Classic 150 constantly cycling it's relay,

[waynefromnscanada]

Hi all, question re my new Classic 150 installed about a wk ago. All appeared to be working awesome. This evening was the first time I happened to be beside it at dusk, and noticed it was cycling on a 2 second time schedule. For 2 seconds the relay would be pulled in and the display would show MPPT. Then the relay would drop out for 2 seconds and the display show Resting. This repeated continuously. Cut all power to the Classic, giving it time to reset, then powered it up again. After completing it's startup, it was back to the constant 2 second cycling. I figured it had something to do with the low light level, so shut it down and left it off until after dark, then powered it up again and all is fine. It was working fine during daylight today whenever I checked it. Will check during daylight again tomorrow, calling for full sun.
Anyone have any ideas? Have I missed some adjustment? Surely it wouldn't be designed to work that way.
Thanks a lot.
Wayne

[Westbranch]

Hi Wayne, I bet you don't want to hear this ( I had a similar issue).... to solve it, you will need to tell us all the settings that can kick in at sundown. I can't remember just what stopped it but I fiddled with the settings a bit and got it to stop. Probably was the setting for turning on when the sun comes up /restart?... ie you don't want it to turn  on as soon as possible, but a bit later.
cheers...

[waynefromnscanada]

Thanks Westbranch. All settings except Absorb, Float and EQ voltages I left as set from the factory. I suspect you are right re settings for sunup voltage etc. Will have to check into that when I get a chance.

In the meantime I did find the following from the TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE in the manual:

*This can be normal during low light conditions.
*Watch the IN voltage and see if it is setting stable and does not change when the Classic goes from Resting to Bulk MPPT if so call customer service
*Watch the IN voltage and see if it slowly drops to battery voltage (Or Close) when the Classic goes to Bulk MPPT, if so this is usually a sign of a High resistance connection (Loose Connection between the Classic and DC source)

[SolarMusher]

Hi guys,
Wayne, your classic should not show 0V when resting, mine is 13.6V at rest (night) for a 106V array Vmp.
If your PV IN wiring is correct, I'd try a VMM, it could not hurt.
(If you experience any unusual behavior please try a "Quick Start" by first turning the battery and solar power to the Classic off. Next, turn the battery power back on while holding the Left and Right arrows. Hold the arrows until the first "Solar, Wind or Hydro" screen pops up. Follow the on screen prompts and continue setup. Note: This will reset all settings to factory defaults. You will need to reset any custom settings such as Aux 1 and 2. You may want to write these settings down for reference prior to resetting the Classic.)
Erik

[waynefromnscanada]

Hi Eric, thanks for your reply.
Just went out and checked (dark @10 PM) and with battery voltage resting at 12.7, the batt voltage display of the Classic is also showing 12.7,  The PV "IN" voltage is showing (36vmp array in the dark) 0.6 volts. If I kill the PV breaker, the "IN" voltage very slowly rises to 6 volts, where it settles. Switching the PV breaker back on causes the "IN" voltage display to very slowly drop to 0.6 again.
In daylight the controller appears to be operating perfectly, and at night it goes to "Resting" and stays there. The only problem appears to be at dusk, when the relay constantly cycles on and off until it gets darker. It may be doing the same thing at dawn, that time between daylight and dark, but I haven't been out there observing it at that time.

[Westbranch]

set your clock...

[waynefromnscanada]

Clock was set on initial set up, as was Absorb, Float and EQ voltages. But nothing else has yet been changed from factory settings.
Will check the time settings tomorrow to make sure the settings held.

[Westbranch]

sorry ... that is the bedside clock

[waynefromnscanada]

Bedside clock?  Hahahahahaha 

[Westbranch]

try this thread...http://midniteforum.com/index.php?topic=1577.msg13507#msg13507
talks about IN Voltage levels after dark.

lucked out on a search

[waynefromnscanada]

Good catch Westbranch and makes sense.

"You will usually see around half to 3/4 of the actual battery voltage on the input. Ryan"

And that's roughly where mine is (1/2 battery voltage) when it's not being drained off by PV leakage. So that appears OK.
Tomorrow I hope to have time to investigate if there might be some adjustments for input voltage levels that would trigger the controller out of Resting. Such settings may or may not stop the relay cycling.
Interesting that the MX-60 had a setting for time delay between attempts to come out of sleep. I had mine set for 10 minutes and it worked great that way.

[Westbranch]

That delay was what I used too.  the MX CC was a great wake up call in the early summer days. 
tick, tack....tick, tack... New place, everything is in the basement at the other end of the building..

[boB]

Wayne, during sunset, when you hear the Classic clicking away as you described, please
check the "Reason For Resting"  (RFR) for a clue.   From the main status menu, hold
down the LEFT-arrow key and while it is held down, tap the ENTER key.
You will be presented with a "secret" menu with a bunch of meaningless
numbers on it.  The number we want is the top-center number.

Is it 5, or 9, 1, or ... ?

Thanks,
boB

[waynefromnscanada]

AWESOME Bob! Thanks a lot man, I'll definitely be trying that!   

[waynefromnscanada]

OK boB, was out early this morning checking things out as the sky began to brighten.
Sure enough, there came a point where the 2 second cycling happened again.
Checked as you suggested and the top center # was 13.
While this cycling was happening, the IN voltage from PV would cycle from 27 to 12.2, then back to 27 every two seconds as the controller switched back and forth from Resting to MPPT and back to Resting.
Checked again as the sun was just beginning to show it's face on the Eastern horizon, and the cycling had stopped. At this point that "secret" top cntr # was 5, and the IN voltage closely matched Batt voltage. Output at this point was 1.1 amps.
From this point on, as the sky brightens, the controller operates fine with ever increasing output till Solar Noon.
If the 2 second cycling is normal, then so be it, but it seems unnecessary wear on the relay, and that's the only thing that bothers me about it. I wouldn't hear the clicking if I wasn't out in the solar shed during those low light times.
Thanks again.
Wayne