Resting Kid

[tecnodave]

My Kid has been resting since I got it back from factory refurb,  no output,    84 volts in  440 watts mono panels in series,   12 volt battery bank @ 232a.h.  12.00 volts, kid resting,  output relay does not click on,  reset mode to solar O&P , no effect, mode is on, lots of sun, reset mode to solar, turn mode on, no effect, no output

td

[Westbranch]

Latest FW?

[tecnodave]

Firmware rev. 1742

td

[Westbranch]

Is that 12.0 V the KID screen readout?  pretty low if it is....

another RMA?

[tecnodave]

Yes, I have a dead battery again, it was 12.6 volts this morning when I disconnected the Chinese Tracer and installed the Kid. It was charging at 72 watts, 5.7 amps, I left on a two or three hour errand and came back to a dead system, battery at 12.00 volts at kid display confirmed with fluke DMM generator will not start at that low a voltage

td

[Westbranch]

that's a pretty heavy load to kill off a set of  GC2 batteries!

[tecnodave]

W.B.

Sometimes I run my adsorption refrigeration off the 12 volt system.....I'm low on gas so I burn excess solar power to run the frig. 25 amps at 12.6 volts to DC heating element cycling on and off through ref. control board.  Pretty hard load for a 12 volt system......switch to propane when in low sun times

I designed my own logic board that looks at p.v. in voltage and when controller is using less than max power to charge batteries input voltage will rise and trigger logic board to send 12 volts to "ignition" circuit of refrigerator board to cause it to switch to 12 volt DC input.

What I did not plan in there is for the controller to fail, thus unloading the panels......high v.o.c.  excess power available......switching refrig to DC when batteries are going dead but lots of solar energy available.

A bit of redesign is needed there so my logic board will see battery voltage and p.v. Input voltage then decide if there is enough excess power to waste on adsorption refrigeration

td