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#41
The "Classic" charge controller / Re: Classic150... can it fail ...
Last post by ClassicCrazy - July 22, 2026, 11:44:24 AMIn the many years on this forum , I have never heard of a Classic failing in a way that will pass PV voltage directly to batteries.
The Classics have been around for a very long time.
They are not isolated in that the negative is shared by both pv and battery .
Larry
The Classics have been around for a very long time.
They are not isolated in that the negative is shared by both pv and battery .
Larry
#42
The "Classic" charge controller / Classic150... can it fail and ...
Last post by jta - July 22, 2026, 11:22:49 AMI've got a Magnum 4024, pre-wired with MidniteSolar E-panel & Classic 150. Over at this forum, there is an unverified case of a Victron 12v MPPT "failing" in such a way that PV voltage got passed-thru to battery.
Details in first post on thread at:
diysolarforum.com/threads/solar-charge-controller-failure-leading-to-lfp-fire.127623/
My Classic (and the whole pre-wired system) has been flawless for well over 5 years (past it's warranty period), so I'm very happy.
But, I'm not sure if either the classic 150 has "isolation" (correct term?) or e-panel would prevent this scenario? I searched the classic user guide, but "isolation/isolated" didn't come up in such a way as to explain this scenario ...
Any thoughts?
Details in first post on thread at:
diysolarforum.com/threads/solar-charge-controller-failure-leading-to-lfp-fire.127623/
My Classic (and the whole pre-wired system) has been flawless for well over 5 years (past it's warranty period), so I'm very happy.
But, I'm not sure if either the classic 150 has "isolation" (correct term?) or e-panel would prevent this scenario? I searched the classic user guide, but "isolation/isolated" didn't come up in such a way as to explain this scenario ...
Any thoughts?
#43
Barcelona / Re: Barcelona
Last post by ClassicCrazy - July 21, 2026, 01:18:16 PMQuote from: stjohn on July 21, 2026, 07:46:57 AMGood Morning Larry. No experience with AI. Perhaps we could speak on the phone. If you do not mind perhaps email me your number? We can set a good time?I will message you .
Jay
#44
Barcelona / Re: Barcelona
Last post by stjohn - July 21, 2026, 07:46:57 AMGood Morning Larry. No experience with AI. Perhaps we could speak on the phone. If you do not mind perhaps email me your number? We can set a good time?
Jay
Jay
#45
Barcelona / Re: Barcelona
Last post by ClassicCrazy - July 20, 2026, 04:03:57 PMQuote from: stjohn on July 20, 2026, 03:14:21 PMGood Afternoon Larry,
First, thank you again for staying with me on this. I am back and am determined to resolve my rather small issues. It seems to me that you have suggested one major component that I desire, the software that you have created.
I am willing to ship to you a Beelink that you could configure so I just have to "plug in" and run your software if you are interested. And I will pay for the software, shipping etc. If you are willing.
In the meantime I need to get back to the Barcelona and Schneider's and figure out what is going on. I mentioned I am net metered but currently not "selling" and still charging batteries but not utilizing the power I am generating from them.But your software running would seem to be very helpful in monitoring so please let me know your availability to assist.
Thanks,
Jay
Have you ever used AI ? If you ask it exactly what you want to do , it will walk you through all the details. Try that first. I can help you with what exactly to ask it . I use Google Gemini AI now. They even have a program now called Antigravity that once you get the basics going, can do some of the setup for you. Paying for that a month a two would be worth it. Gotta run now but can chat about this with you more later.
Larry
#46
Barcelona / Re: Barcelona
Last post by stjohn - July 20, 2026, 03:22:19 PMA follow up reply post to FNG and James, ok, makes sense that without Rosie there would be no float time on the Barcelona menu. James at Midnite was surprised when I said I did not see it but hopefully he learned something new.
Yes FNG, I swapped out my 300 watt PV for 430 watt and the two Classic 200's of course could not handle the additional voltage so I ordered a Barcelona and commissioned it two weeks ago. Afterwards I have had small issues like a slow charging and confused by some Barcelona settings that perhaps are really my dual Schneider settings ? ! ?
I never use Schneider AC charging and am on the grid (which goes down weekly) also net metered that I never really get credited for and have been shifting to living more off grid. I have upgraded my system over the past 13 years to (12) EG4LL 60 kw still use the dual Schneider 6048 and now the new Barcelona with the (18) Silfab 430 PV
Yes FNG, I swapped out my 300 watt PV for 430 watt and the two Classic 200's of course could not handle the additional voltage so I ordered a Barcelona and commissioned it two weeks ago. Afterwards I have had small issues like a slow charging and confused by some Barcelona settings that perhaps are really my dual Schneider settings ? ! ?
I never use Schneider AC charging and am on the grid (which goes down weekly) also net metered that I never really get credited for and have been shifting to living more off grid. I have upgraded my system over the past 13 years to (12) EG4LL 60 kw still use the dual Schneider 6048 and now the new Barcelona with the (18) Silfab 430 PV
#47
Barcelona / Re: Barcelona
Last post by stjohn - July 20, 2026, 03:14:21 PMGood Afternoon Larry,
First, thank you again for staying with me on this. I am back and am determined to resolve my rather small issues. It seems to me that you have suggested one major component that I desire, the software that you have created.
YOU SAID:
Home Assistant is an operating system. It will run on bigger raspberry pi like pi5 ( or maybe pi4) but I run it on a n95 beelink mini pc. Got this when prices were low a year or two ago . I have the mini pc running Proxmox server and the Home Assistant runs as a container on that. You can just do the whole pc of pi directly as Home Assistant OS .
Monitoring remotely is easy , there is a small program called Tailscale that you put in and then it makes a secure link which you can access from anywhere ( it doesn't need ports opened on the computer ).
I would have had some screenshots for you already but I can't copy and paste them here so have to do it a round about way.
I may have some saved already - if so I will add them now.
I see the screen grabs and would very much like this for my system. The only thing you wrote above that I can understand is you used a Beelink mini PC. I have three running Windows 10 that I discontinued since they are unsupported now. I assume that what you have would not be affected.
I am willing to ship to you a Beelink that you could configure so I just have to "plug in" and run your software if you are interested. And I will pay for the software, shipping etc. If you are willing.
In the meantime I need to get back to the Barcelona and Schneider's and figure out what is going on. I mentioned I am net metered but currently not "selling" and still charging batteries but not utilizing the power I am generating from them. But your software running would seem to be very helpful in monitoring so please let me know your availability to assist.
Thanks,
Jay
First, thank you again for staying with me on this. I am back and am determined to resolve my rather small issues. It seems to me that you have suggested one major component that I desire, the software that you have created.
YOU SAID:
Home Assistant is an operating system. It will run on bigger raspberry pi like pi5 ( or maybe pi4) but I run it on a n95 beelink mini pc. Got this when prices were low a year or two ago . I have the mini pc running Proxmox server and the Home Assistant runs as a container on that. You can just do the whole pc of pi directly as Home Assistant OS .
Monitoring remotely is easy , there is a small program called Tailscale that you put in and then it makes a secure link which you can access from anywhere ( it doesn't need ports opened on the computer ).
I would have had some screenshots for you already but I can't copy and paste them here so have to do it a round about way.
I may have some saved already - if so I will add them now.
I see the screen grabs and would very much like this for my system. The only thing you wrote above that I can understand is you used a Beelink mini PC. I have three running Windows 10 that I discontinued since they are unsupported now. I assume that what you have would not be affected.
I am willing to ship to you a Beelink that you could configure so I just have to "plug in" and run your software if you are interested. And I will pay for the software, shipping etc. If you are willing.
In the meantime I need to get back to the Barcelona and Schneider's and figure out what is going on. I mentioned I am net metered but currently not "selling" and still charging batteries but not utilizing the power I am generating from them.
But your software running would seem to be very helpful in monitoring so please let me know your availability to assist.Thanks,
Jay
#48
Barcelona / Re: Barcelona
Last post by stjohn - July 20, 2026, 08:05:38 AMGood Morning Larry and also FNG and James. I was traveling but am back on St john and will be digging into all of your responses. Thank you so much everyone.
Jay
Jay
#49
The "Classic" charge controller / Re: Fan spin in Classic (and l...
Last post by binkino - July 20, 2026, 06:27:23 AMThanks; yes, I still need to give that some thought 
Even though I've got the temperatures under control now, I'm still seeing the "current limit" today...
Currently:
East: 30.30 Amps, South: 2.3 Amps... combined 32.60 Amps
Charging current is then 71.30 Amps
The WBJr shunt is connected only to the South charge controller. The maximum setting there is 78 Amps in the "App" - which is likely my problem?
I've now set AUX2 on the South Classic to something else for testing purposes; the South Classic shouldn't be measuring current anymore.
(I'm missing that value in my visual display now, but it's fine for testing)
Now (12:15 PM)
East: 21.8A
South: 15.29A
Total: 37.60A
Charging current: 80.40A
Fluctuating, and clouds are rolling in. Great...
The day before yesterday, I briefly had a charging current of 107 Amps—so I'm not entirely sure if the WBJr shunt is the limiting factor here...
But with the WBJr inactive, the current on the South side went up nicely.
Where am I going wrong (again...)?
Surely we can use the WBJr to get the reading without it throttling the charge controller?
Even though I've got the temperatures under control now, I'm still seeing the "current limit" today...
Currently:
East: 30.30 Amps, South: 2.3 Amps... combined 32.60 Amps
Charging current is then 71.30 Amps
The WBJr shunt is connected only to the South charge controller. The maximum setting there is 78 Amps in the "App" - which is likely my problem?
I've now set AUX2 on the South Classic to something else for testing purposes; the South Classic shouldn't be measuring current anymore.
(I'm missing that value in my visual display now, but it's fine for testing)
Now (12:15 PM)
East: 21.8A
South: 15.29A
Total: 37.60A
Charging current: 80.40A
Fluctuating, and clouds are rolling in. Great...
The day before yesterday, I briefly had a charging current of 107 Amps—so I'm not entirely sure if the WBJr shunt is the limiting factor here...
But with the WBJr inactive, the current on the South side went up nicely.
Where am I going wrong (again...)?
Surely we can use the WBJr to get the reading without it throttling the charge controller?
#50
MidNite SPD (Lightning arrestor) / SPD Sanity Check - L1, L2, N P...
Last post by artuza - July 18, 2026, 08:53:56 PMI have been pouring over various forums for the last couple of years (including here) regarding SPD's (reviews, real world experience, usage / configurations) and have narrowed it down to using MNSPD300AC's vs. some of the other available products.
Per the old NEC rules regarding the use of grounds utilized by my AHJ nearly 20 years ago, all four locations (utility pole, main home, barn, shop) have individual grounds bonded at each location. There is no 4th ground wire between the four locations, nor are there any other metallic utilities between the four locations (telecom, ethernet, coax, water, gas). My network / IP Phone connections are fiber optic.
Since I am looking at protecting all three lines (L1, L2, N) at all four locations, I see each panel location would require 2 SPD's each.
For locations at the utility pole panel, barn, shop, home panel: SPD-1 attaches to L1 and L2, SPD-2 attaches to Neutral. This will leave one leg on SPD-2 unconnected. Is this safe, or should the second leg be attached to Neutral as well?
There is a fifth location - the Transfer Switch outside the home panel and next to the generator (Generac 26K) requiring 3 SPD's: SPD-1 connected to utility L1 and L2; SPD-2 connected to generator L1 and L2, SPD-3 connected to utility Neutral and generator Neutral. I presume the use of SPD-3 to capture both utility and generator neutrals is permissible (each leg is isolated internally which dumps to the same common ground)?
Any useful inputs and answers to my two questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Alex Tuza
Per the old NEC rules regarding the use of grounds utilized by my AHJ nearly 20 years ago, all four locations (utility pole, main home, barn, shop) have individual grounds bonded at each location. There is no 4th ground wire between the four locations, nor are there any other metallic utilities between the four locations (telecom, ethernet, coax, water, gas). My network / IP Phone connections are fiber optic.
Since I am looking at protecting all three lines (L1, L2, N) at all four locations, I see each panel location would require 2 SPD's each.
For locations at the utility pole panel, barn, shop, home panel: SPD-1 attaches to L1 and L2, SPD-2 attaches to Neutral. This will leave one leg on SPD-2 unconnected. Is this safe, or should the second leg be attached to Neutral as well?
There is a fifth location - the Transfer Switch outside the home panel and next to the generator (Generac 26K) requiring 3 SPD's: SPD-1 connected to utility L1 and L2; SPD-2 connected to generator L1 and L2, SPD-3 connected to utility Neutral and generator Neutral. I presume the use of SPD-3 to capture both utility and generator neutrals is permissible (each leg is isolated internally which dumps to the same common ground)?
Any useful inputs and answers to my two questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Alex Tuza