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[Whissellr]

Thank you so much for your response Vic.

Attached is a picture of my Magnasine and Midnite Classic.
My system is 24V solar only with 3 arrays of 3 panels each that deliver ~1500W.
The breakers in question are the twinned 100A breakers in the middle of the Magnasine that seem to supply power to the Midnite...when the breakers trip the inverter continues to run until battery power is exhausted.
Any suggestions for a diagnosis or fix would be greatly appreciated!

[Vic]

Hi Whissellr,  thanks for the added info.

Think that the attachment of the photo,  did not work, could you please try doing the attachment again?

The "twinning" reference could be the DIN rail breakers,  that were two parallel breakers,  which are available in 100 Amp,  and 80 Amp ratings,  or,  perhaps it could possibly be a 100 A GFCI breaker.  The photo should help determine what breaker you are referring to.

You might have a loose connection, where cables connect to the breaker that is tripping.  You could try re-torquing these screw terminals on this breaker, and all others.  BUT you should be very careful in doing so.  Use a screwdriver with insulation on its metal shaft,  and wear safety glasses.  Be very careful about shorting the battery breaker terminals to ground/negative,  and that you do not touch the PV breaker terminals,  as there may be high voltage DC on this breaker.  Wear some good gloves while re-torquing all of these breaker terminals.

More later,  off to work, now.  Please let us know how you are doing.
More later,  Vic

[Vic]

Whissellr,

FYI,  in the following Link,  are three GFCI breakers (from Outback Power),  one of which is rated at 100 Amps,  does the tripping breaker look like, or similar to this  (?):

https://outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/integration_products/system_accessories/ground_fault/groundfaultbreakers_datasheet.pdf

Later, Vic

[Whissellr]

Hi and thank you again Vic,

Hopefully the attachment is in order.

When the problem first occured I disconnected the batteries and solar input and tried to tighten all connections. This has not rectified the issue.

[Vic]

Hi Whissellr,

Thanks for the pics.  This looks like a good, high quality installation.

That dual DIN, 100 Amp breaker should be good for 100 Amps continuous current.

Even if your PV are producing 1500 Watts of output power, on your 24V system, this should not produce 100 Amps of output from the Classic.

It may be a bit of trouble to pull the front cover of the conduit box, where the tripping breaker is located,  if you could do that, it would be interesting to know if the cable that connects to the input and output of that breaker is Fine Stranded cable,  AND,  what is the gauge of the cable.

When the breaker trips,  do you know what that the battery voltage is?

What are the ratings of your PVs? Or, if you have it, what is the manufacturer and model number of the solar panels?  IIRC, you have three strings of PVs, each string has three PVs, and they appear to be identical?

Are you in the Southern Hemisphere?

When the breaker trips, is it early in the day, and is it cold outside when it trips?

Back to work, but, may ask another question, or two.

Thanks, Vic

[Wizbandit]

There was a batch of those that were defective.  The plastic between the two terminals didn't get broken out to allow the copper horseshoe/box lug to be inserted all the way in the two saddles (terminals).  Might need to tear down and inspect that.  Also one loose saddle will cause nuisance tripping as that unit is just two 50 amp breakers in parallel.  If after inspection all looks good then it is just a defective unit fixed by replacement. 

[Vic]

Thank you, Jim,  did not know of the batch of bad ones   ...

Vic

[Jjbart]

Hello Forum readers!
I'm new and ignorant! I'm an off gridder in SW Colorado using a system the former owner set up. I have a Midnite Classic 200 with a Victron Energy Phoenix inverter. I just upgraded my 2 panels and bought new batteries.
Everything was going great all summer since the upgrade.
This month we have had a bunch of cloudy days/weather.
The other day we saw a low battery warning on the inverter and plugged in our generator to help charge the batteries.
Now, periodically the inverter will say low battery, the Midnite will show low voltage for the batteries and the system shuts down. Sometimes it resets automatically and sometimes I need to flip the inverter breaker. What we've noticed is that the inverter will occasionally send erroneous battery voltage info to the Midnite. I know this because I have independently tested the batteries or had the generator on for a few hours.
The inverter is about 8-10 yrs old.
Is it time to replace?
Or is my SOC setting on the Midnite wrong (I barely know what this means but it seems the inverter is not reading the battery charge level correctly and shutting down)?
The inverter just clicked, as i was writing this, and the low battery warning came on even though the Midnite says i have 11.5volts in the battery. The inverter shut down for a couple of minutes, power went out, then it came back on.
What's up with that?

[Vic]

Hi Jjbart, Welcome to the Forum.

OK,  please tell us the brand, and model of batteries that you are using, and also how many parallel strings of these batteries. Are the batteries all new?

11.5 VDC is a fairly low state of charge, although, this depends on system loads, etc.  But,
this appears to be a 12 V system

Victron products are generally regarded as being high quality,  so, the inverter might be OK.

Does the Classic have the optional WbJr current measuring module?

What is the brand and model number (or what is the Vmp and Voc of the panels,  and how are the panels wired (Series, or parallel)?

As you know, clouds can significantly reduce the PV output.

More later,  TIA, for as many answers as you can provide.  Vic

[Jjbart]

Hi Vic! A HUGE Thank you for your help!
I have 3 of these: CONTINENTAL CBEV-31-DT 12 VOLT GROUP 31 AGM BATTERY, 118 AH.
The batteries were just installed by a local solar guy (he came out and looked at the issue yesterday and said it is probably the Victron inverter that needs to be replaced).
Panels: Q Cells, Q Peak Duo BLK ML-G9+ 380. We have 2 and they look to be wired parallel. Not how to attach a picture!
I am not sure if I have the Whiz Bang module but I have seen that term in the Midnite screen.
Our system load is very low, we run a modem and charge 2 laptops, sometimes run an extra monitor. At night we have some LED lights.
Since yesterday, the Victron seems to shutting down more frequently. What started as a once in a long while issue, has now become every hour and sometimes multiple times in an hour.
For example, the batteries have a charge
of 13.4 or 13.5, then Victron blinks low battery and the Midnite screen will drop to 10v or 9.5v shutting all the power off. I will trip the breaker and the Midnite will show 13.5. Then I turn the Victron back on and everything reboots. Sometimes it stays on for an hour or two and then the low battery starts blinking again.

[Vic]

Jjbart,  Thanks for the added details of your system.

In a quick search,  did not find your Continental battery.  But the DT, in the model number might imply that they are a Marine style Dual Terminal battery.

Did your solar person give you specific charge settings, for the Classic,  and the Victron?
what are your loads on the system during the day,  when the Classic shuts down?

I forgot to ask what is the Vin to the Classic around noon.  This reading is on the top left of the main status screen/s.  Even if it is cloudy,  am still curious about this value.

The Classic needs about 9, to 10 V from the battery to run.

More,  in a bit, need to finish something before our sunset,  Vic

[boB]

The Classic needs about 9, to 10 V from the battery to run.

This made me think of something....    The Classic will start up at about 9.5V or somewhat less maybe but if the battery is any good at all, the Classic should continue running down to about 5 volts input before it shuts off.  MAYBE 6 V....

What this says, if I read that the Classic shuts off at around 9 or 10 V is that the battery may be toast.  OR maybe the connections need checking.  There should be enough current to allow the Classic to run a bit lower in Vbatt.  I think I remember that it took around 3 amps at that 5 or 4 V input right about as it is ready to turn off.

boB

[Vic]

Hi boB,

Thanks for the clarification on the Classic operation vs battery voltage,  AND interesting thought about the higher current drawn by the Classic, as it is about to quit.

Jjbart,

Here is a Link to the MidNite WbJr current measuring accessory  --  it is a small module that mounts on a Shunt, which is in the negative battery connection.  It is a PC board with a clear cover on it,  and one green LED which flashes every 5 seconds or so:
https://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=519&productCat_ID=21&sortOrder=9&act=pc

Thanks for the info on your solar panels,  those should keep the Classic happy,  and could supply about 45, or so Amps of current,  in max direct sun, toward the batteries/inverter.

Good Luck,  please DO let us know, how you are doing,  Vic

[Jjbart]

Hi Vic
Things have gotten worse! I think the Victron is shorting out the Midnite and hence the system. Midnite works great and at night as soon as the Victron is turned on it shuts the entire system down. During the day when the sun is out, the Victron will stay on until I plug the low-load modem into a socket. Then the system shuts down. I'm looking for someone else to come out and take a look.
Also, this only started happening when our batteries were low from some rainy days and we started the generator and connected it to the system.
At wits end!
John

[Vic]

Hi John,

Questions:

Does the inverter have a charger, built-in?  Else, how are you charging from the generator?
What is the inverter model number?

Does the inverter show Fault codes?

DO you have a MultiMeter, to measure AC/DC voltages?  You might check the AC output voltage of the inverter, to make sure that it is close to 120 VAC.

Do you have a 12 V battery charger?

When the inverter shuts down, it might default to its 230 VAC/50 Hz (EU) settings.

I know nothing of Victron gear

What loads does the inverter feed?
Are you in Lightning Country  --  any chance that you have had a close lightning strike?

Check the Configuration switch settings, verses what the manual suggests for USA.

You may be having trouble getting on the internet, if the Modem you referred to, will not run ...
   Later,  Good Luck,  Vic