Classic 150 Settings

[Vic]

...  "The +pv and -pv from the combiner box goes onto the +pv and -pv terminals on the Classic. Then the second set of +ve and -ve terminals on the Classic go onto the +ve and -ve terminals on the battery bank  ..."

NO,  really,  the  Negative from the Classic battery terminals should connect to the Negative side of the Shunt.  This is the side of the Shunt where ALL of the negatives from everything that needs the battery Negative connection.  The ONLY thing on the other side of the Shunt,  is the connection directly to the battery Negative.

Vic

[inyour4head]

Vic,

I checked the Classic and the wbj seems to be set up correctly. However, I do not have the negative from the Classic connected to the negative on the shunt as previously stated. Could this possibly be the cause of my problems? I will make the change and see what happens.

[dgd]

  Then the second set of +ve and -ve terminals on the Classic go onto the +ve and -ve terminals on the battery bank. Does this sound correct?

I'll try to post a couple pictures when I have time.

No, that is not correct
The -ve from the Classic should go to the inverter -ve lug so that the ONLY -ve wire to the battery box is coming from the shunt.

The purpose of the shunt is to measure ALL current in and out of the battery. So its very important there is no other device connected to the battery -ve at the battery  box
Fix this and your Classic will start reporting what is actually happening as now the SOC% figure is not accurate.

dgd

[inyour4head]

Okay I just took the negative from the second Classic -ve terminal and put it on the negative side of the Shunt. But am I supposed to run from the negative side of the shunt back to the negative on the battery bank?

I think we're making progress.

[dgd]

Sorry but I'm still not sure you are correct.

One side of the shunt ONLY has one cable connected to it and that cable goes to the battery box NEG.

On the other side of the shunt every other NEG from ALL devices, inverter, classic etc connect
If I uderstand correctly you have the other side of the shunt going to the inverter NEG lug which you are using as a NEG common connection point hence you connect the Classic NEG to that point.

You really need to take some pics and post them here so we can see what you wired to what.

dgd

[inyour4head]

The terminal on the left goes on the negative lug on the inverter. The two negatives on the right are from the negative on the battery bank and from the negative on the Classic.

[dgd]

ok, still wrong
That small black cable from the Classic should connect to the other side of the shunt so that the Classic -ve and the inverter -ve are on the same side of the shunt.

dgd

[Vic]

ok, still wrong
That small black cable from the Classic should connect to the other side of the shunt so that the Classic -ve and the inverter -ve are on the same side of the shunt.
dgd

YES,  absolutely correct.

The ONLY cable that belongs on one side of the Shunt is the battery Negative.
ALL other negative leads belong on the other side of the Shunt  --  everything!!

Almost there.   Vic

[inyour4head]

After re-reading the posts I see that I misunderstood things.  The good thing is that if we aren't making mistakes, we aren't learning anything. 

I put the Classic negative on the other side so we should start getting more accurate readings now. I installed the wbj and shunt about a week ago so hopefully we didn't do any serious damage to the batteries during that time. I admit that we still have much to learn about living off-grid but its well worth it- we wouldn't have it any other way!

Have a good night and thanks for all of your help!!

[inyour4head]

One more thing; Do you think its possible my EA of 6.0 is not correct because the current wasn't being measured correctly? Should I just re-set it to zero and set the charge time to 4hrs and monitor the amps again tomorrow? Or just leave it as is? Thanks!

[dgd]

I would just go back to the default 2 hour timed Absorb the over a week or so observe when the Absorb Amps tails off about about 2 to 3% of capacity, ie around 15 amps for your bank.
If it never reaches that then repeat for 3 hour timed Absorb.
Once you have that Amp figure then perhaps move to that EA Absorb termination

dgd

[tecnodave]

Inyour4head,

I think I see your problem:

You state in the above post that Classic +ve and -ve go to battery +ve and -ve terminals.

If that is how you are wiring then the shunt will not see charge current.

To reiterate what others have said.......

There is only one connection to battery negative......-ve......that is the Deltec Shunt.......all negative returns fron inverter, charge controller, AND all loads must go to the Deltec Shunt........I.e......ALL the current going to or from the battery bank MUST go through the shunt for the Classic to read that shunt and read the real current through that shunt ....which will represent the real current flowing into or from that battery.


Please recheck your connections at the battery negative.    If your Classic negative is connected to the battery side of the shunt....not the load side.....then the Classic will not see its own output current.

David

<EDIT>.   Ok so I read only the first page before I wrote response, I see that others have also caught that error.  That is the problem as Vic pointed out

[inyour4head]

After making the changes the Classic seems to be reading the wbj properly now. Thanks again for all your help!! 

We have some overcast today but we are confident that the batteries will be topped off in the next couple of days and then we should be good to go. 

[Vic]

One more thing; Do you think its possible my EA of 6.0 is not correct because the current wasn't being measured correctly? Should I just re-set it to zero and set the charge time to 4hrs and monitor the amps again tomorrow? Or just leave it as is? Thanks!

iy4h,

YES,  would watch the WBjr battery charge current with a fairly long Absorb time set,  as you tired to do previously.

I have had very good luck with Shunt EA on the FLAs here.   The main banks are approaching 11 years of age,  and have needed to tweak Vabs and  EA settings to keep the batteries happy,  in the past 9 months,  or so.   But the initial settings had been stable for many years.

Using FLAs is so nice  --  one can actually measure the SOC directly!

Have fun with the new system,    Vic

[inyour4head]

They only sold the cheap hygrometers at the auto stores so I'll have to order a good one online. However, I checked the batteries with the one I picked up this evening and one bank measured approximately 1.3 but the other bank measured approximately 1.1 causing me some concern. According to Trojan the battery is charged at 1.227 give or take .007 or so. The SOC is currently at 63% and the battery voltage is at 23.7v. My well pump draws about 10 amps but when it kicked on this evening it wouldn't even pressurize the system so I'm not sure if the problem lies with the jet pump or the batteries, but the batteries are obviously suspect. Note: I just fired up the generator and the jet pump still wont come on (it sounds like its seizing up but its only a couple months old) so there must be a problem with the pump as well. Perhaps the low voltage caused it to fry (is that even possible?) or its just a cheap pump. Either way when it rains it pours around here... Speaking of rain it was an overcast day here and it did happen to rain so we didn't even bring in enough power to get to the absorb stage. It remained in bulk mppt the whole day but now that the wbj and shunt are installed correctly I did see the SOC/AH increase a small amount even as the loads were supplied so that's an improvement. 

So, is it possible to bring both banks to the same charge by equalizing them? If so, anyone have any pointers on how to do so correctly? Do I just manually set the EQ at 1hr?

Or does it sound like that string of batteries is fried? They are still under warranty so if that's the case then hopefully we can exchange them with no problems.