Report Card for Beta Units...??

[dgd]

Yes degrees C.   In Auckland New Zealand we are in summer and today max ambient in almost windless conditions was up near 30 by midday ans stayed there until 5pm. High humidity too.
My battery/power room is usually cooler but today it was barely below outside ambient.
I was thinking that even with a fan all I would be doing is pushing hot air around.
It's still so hot after midnight it's difficult to sleep

[Mario]

Mario,
This morning I observed the KID for a while as I relocating some cables.
Its a bright sunny day with some broken clouds.

PV Classic is about 1800watts from 2.1Kw PV array and when clouds go past drops to 500 to 700 watts for 2 to 20 seconds then back up to over 1800 again.


The KID has 700W array in clear sun but I'm never seeing it reporting more than 350 watts output
When cloud moves over the KID detects the reducing current and goes from BULKMPPT to RESTING and array voltage rises from about 85v to 105v (90v mpv)
The resting always lasts at least 3 to 6 minutes before relay clicks and it rushes back up to over 300 watts. Next clouds same again.
I appears the KID is more in RESTING state then in BULKMPPT
I'm not 100% positive this is actually related to cloud movement as its a very regular almost cyclic occurance. Almost as if there is a timer count behind it.
I also see the top green LED is always illuminated.

Although the Classic soon gets the bank into Absorb the KID does the same in ABSORB, it cycles between ABSORB and RESTING states.

The KID seems to have a long RESTING delay before resuming MPPT even though the clouds moved away and the PVs are in clear sunlight. This delay is way too long.

Any thoughts on this?

dgd

Good observation I have an Idea of whats is going on with dgds unit, and yes it does have to do with the sudden change in light available, so when clouds come in the voltage is dropping from 105v to 85v. I will have to fix that it is too sensitive.

Look for another firmware update here soon.

[dgd]

Mario,
Thanks for your reply.
I have been observing the KID for the last few hours and its changing state between BULKMPPT and RESTING. The resting periods can be up to half an hour.
The weather is almost complete thin cloud cover but very bright with sun position easy to see.
When in BULKMPPT the KID is producing over 350 watts. Then for what appears no reason it just clicks off and goes into RESTING state.
KID temps are 23 and 24 c
There seems no way of forcing it to do an mppt scan, no combination of button pressing, is there such a combination?

I would estimate from 10am this morning to 3pm this afternoon that 70% resting 30% BULKMPPT and the brightness has varied very little - Classic is varying between 1900 watts and 1300 watts on BULKMPPT.

Look eagerly forward to next firmware update that hopefully fixes this.

dgd

[dgd]

KID has spent today mostly resting. Only a power off on will restart it. Then bulk mppt lasts only minutes before it goes to resting.
It's only at power on time that it seems to test the inputs for pv power then after a few seconds goes to bulkmppt. Once it clicks off into resting then it seems to have a long delay before retesting input for power hence most of day is in resting
later... With less sun/input power available the KID still rests but restarts after about 10 minutes but its a cyclic resting-bulkmppt-resting pattern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iduRs53tIuI

dgd

[Bunkie314]

Max setting mode in the LCD menu locks the display up aftergoing into float. Just after the display goes into power saving the top line goes to the squares and the bottom line is blank. Other settings in the LCD menu, "ECO" & "NRML" did not appear to have this behavior.

Temperature compensation for the Eq function does not appear operational yet.

[Halfcrazy]

Mario,
Thanks for your reply.
I have been observing the KID for the last few hours and its changing state between BULKMPPT and RESTING. The resting periods can be up to half an hour.
The weather is almost complete thin cloud cover but very bright with sun position easy to see.
When in BULKMPPT the KID is producing over 350 watts. Then for what appears no reason it just clicks off and goes into RESTING state.
KID temps are 23 and 24 c
There seems no way of forcing it to do an mppt scan, no combination of button pressing, is there such a combination?

I would estimate from 10am this morning to 3pm this afternoon that 70% resting 30% BULKMPPT and the brightness has varied very little - Classic is varying between 1900 watts and 1300 watts on BULKMPPT.

Look eagerly forward to next firmware update that hopefully fixes this.

dgd

Mario
Wouldn't the reason for resting tell us why DGDs Kid is resting?

Ryan

[dgd]

Mario,
My KID kept running all day without going into resting, started up this morning, bulkmppt to absorb and now in float
Its a hot day but I fired up the air-con in power room so ambient was about 20c and the temps in the KID maxed at 37c for cpu and 34c pcb.
I also reduced the pv input so the max input to KID never exceeded 120w.
Tomorrow is expected to be a 30c plus day so in the morning I will turn off air-con and increase PV input again to allow over 400Watts and see if the resting issue returns
dgd

[Mario]

Max setting mode in the LCD menu locks the display up aftergoing into float. Just after the display goes into power saving the top line goes to the squares and the bottom line is blank. Other settings in the LCD menu, "ECO" & "NRML" did not appear to have this behavior.

Temperature compensation for the Eq function does not appear operational yet.

Bunkie314, you have a unit with a bad display connection , that is why you get the Top line with blocks randomly, its just coincidence if it happens in the same menu/function.
we are going to need to RMA your unit,
Firmware 1703 was designed to single out the kids with bad display connections..... and Bunkie you have one.

Mario

[Halfcrazy]

Max setting mode in the LCD menu locks the display up aftergoing into float. Just after the display goes into power saving the top line goes to the squares and the bottom line is blank. Other settings in the LCD menu, "ECO" & "NRML" did not appear to have this behavior.

Temperature compensation for the Eq function does not appear operational yet.

Bunkie314, you have a unit with a bad display connection , that is why you get the Top line with blocks randomly, its just coincidence if it happens in the same menu/function.
we are going to need to RMA your unit,
Firmware 1703 was designed to single out the kids with bad display connections..... and Bunkie you have one.

Mario

So email me ryan@midnitesolar.com and I will issue an RMA so we can get you fixed up

[ClassicCrazy]

Guess Midnite inspired the competition ( Morningstar)  to come out with a 30 amp model now too. Looks like they just scaled down their other model so no LCD or load control.

[Halfcrazy]

Yes and I just heard it is $477 msrp?

[ClassicCrazy]

Yes and I just heard it is $477 msrp?

Well Morningstar makes good controllers but they don't crank out firmware updates with new features every other week to keep us tech hungry junkies satiated.  Plus gotta get the add on's to do control which certainly drives up the price. I couldn't find their specs listed yet - was curious if the Kid will handle more watts in like the Classic does because of the feature that clamps the exteme high VOC in cold weather - forget what you call that.  With that feature my Classic will handle 2700 watts compared to 2000 for other controllers in the class.

Will the Kid have that extreme cold VOC feature too ?

[TomW]

was curious if the Kid will handle more watts in like the Classic does because of the feature that clamps the exteme high VOC in cold weather - forget what you call that.

HyperVOC

[dgd]

Mario
Wouldn't the reason for resting tell us why DGDs Kid is resting?

Ryan

Do you have a list of the RFR numbers?
I'm assuming the battery->absorb->setup+enter->rt arrow->top line leftmost number - is the RFR

dgd

[Mario]

the RFR list is the same as the classic

Mario