Absorb cycle is too short

[Westbranch]

this is really wierd... yesterday I turned on the charger while I was using the sander and genny.
This morning after waking to a 24.4V battery look at the bottom graph and the values...
and I have tried a force absorb and it  is inputting 0.0 A

[Westbranch]

things are getting a bit weird, look at the bottom graph and the values\<

I had the charger on yesterday to boost the bank < 24.5 last night at sundown NS , 24.4 v this morning....

sorry double post ....disregard the graph in  prev post...could not delete it...??

[Vic]

this is really wierd... yesterday I turned on the charger while I was using the sander and genny.
This morning after waking to a 24.4V battery look at the bottom graph and the values...
and I have tried a force absorb and it  is inputting 0.0 A

Hi wb,

I do not use the LA.  Perhaps it has a Force Absorb.  via the MNGP,  Classics do not have a Force Absorb available,  just Force Bulk.

In the past,  there used to be a bit of a bug in the Cl FW,  where,  if one was using EA in the Classic (ie,  it had a non-zero setting for EA),  if one Forced Bulk,  if  the Classic's output current was below the EA setting,  it would appear to ignore the Force Bulk,  and remain in its pervious state.

One would need to either set EA to 0.0 and Force Bulk,  or apply a load on the batteries,  that exceeded the EA setting,  and then,  Force Bulk.

This may not be the weirdness that you describe ...

The date in the lower graph of the last post appears to lack any data for the last several days,  so it is not obvious to me,  what you are noting.

FWIW.   Vic

[Westbranch]

Hi Vic, the info I was  referring to is in the second graph...  If you use windows picture viewer, and click on the image, you can then expand it and , should, be able to pick up the issue, the overnight V was down to  24.4v. the amps in for the first couple of hours was <2.3 and the V was slowly climbing to 26.0, then the little upswing to 28.0 , corresponding drop in Amps to Zero and the  Float timer kicks in...
All the while EA set to zero... the data after  that defies explanation as the Volts exceeded all set values for, max V and amps
I then did a power down twice just to be sure  Tonight I will  hopefully install the newest FW etc

[Vic]

Hi Vic, the info I was  referring to is in the second graph...  If you use windows picture viewer, and click on the image, you can then expand it and , should, be able to pick up the issue, the overnight V was down to  24.4v. the amps in for the first couple of hours was <2.3 and the V was slowly climbing to 26.0, then the little upswing to 28.0 , corresponding drop in Amps to Zero and the  Float timer kicks in...
All the while EA set to zero... the data after  that defies explanation as the Volts exceeded all set values for, max V and amps
I then did a power down twice just to be sure  Tonight I will  hopefully install the newest FW etc

wb,  Yep,  know that you were referring to the second graph,  but cannot see the detail,  just the thumbnail at the bottom ...

See that the Classic is in float,  after,  apparently delivering only 0.1kwh energy, and so on.

You do know that AGM batteries that are fully-charged have an unusual and unpredictable voltage,  particularly when MPPT CCs Sweep,  and their terminal voltage often exceeds any Absorb voltage setting,  and any Limit that has been set.

Guess that you may be saying that you do not know the reason that this Classic is in Float,  with little enerty delivered to the batteries,  when the batteries appeared to have been discharged a bit  on the previous night,  maybe ...

I can add nothing at this point,  just never ever have tried to view LA data from other's systems.

Good Luck,  sometimes,  a lot of data,  adds a bit of noise in one's life, IMO.     Good Luck,   Vic

[Westbranch]

Vic said  Guess that you may be saying that you do not know the reason that this Classic is in Float,  with little enerty delivered to the batteries,  when the batteries appeared to have been discharged a bit  on the previous night,  maybe ...

Yes that is what I saw and started this voyage... then everything started to go wonky...?

I have tried several times this cloudy morning to update the FW but I am going to delete/reinstall the install of the FW APP if I can get my permission back again.. ??  someone is playing 'permission' games somehow

To view the attachments full size, you need to click on the little paper clip or the file name and it will expand... hth

JOHN, VIC : 

Any hints as to how to get the usb Driver installed, got the message and it said install failed?  Went looking for the INF file and it seems to be missing or is it the "OLD" labeled file...  ps W7

[Resthome]

To view the attachments full size, you need to click on the little paper clip or the file name and it will expand... hth

JOHN, VIC : 

Any hints as to how to get the usb Driver installed, got the message and it said install failed?  Went looking for the INF file and it seems to be missing or is it the "OLD" labeled file...  ps W7

WB

Even viewing that MYMidnite graph full size does help see the voltages clearly as the scale is just too course to really see the shifts that are occurring. That's why I much prefer the 2 sec data from the Local App.

As for the driver. Go to the C:\MidniteSolar folder and run the uninstall.exe from there. And then reinstall the firmware program. Refer to the WIN 7 firmware instructions STEP13 & 14 Classic USB has to be connected to computer USB. It's normal to see the failed at step 14 then follow the instructions to go to Device Manage and update driver - In step 21 you will point it to C:\MidniteSolar and it will find the driver

[Vic]

To view the attachments full size, you need to click on the little paper clip or the file name and it will expand... hth

Hi wb,

YES,  I do know how to open the mm file,  it is just that the "data" is so small.  Some days previous to 9/13 are reasonably readable,  but the only data for the date-in-question is in the SMALL rectangle at the lower right,  and,  while giving a rough general idea,  not really readable.

Good luck on the FW Update.  Am still on 1849,  and probably will remain with it for some time,  as this is a busy time of year,  and really like to watch CCs for some days after a FW Update,  at remote sites.

FWIW,   Vic

[Westbranch]

Sorry Vic, I got it, you are talking about the 2 week overview, and I am referring to the 1 or 2 day graph...
yes that overview is pretty rough

John I know I have seen those instructions at a point some time ago but the "documentation section is a mess IMHO and one can not even get a search result for "FIRMWARE"...

[Westbranch]

SUCCESS!!!             Well after lunch, after I sorted out the USB driver issue, I was bouncing between slowly staining timbers and just letting the installer do its thing,  MNGP first and then Rev. 2056.  When it was all done, wait for it ... the Classic took off like a rocket and gave off some of that smell of 'magic smoke'   what the Turned out to be a new Hi temps for FET and PCB and I guess it was burning off a couple of years of dust...        first time FANS were on steady too...

I still believe, now more than ever, that there was/is? something wrong in the Classic BUT 
now have hit an all time high for PV efficiency of 77.41%... see the graph...  1296W from 1680W of PV!
The precipitous drop was from a rain storm that moved in...

If this continues Rev. 2056 is a winner in my books!!!

thanks for the help guys,   

[Resthome]

SUCCESS!!!             Well after lunch, after I sorted out the USB driver issue, I was bouncing between slowly staining timbers and just letting the installer do its thing,  MNGP first and then Rev. 2056.  When it was all done, wait for it ... the Classic took off like a rocket and gave off some of that smell of 'magic smoke'   what the Turned out to be a new Hi temps for FET and PCB and I guess it was burning off a couple of years of dust...        first time FANS were on steady too...

I still believe, now more than ever, that there was/is? something wrong in the Classic BUT 
now have hit an all time high for PV efficiency of 77.41%... see the graph...  1296W from 1680W of PV!
The precipitous drop was from a rain storm that moved in...

If this continues Rev. 2056 is a winner in my books!!!

thanks for the help guys,

That looks much better. Still can't make out the voltage reading on the graph but the amp output looks much more like it.

I was going to attach the win7 instructions for future use but stupid iPad only wants to attach photos and will not allow a file to be selected. Will attach tomorrow from Win machine.

[ClassicCrazy]

Are you using the new MyMidnite alpha or beta site ? If so there is a check box that says Full Scale that will expand the voltage graph so you can see it better. Also if you are using the new Mymidnite you can display System Amps and SOC .

What I did to find my ending amps was to set absorb for a very long time, then watch the SOC count up . When it got to 100% after that I watch for the point for system amps to level off a bit and that should be a good ending amps - and confirm that with specific gravity readings if you have flooded batteries.


Larry

[Westbranch]

Hi Larry,  sorry AGMs so no SG reading option...

right now I am still under PV'd as we are still in 'construction' phase so my PV placement is not optimal and can be moved a bit, but we get HIGH winds here in winter so have to make sure we batten down all hatches and hope we ride out the storm...
That is why I am in need of a guaranteed  long ABSORB...
Next Summer we should be able tto out in anchors for the Arrays...

I am using the original recipe of the MM,have you found any instability in the Alpha or Beta MM versions?

[Resthome]

Larry

That graph is much better to read. You can tell where the battery voltage is and once you drop out of Absorb you should see it drop down to its float voltage.

I think the problem with the Beta MyMidnite is that it only worked with certain older firmware. And that the new MyMidnite was moving to a newer server and would not be ready for awhile. I may be wrong on all of this as Andrew and Ryan have not posted any recent updates on it.

[ClassicCrazy]

The new Mymidnight is very stable and works fine for me - haven't had any issues with it. You need the network alpha or whatever that is called to make it work - and you need to go to a different ip address than the present mymidnite. That is all documented in another thread. I updated to the newest firmware a couple weeks ago but it didn't work with the new mymidnite so I went back to the older firmware. The new graphs and system amps and all are worth it to me.

Larry