Baffling Solar Stuff E651

Status update and strange electrical troubleshooting
Music Credits:
Ikson - MMXX (Free Download)
/ mmxx-official
Music by: / ikson
Seven Grey is a nomadic minimalist who is wandering the world (traveling internationally part of the year and North American in his step van the other part)
Electric Equipment:
Video Equipment:
Canon EOS M6: amzn.to/2EFvQhS
using Rode VideoMic: amzn.to/2Fiw0d6
Canon G7X mark II: amzn.to/2GcbfPq
GoPro Session 5: amzn.to/2BYZw8L
Video edited with Final Cut Pro on MacBook Pro 13 (2015)
Social Media:
personal blog: www.sevenwanderstheworld.com
world view philosophy: www.7ism.com
youtube channel: bit.ly/2aC7LqG
facebook page: bit.ly/2ahitFr
instagram: / sevenwanderstheworld
Contact:
sevenwandersthe...

[@Paulholio69]

Good progress. One thing I respect about you is that you live and work to your own rhythms.

[@thizizliz]

Sometimes getting a lot of little jobs done make more difference in our lives than one big one. Good for you.

[@freelyroaming]

It is most definitely over-voltage protection from the BMS from unbalanced cells. I would not rely on the BMS alone to keep them balanced. Balancing is only the secondary purpose of the BMS. The primary is just to protect the cells. If you are running a 24v system, those charge controller voltage settings need to be doubled. Full charge is at 29.2v for your system. If you have unbalanced cells, it will certainly trigger over voltage protection at the top end. I would actually try setting the bulk and absorption charge voltage to be around 28.0-28.4v. you'll lose a bit of capacity but you won't trigger over voltage and your pack will last longer. Try installing an active cell balancer and see if it helps over time. Good luck.

[@davidmelcher3757]

I had a similar experience with my 12v lithium system 2 charge controllers. the bms was shutting off the charging at the proper setting before the charge controller was being told to do so. This lead to a short line spike which shut down my inverter (I only have one) which would reset only to be shut down again and again. I was able to stop this by turning down the charge controllers to a setting below where the BMS would shut off the charge (or power in). Took care of my issue but it took a lot of fiddling to get both chargers to the right value. So you may want to turn them down more and check the cut-off voltage setting on your BMS

[@Cesium67]

Hello 7 I have been interested in Solar for a while and was looking at a system using the fortune batteries but now think I would just go with a server rack system. Good luck!

[@SevenWanderstheWorld]

at the time this was the best bang for my buck... only 4 or 5 month later many much better options became available. I'd not recommend the Fortune100 now due to price and extra effort to match them to bms

[@frankz1125]

If you are running lifepo4 8s your max charge is 3.6v x 8=28.8v. I would set your controllers to 28v. Also 1 cell may be going over or close to 3,6v. May be a good idea to check the balance. Those controllers are not safe for lithium. Get yourself some proper controllers. Outback ,Midnight, Something safer. Cheers

[@markrichardson5673]

This is where my mind went too. Check the voltages of each cell when this is happening, the BMS is likely doing a high voltage disconnect to protect a cell that's reached the high voltage cutoff limit. That should only affect the charge side FETs but it looks like the discharge side gets a short interruption too. Might be time to do a top balance.

[@crazywisdom2]

Curious. Was also just watching your vid " on what you do every day ". Loved it. Your trailer conversion build is taking forever. Which is fine. Just curious if you feel that selling your step van conversion to do this was, is still the way to go ? And when do you envision, you'll be done ? thanks.

[@letsgetreal670]

Every voltage you read off to him is for a 12V system. If he entered those numbers as read, your 24V system will still not be charging correctly. Also, you might double check that your BMS settings are correct for a 24V system as well.

[@SevenWanderstheWorld]

as mentioned in the video, if you set the Renorgy to 24 you then enter numbers at 12v values and the system doubles those numbers for 24. its a bit wacky but that is how Renorgy does the 24v custom settings

[@JosephStory]

@@SevenWanderstheWorld Whacky? That sounds really stupid on Renogy's part. I'm running a DIY 24v(LiFePO4) system with a Growatt All-in-one inverter and a second epever charge controller. BMS's from overkill solar. I set my charge controllers to a voltage that is 3.45 volts per cell(27.6) for bulk. This is just 5% away from full and gives a little head room if a few cells are out of balance. Float voltage at 3.4v per cell. I'm catching up on your vids. KZbin hasn't been recommending them for more than half a year in my feed.

[@AndrewDangerously]

Always great to see updates. You have a place to stay (or park and hook up the van) in Denver if you ever need it.

[@SevenWanderstheWorld]

thx Andrew. hope to get out there next season to visit you and Nicole

[@forreststrong797]

This is way over my head with your solar but I think it's really cool. I'm used to simple 12 volt stuff in jeeps for overlanding type setups. What first came to mind at least with the limited lithium battery knowledge I have, is don't some lithium batteries have internal safety devices that shut them off if they are getting too much charge or too hot or something? This might not apply to your batteries but I thought I'd mention it. I've been a long time subscriber but I've missed some of your videos for a while. I just have to say wow! Your setup is super nice now with the trailer I'll have to go check out some videos I missed.

[@solarandwindinsouthtexasda1473]

Good morning that’s the reason why I do not have battery management system on my system I only got balances the problem you’re going to have is those dally are you going to keep shutting your system down and you will burn the charge controllers are so your best bet get rid of those dally Install balancers control your high voltage with your charge controllers and your low-voltage with your inverter and if not both areas of a cost a lot of money Or lower the voltage on your charge controllers

[@solarandwindinsouthtexasda1473]

You’re OK in your solar panels lower your voltage on your charge controllers be a mascots of exactly 28 V blow your voltage to 27.8 I’ll fix your problem that’s what I did on my sisters motorhome

[@danrandall794]

So to me the first question is did it ever work correctly? I am guessing it worked fine as it seems like you have had this system up and running for some time now. If it did and this just started acting up then something broke. If not the diagnostic tree is way different.

[@SevenWanderstheWorld]

for the first several months I was in my trailer I was only using 2 panels with one charge controller and worked perfectly. it seems too much power is the main cause and when adding more incoming power (more panels) it seems to overwhelm the BMS on the battery and goes into the shutdown.

[@danrandall794]

@@SevenWanderstheWorld Could be correct. If it never worked that is way different than it worked and now it doesn't. Always something to challenge us.

[@samuelmarmellow5053]

Is your goal voltage 24 for your overall discharge?

[@steeltentadventures3918]

I don't want to slam ya but it seems that your system was built with overthinking involved. three charge controllers? I think you need to build your system more simple and easier to maintain. Just sayin and not slamming ya

[@chapter4travels]

Remember he has had this system for a few years and every year things get simpler and simpler. He has 2,250 watts of solar, one charge controller can't handle that much and if 2 panels get shaded, they won't affect the rest as they would with a single CC. Whatever you put in today, there will be a better system tomorrow. I'm using an all in one charge controller, inverter, and shore power disconnect which was the simplest system a year ago, now there are much better systems where that all in one unit talks to the battery bank and optimizes on a minute to minute basis.