Amp limit must be set low to keep the Classic 150 from resting

[boB]

fFter some more experimentation, I found that my issues are because the WIND TRACKING function is interferring with the SOLAR and P&O.  A video short on the CD explained how too set the wind-tracking MODE curve.  I have now set it and will see how that goes.

Buzz, how was the wind curve, or lack of wind curve accuracy affecting solar ?  Do you mean two separate Classics were interfering with each other ??

boB

[Buzz]

fFter some more experimentation, I found that my issues are because the WIND TRACKING function is interferring with the SOLAR and P&O.  A video short on the CD explained how too set the wind-tracking MODE curve.  I have now set it and will see how that goes.

Buzz, how was the wind curve, or lack of wind curve accuracy affecting solar ?  Do you mean two separate Classics were interfering with each other ??

boB

It's working well-enough, now.  I have to fuss with it in every MODE except Wind Track.

SOLAR mode doesn't seem to work at all.  I still haven't found the Wind Track setting that will allow Solar to come out of RESTING.  It will sweep for hours and pass the watts up that show on the MNPG readout.

In Legacy P&O MODE, the CC quits after a while and if I'm not there to restart it in Wind Track, it just goes to RESTING and never charges the batteries.    I'm calling that undependable and don't use it except when I'm around to watch it.  It is actually better at getting Amps into the batteries, but only if it's not RESTING.

I set Wind Track starting at my battery's lowest functioning volts (114.0v) and then went up the scale, adding an amp every few volts until I reached my highest battery charge (150.0v).  It works consistently without babysitting; goes to BULK MPPT by itself at first light, goes to ABSORB at the right voltage and goes to RESTING at dusk.  It's been reliable for two days, now. 

I like that "reliable" thing.

To answer your other question, I'm making another, independent, system, so I have two 250KSs.  They will operate independently of each other, and right now only one is in use.  This is not a 250KS-interference issue.  The issue is that Solar and Legacy don't work as well as Wind Track for my solar set-up.

Wind Track used to go into HyperVOC if I put a load to the batteries.  I guessed that the 250KS started SWEEPING because the voltage from the panels suddenly changed, having gone to the load instead of the batteries.  I TWEAKED it down a few volts and that seems to have fixed it, so now it sweeps without going into HyperVOC, and adjusts to accomodate the draw from the load within a few seconds.  The load is two 9.5 inch motors, drawing huge amps.  So far the system is working for me in Wind Track Mode.   Go figure.

[Buzz]

The Total Panel VOC is 200 v and it feeds a 120 V Battery bank.  I saw what you did with the math, so I would just multiply by 10.   The 250 KS is made for a 120 v battery bank,  but a Classic 250 goes into hyperVOC at 250 V, which is 1.25 x 200; so a 500 v panel setup would not fix it.  In other words, 200VOC is the max for a Classic 250KS.

I'm going to try lowering the Amp LIMIT tomorrow, that's one I didn't try.  How did you come up with that idea?

Where are you at that 200 is the limit without routinely going over 250 in the cold months? Can you give me the average cold there as well as the record cold? One of the things I like to do when designing around a Classic is to use the average cold (0F here)this ignores those 3 or so record breaking cold mornings (-30F here). What happens is on the -30F morning the Classic is in Hyper VOC for a hour or 2 until the panels warm slightly. Let me know your 2 temps and I will do some math there as well.

Ryan 

I would be inclined to shoot for a VOC of 225vdc for this array this will result in a VOC of 243vdc at 41F and  256vdc on the record cold mornings of 21F. 

Sorry I missed this...Lovely weather here, usually.  Average low is about 16F, for a couple of nights per year.  Record low is -10, just last year, a 50 year record freeze that lasted several days.

So, here in the sunny high mountain desert, HyperVOC is just what it does if I TWEAK the Classic KS over 0.0....weather doesn't seem to have anything to do with it, as it goes into HyperVOC with a TWEAK of 0.1v in the heat of the day or the frost of the morning but not at 0.0.

I'll bet you've never heard this before:  If I add 25 more volts to my 200VOC system, how would I set it so that HyperVOC doesn't turn on, or, if it turns on how would I set it to turn it off?  TWEAKing only drops the VPV another 5v at most.

[Drew]

Hello everyone, just wanted to let you know we believe we have finally figure out why our Classic 150 would not work in SOLAR mode. At night with no power coming from the arrays we still had a few volts shown coming in. So I went to the tweaks and adjusted the Vpv to almost -5 to zero it out. I figured that would give us a correct reading of incoming volts during the day. It caused the VOC to flash between 0 and 553.5 at night. Bob and Ryan said that wasn't right and Ryan said to set the tweak back to zero and let the night voltage be whatever it is. So the next day we metered the incoming voltage from the PV array under full sun with the tweak set to 0 and the Classic was dead on with the meter. So instead of having a 48V PV In reading with VOC around 50.9, we now have 52V PV In with 54 to 55 VOC with the tweak set at 0. I then switched the mode to SOLAR and the Classic worked great!

Thanks all for your help, the two week long troubleshooting has finally paid off!

[boB]

This is wonderful, Andrew !!   I guess the 553.5 thing didn't click until Ryan mentioned that the offset had been changed.
That voltage at night is real.  I need to make it say something other than that though.  It can mislead people.
At the very least, it should never display 553.5 Volts !!   What that number is, is really negative 1  (-1).  Can't have
negative input voltage fer sure.

Happy thanksgiving (weekend) !

boB