A Forum run by Enthusiasts of MidNite Solar

ust installed my new Kid yesterday, it worked great until i played around with it and now it seems to be stuck in resting mode. I tried doing a factory reset but still no luck. Hooked up to 2-100 watt (21 Voc) panels in series for now. I tried the left arrow and tapping the enter button but no number pops up for the code as to why its resting. I lost sleep over this last night!!!

What mode do you have the "input" in?  Also, how are the fuses?

And welcome  :)

Thanks for the reply! The input mode is in solar and the fuses check out good, says I have 36 volts input from the solar but still in resting mode. Battery voltage is 12.6

How much load is running at this time?  those batteries are almost full at 12.6  V, if that is resting Voltage.

Float voltage is set at 13.9 volts. Somewhere on this forum I read you can push the left arrow and tap the enter key and a number would pop up for a code on the reason for resting. Doesn't seem to work.
http://kb1uas.com/mnsforum/index.php?topic=2034.0

Thanks for the input guys. I'm still stumped

Float at 13.9 seems a bit high.... are they dropping off and needing an EQ?

RE: Resting Voltage:   if those batteries were fully charged and the Resting Voltage, (which only occurs after 3 or more hours Rest after charging stops...,) is ~ 12.6V those batteries are fully charged. It would take a good load on them to get the CC to recognize that they need a charge...

For example,  on my Classic, if I have done a disconnect post full charge being met,  it will start a recharge, quickly ramp up to Absorb V, then drop the output Amperage quickly and go into resting state...

Just tryed resetting it and hooking it up to my 24 volt system. Put a good load on it and brought the batteries down to 22.5 volts. Still just stays in resting mode. Solar panel input showing 33.7 volts.

You are getting 21V , how many amps with that incoming?

Have you checked ALL the settings as per manual?
Can you remember just what you changed?

Do you have a WhizBang jr?  If not you will probably want to get one eventually, if you are a data junky like a lot of us , it's a must have!

As you said you played around with it and now it seems to be stuck in resting mode

things to check:

BTS?  connected and setting turned on?
End amps set on, needs WBjr...
Amp limits set?

I just thought of an important startup item, did you connect to the battery first before applying PV power?

I just read through the manual  and picked on some of the settings I felt would  possible impact your unit...

hth

The only thing I played around with was the modes. Changed it from solar to %voc then back to solar. I did a factory reset so anything I may have messed up should put it back to the way it was?? I have no remote battery temp sensor or no wiz bang Jr. Thanks for your suggestions. Think I'll be sending it back to the factory...

Try the other solar modes (solar1 ect).  It might be a setting you set up in solar that is fubar'd.  Do you understand how to use the upper left button for settings?  If so, go through again, I would bet a setting is off.  Unless you released the mythical blue smoke, I doubt the kid is dead, or at fault.

I did a factory reset so anything I may have messed up should put it back to the way it was??

I just thought of an important startup item, did you connect to the battery first before applying PV power?

When you do a Factory reset you turn on the battery power first, this is  to provide power to the KID,    then    turn on the PV. 

The PV can not power the KID... only the battery does this...

I really do appreciate all the input guys. Tried different input modes and put it back to solar. When I reset it I did unhook the pv then the battery and then battery then pv. Went through the quick start up guide and it's still in resting mode.

Did you calibrate the voltages?  Ie check the Kid's number against a Volt- Ohm meter. 

I would  also change out the fuses just to make sure there is not a problem.

Also, you could try other panels, If the problem follows the panels or the Kid, that might help you figure this one out.

If you want to check the reason for resting you must go into the tech menu,then scroll down to about kid hit enter then hold down the set up button and enter at same time then right arrow and you will see a screen with whole bunch of numbers the top left number is the reason why it's in resting mode ,I don't know what each number represents but if you call midnitesolar they will give you the reason ,remember not to power down your kid as the code will be gone ,the problem must be present at the time your looking at the number screen.the reason I know this is I'm having problems with my kid going into resting mode intermitent with full sun on the panels and battery voltage low 12.1 VoLts, then I reset the kid and all is good for a day or two then it's happens again ,my kid is about two years old but was in service for about a month as I use it for 2 weeks a year at my cabin out east the rest of the year it's sits at home in a box not used. My problem seems to have started when the firmware 1797 came out .i then changed back to older firmware(1742) and seemed good then upgrade to 1811 firmware , I had other issues with equalization stage noted last year in firmware problem 1797 . Because the kid is used very little I kept thinking its a firmware problem but now I think it's a hardware problem ,midnitesolar solar is looking into it right now for me , hope they can help me out as its only got a month use.

I am having the exact same problem. Sent it in for repair. Got it back and it worked - once.  Put it back in the box, took it out a week later for the next event, wired and powered it up and the problem is back again. 38voc at the solar input, 24.2 volts on the batteries (two 12v batteries in series). Either I'm doing something wrong or there are some serious reliability issues here. This thing shouldn't be this difficult to operate.

Sunproduction,
Try putting the unit in Solar 2 mode since your PV VOC is close to the battery voltage, depending on the amount of light on the panels you might not have enough power to run the regular Solar mode.

Mario

I read above post ,Found the mode & solar2 , I will try & see , for winter . Im 110Vdc panel over 48Vdc cells.Winter can be gray .

VT

Thanks for the input Mario! Up until now I had been wiring up my four 165 watt 23 voc solar modules in 2x2 series/parallel - the way I did it with my old PWM charge controller. I wired them all up in series and now it works!

 sunproduction,
Panels are 12V with a VOC of 23Vdc , four in series 92Vdc VOC is still in a good voltage .
You should try solar mppt  and see on cloudy days if solar 2 mode harvests different . Thats what Im doing .
Im still 3 series one string My VOC is 43Vdc  36.6Vdc  VMP
Time will tell , week of cloudy weather & a break of 30c days.

VT

Quote from: gkingsley on May 12, 2016, 03:19:15 PM
ust installed my new Kid yesterday, it worked great until i played around with it and now it seems to be stuck in resting mode. I tried doing a factory reset but still no luck. Hooked up to 2-100 watt (21 Voc) panels in series for now. I tried the left arrow and tapping the enter button but no number pops up for the code as to why its resting. I lost sleep over this last night!!!

So have you called in to tech support? If not can you tell me what battery voltage you are trying to charge?