No Power Output

[ChrisOlson]

I took our KID controller out of our yacht because we got shore power in our slip for the summer and won't need the solar panels on it until we go on a longer cruise next winter again.

We are going to Canada on a fishing trip next week so I decided to put the KID in our 5th wheel RV for the summer.  At present we have a 19W solar panel on the RV that maintains the two Group 27 batteries in the camper (going to add a 60W panel before we leave for Canada).  The 19W panel has a little 7A PWM controller on it that maintains the voltage of the batteries at 14.4V on a sunny day.

The PWM controller had the batteries at 14.4 when I unhooked it and hooked up the KID.  But the KID won't put out any power with that solar panel.  It shows 18.9V input and most of the time zero output.  A couple times it showed 0.2A output but the battery voltage gradually dropped below 13.0 and it wouldn't work.  I got a TriStar MPPT60 and decided to try that with that 19W solar panel.  The TS-MPPT60 puts out 1.2A to the batteries and works fine.  So I hooked up the KID and tried it again.  Same thing - no power output.

So I grabbed the 60W module that I'm going to install on the camper and hooked that up to the KID.  It immediately took the battery up to 14.7V and started absorbing it with both panels hooked in parallel.

Any ideas why the KID won't work with that 19W solar panel?

[TomW]

I took our KID controller out of our yacht because we got shore power in our slip for the summer and won't need the solar panels on it until we go on a longer cruise next winter again.

We are going to Canada on a fishing trip next week so I decided to put the KID in our 5th wheel RV for the summer.  At present we have a 19W solar panel on the RV that maintains the two Group 27 batteries in the camper (going to add a 60W panel before we leave for Canada).  The 19W panel has a little 7A PWM controller on it that maintains the voltage of the batteries at 14.4V on a sunny day.

The PWM controller had the batteries at 14.4 when I unhooked it and hooked up the KID.  But the KID won't put out any power with that solar panel.  It shows 18.9V input and most of the time zero output.  A couple times it showed 0.2A output but the battery voltage gradually dropped below 13.0 and it wouldn't work.  I got a TriStar MPPT60 and decided to try that with that 19W solar panel.  The TS-MPPT60 puts out 1.2A to the batteries and works fine.  So I hooked up the KID and tried it again.  Same thing - no power output.

So I grabbed the 60W module that I'm going to install on the camper and hooked that up to the KID.  It immediately took the battery up to 14.7V and started absorbing it with both panels hooked in parallel.

Any ideas why the KID won't work with that 19W solar panel?

Chris;

I do not know for sure but I bet that The Kid just cannot find a suitable Power point unless the sun is blazing directly perpendicular to that panel?

Or by the time it gets a Power Point it is consuming all it makes and is a net zero?

Or not.

Tom

[ChrisOlson]

That's about all I can figure.  I know the power consumption of it is very low when it's resting.  But once that relay inside it clicks and it comes online, maybe the power consumption of the controller is higher than what the panel puts out?  Either that or it can't find the Power Point for that panel.  The KID showed 18.9V and the TriStar had it clamped down to 17.1V to get 1.2A from the panel and the TriStar said 17 watts.  The panel was about perpendicular to the sun when I tried it.

Don't remember what the specs are on the panel.  That's on the back of it and it's screwed to the camper roof so I can't see the tag.

[boB]

Maybe, try the Legacy P&O tracking mode.  Might work better ?
Worth a try I think.

[ChrisOlson]

OK, I'll try that and see if it works.  I've never changed that in the KID, so don't know what menu option it's under.  But I'll find it and give it a shot.

[Highflyer]

Chris,
I have successfully use a single 10 watt panel with both my kids.  I did have to completely adjust (using a multimeter) the settings before the kid would produce, but when I have it adjusted correctly, it was pushing power to the batteries.

As I recall I got like 6watts to the batteries on a single 10 watt panel and I was not exactly tracking the sun.

Hope this helps.