2000+)?  My laptop is extremely slow so I haven't been brave enough to try loading firmware with it yet.

I tried hydro mode but it still rested.  The manual said hydro mode doesn't rest so I'm not sure what's going on.  Any ideas?

[boB]

This morning it's overcast and I'm only getting 10 watts or less so I tried to find insomnia in tweaks without any luck.  Is it only in the latest firmware revision because I haven't updated the firmware yet?  It is a fairly new unit though(s/n 2000+)?  My laptop is extremely slow so I haven't been brave enough to try loading firmware with it yet.

I tried hydro mode but it still rested.  The manual said hydro mode doesn't rest so I'm not sure what's going on.  Any ideas?

There was a version of software where hydro mode always stayed on.   I think you have older software.
The latest does have the insomnia tweak and it is mainly for the hydro mode.

What you might do is to at least download the software, install it, plug the USB cable in and install the
driver and change the port.  Watch the video and look at the info for updating.
Then you can think about doing the actual update.  If you don't open the GUI that has the buttons
that say to update the firmware and then turn the Classic on with the USB plugged in after doing
the install, it won't affect the Classic.  So you can kind of go slowly before actually doing the deed.

boB

[Wxboy]

Finally updated the firmware today.  Had to disconnect the controller and bring it upstairs to the desktop since the laptop wouldn't cooperate but it was worth it.  It looks like the new firmware changed the resting under low power.  Before it would start resting at roughly 17 watts or less.  Now it appears to rest at 10 watts or less(give or take).  And the resting happens more frequently.  Used to rest every 1:30 and now it's about every 10 seconds.  For me this seems like an improvement between 10 and 17 watts but worse from 1 to 10 watts.  The good news is now I can use insomnia mode under really low power conditions.  I tried out insomnia mode for an hour or so today and it seemed to work just fine.  Rain in the forecast for tomorrow so I'll be using insomnia again.  I really love the fact that updating the firmware is so easy and it's just another reason to love the Classic. 

Now I need to figure out how to use the local monitoring application next.  Can I hook up the Classic directly to a PC with a long ethernet cable and use it that way?  That would save me from going downstairs a million times a day to check the status.

[boB]

Now I need to figure out how to use the local monitoring application next.  Can I hook up the Classic directly to a PC with a long ethernet cable and use it that way?  That would save me from going downstairs a million times a day to check the status.

Yes, you sure can !  You can even connect up one of those Wi-Fi bridges to the Classic and monitor over your home Wi-Fi system or over the internet if you set the ports up right.

boB