Renogy Rover

[dj2109]

Hello,

I’m having issues with my solar charge controller.

I initially had a Ramsond PWM. I was getting MAX 35amps when I should be getting about 50amps.

I upgraded to a Grape Solar MPPT. I got 0amps max.

I upgraded to a Renogy Rover MPPT. 20amps max.

Battery type is correctly selected.

When I contact support it says “connecting to associate” then hangs up.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Danjo-SKO]

Renogy has had a lot of problems adapting to remote work. It’s almost as if they are refusing to spend the money on IT to make it happen. I became so frustrated I nearly drove to their warehouse to demand support.

By looking at your display, my first question is, do you really have a problem?

Please describe your panels, wiring and battery configuration

 

[dj2109]

24v battery system.

24v panels.

Six 250w panels = 1500w total
Wired in parallel

I was told realistically I will get 50a or 1200w total.

Right now, almost noon, I’m only getting about 400w when my first PWM would get about 700w

 

[Danjo-SKO]

I think what you’re seeing is the controller doing its job. You have full batteries and you aren’t drawing any juice.

I think you’ll find that if you create a draw off the batteries, the watt value on your controller will increase

 

[dj2109]

I turned my minisplit on max and the amperage won’t change. The solar charge controller estimates battery charge based on voltage. It is very incorrect. My battery monitor is correct.

 

[dzl_]

What is the VMP of your PV panels?


What time of day were the pictures taken, and was the AC running at the time?


What are the specifics of your charge profile (absorb voltage, float)?

 

[ACamper-SKO]

Renogy has had a lot of problems adapting to remote work. It’s almost as if they are refusing to spend the money on IT to make it happen. I became so frustrated I nearly drove to their warehouse to demand support.

They also had problems before covid. "remote work" is just one of their recent excuses along their trail of fraudulent business practices.

 

[jazty]

Yeah, there's definitely not enough information here to say whether or not the charge controller is at fault.


As was mentioned, in the last picture posted the charge controller output looks perfect for a full battery.


You say the battery type is selected properly. What _is_ the battery type? Maybe you need to adjust the per-stage voltage manually to match what your batteries require.


Also, what does you're solar array look like? Are you getting any shade on those panels? Even one leaf covering a panel can significantly reduce the output. What is the panel tilt?



Since you have an MPPT charge controller, you could also try increasing the solar panel array voltage as an experiment. Connect pairs of solar panels in series, then all those pairs in parallel to get ~48 volts.
I personally charge my 12v batteries with ~36 volt panels to reduce line-loss. Less efficient within the MPPT charge controller, but more efficient transmission through the wires. A fair trade-off.

 

[Danjo-SKO]

They also had problems before covid. "remote work" is just one of their recent excuses along their trail of fraudulent business practices.

Yeah, I’m happy with the product so far, but if I had known their tech support was going to suck so bad I Would have purchased somewhere else

 

[dwood443]

Mine works just fine. I did accidentally leave a solar panel connection on the negative battery post initially but once that resolved I was ok

 

[dzl_]

Yeah, there's definitely not enough information here to say whether or not the charge controller is at fault.

There is not enough info to draw many conclusions in general here, too many unknown variables.


As to the charge controller, the fact that the previous charge controller didn't work either (another brand) makes me think the problem is probably not a faulty charge controller.