Solar charging issue?

[Davew701]

I have an issue with solar charging, I have just swapped out the existing sargent solar controller with a victron (I have been getting no solar to the leisure battery) my problem is I have power going to the new victron (lights on etc) but after that nothing the victron app states zero watts. Would there be a fuse between controller and battery? Or could it be the Leisure battery is kaput? Or something else. The leisure battery charges back up when engine is run but soon loses it charge. Any help much appreciated I believed the sargent controller was the issue but turns out it's maybe not. Thanks Dave

 

[Dave and Jen]

Hi, Davew, I have the opposite problem- my sergeant btob feeds the leisure battery but not the engine one. I was having a look at it the other day . Next to the engine batt are 2 relays and a4way fuse holder I checked the fuses and found one broken- not blown , so I replaced it but it has made no different still not charging....
Sorry to hijack your thread but maybe if someone can help you they may also help me!
Cheers, Dave

 

[68c]

Sometimes the Victron solar controller gets confused with what battery it is charging, 12 or 24v. Disconnect the solar and battery from the Victron then reconnect battery first then solar. Now thinking about the battery, if it charges quickly but also discharges quickly it may be old and lost its capacity, in which case probably a new battery needed. You may be able to coax a little more out of it using one of those mains battery chargers that have a 'recondition' function. However be careful to again disconnect the Victron and the battery from the rest of the van as reconditioning sometimes uses a higher charge voltage. Once recondioned reconnect to the van and Victron remembering to connect the solar last.

 

[Davew701]

Hi, Davew, I have the opposite problem- my sergeant btob feeds the leisure battery but not the engine one. I was having a look at it the other day . Next to the engine batt are 2 relays and a4way fuse holder I checked the fuses and found one broken- not blown , so I replaced it but it has made no different still not charging....
Sorry to hijack your thread but maybe if someone can help you they may also help me!
Cheers, Dave

Thanks Dave, no problem if I find a solution I will share my findings, good luck with your issue

 

[Davew701]

Sometimes the Victron solar controller gets confused with what battery it is charging, 12 or 24v. Disconnect the solar and battery from the Victron then reconnect battery first then solar. Now thinking about the battery, if it charges quickly but also discharges quickly it may be old and lost its capacity, in which case probably a new battery needed. You may be able to coax a little more out of it using one of those mains battery chargers that have a 'recondition' function. However be careful to again disconnect the Victron and the battery from the rest of the van as reconditioning sometimes uses a higher charge voltage. Once recondioned reconnect to the van and Victron remembering to connect the solar last.

Thank you I will look at all of those suggestions, I'm hoping it is a new battery and nothing more serious.

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[BouncyBoatFolk]

Best to cover the panel as well when connecting it otherwise that knock out a fuse.
Mike.

 

[Diabalo]

The voltage coming into the Solar controller should be around 17v depending on your panel so check that first, the charging voltage coming out from the solar controller should be around 14.4v if it's charging the battery. If tht is all good then check the voltage directly at the battery terminals it should be very similar to the output voltage from the solar controller, may see a slight voltage difference due to wiring.

 

[Guigsy]

I'm assuming that your battery isn't currently fully charged? A solar controller will only generate if there's somewhere to put it.

 

[IRHP]

Get yourself a multimeter and check the continuity and voltages from the panel to the controller and controller to battery.

 

[autorouter]

You need to get a multimeter and take some voltage readings. Voltages can tell you a lot about how the system is working. Any cheap meter from a DIY store will be OK for this. If you've not done this before, there's a few basics. Plug the black lead into the meter socket labelled 'COM' (= Common), that's the negative. Plug the red lead into the meter socket with a 'V' in the label, that's the positive.

Set the range to 20V DC. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dotted. (ie not the AC symbol which is a wavy line). Push the red probe firmly onto the positive battery terminal. Push the black probe onto the negative battery terminal. you should get a reading of between 10V and 15V. If you get them the wrong way round, nothing bad happens, you just get a minus sign in front of the voltage reading. Now you're ready to start tracking down that fault.

A battery that's not being charged and has no loads on it will have a voltage of between about 12.7V (full) to about 12.0V (as empty as you should let it go). If it has a voltage of 13.0V or more, something is charging it. So from those figures you can tell if the battery is being charged or not.

When it's being actively charged, the voltage will probably go up to about 14.5V, maybe for a few hours. When it's full, the voltage drops to about 13.5V, which keeps it topped up without overcharging. So you can see from the voltage whether it's being actively charged or not. These voltages are much the same whether the charging is coming from a mains charger, solar charger or the alternator.

Would there be a fuse between controller and battery?

There is always a fuse between a battery and any device. If the wire goes directly from the battery to the controller, it will be at the end near the battery. Or there might be a main fuse near the battery for a wire to a fusebox, which has a number of smaller fuses including one to the controller.

You could measure the voltage of the solar controller output terminal, which goes to the battery. But if the fuse has blown, that will just tell you the voltage the solar controller is pushing out. However if you disconnect the wire from the solar controller output terminal, and measure the voltage on the wire, that should be exactly the same as the voltage of the leisure battery. If it isn't there's a blown fuse or a bad connection/break in the wire.

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[Lenny HB]

I have an issue with solar charging, I have just swapped out the existing sargent solar controller with a victron

I'm not sure what you have done but you should have disconnected the existing solar controller then connected the new one direct to the batteries via a fuse bypassing the Sargent unit.

 

[IRHP]

I'm not sure what you have done but you should have disconnected the existing solar controller then connected the new one direct to the batteries via a fuse bypassing the Sargent unit.

Not sure about a Sargent but on my Nordelectronica charger you can wire the output from the solar via the unit to the batteries, this allows you to see the charging amps on the Nordelectronica control panel.

 

[Davew701]

You need to get a multimeter and take some voltage readings. Voltages can tell you a lot about how the system is working. Any cheap meter from a DIY store will be OK for this. If you've not done this before, there's a few basics. Plug the black lead into the meter socket labelled 'COM' (= Common), that's the negative. Plug the red lead into the meter socket with a 'V' in the label, that's the positive.

Set the range to 20V DC. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dotted. (ie not the AC symbol which is a wavy line). Push the red probe firmly onto the positive battery terminal. Push the black probe onto the negative battery terminal. you should get a reading of between 10V and 15V. If you get them the wrong way round, nothing bad happens, you just get a minus sign in front of the voltage reading. Now you're ready to start tracking down that fault.

A battery that's not being charged and has no loads on it will have a voltage of between about 12.7V (full) to about 12.0V (as empty as you should let it go). If it has a voltage of 13.0V or more, something is charging it. So from those figures you can tell if the battery is being charged or not.

When it's being actively charged, the voltage will probably go up to about 14.5V, maybe for a few hours. When it's full, the voltage drops to about 13.5V, which keeps it topped up without overcharging. So you can see from the voltage whether it's being actively charged or not. These voltages are much the same whether the charging is coming from a mains charger, solar charger or the alternator.


There is always a fuse between a battery and any device. If the wire goes directly from the battery to the controller, it will be at the end near the battery. Or there might be a main fuse near the battery for a wire to a fusebox, which has a number of smaller fuses including one to the controller.

You could measure the voltage of the solar controller output terminal, which goes to the battery. But if the fuse has blown, that will just tell you the voltage the solar controller is pushing out. However if you disconnect the wire from the solar controller output terminal, and measure the voltage on the wire, that should be exactly the same as the voltage of the leisure battery. If it isn't there's a blown fuse or a bad connection/break in the wire.

Thank you so much, I will work my way through you instructions tomorrow

 

[Davew701]

You need to get a multimeter and take some voltage readings. Voltages can tell you a lot about how the system is working. Any cheap meter from a DIY store will be OK for this. If you've not done this before, there's a few basics. Plug the black lead into the meter socket labelled 'COM' (= Common), that's the negative. Plug the red lead into the meter socket with a 'V' in the label, that's the positive.

Set the range to 20V DC. The DC symbol is two lines, one solid, one dotted. (ie not the AC symbol which is a wavy line). Push the red probe firmly onto the positive battery terminal. Push the black probe onto the negative battery terminal. you should get a reading of between 10V and 15V. If you get them the wrong way round, nothing bad happens, you just get a minus sign in front of the voltage reading. Now you're ready to start tracking down that fault.

A battery that's not being charged and has no loads on it will have a voltage of between about 12.7V (full) to about 12.0V (as empty as you should let it go). If it has a voltage of 13.0V or more, something is charging it. So from those figures you can tell if the battery is being charged or not.

When it's being actively charged, the voltage will probably go up to about 14.5V, maybe for a few hours. When it's full, the voltage drops to about 13.5V, which keeps it topped up without overcharging. So you can see from the voltage whether it's being actively charged or not. These voltages are much the same whether the charging is coming from a mains charger, solar charger or the alternator.


There is always a fuse between a battery and any device. If the wire goes directly from the battery to the controller, it will be at the end near the battery. Or there might be a main fuse near the battery for a wire to a fusebox, which has a number of smaller fuses including one to the controller.

You could measure the voltage of the solar controller output terminal, which goes to the battery. But if the fuse has blown, that will just tell you the voltage the solar controller is pushing out. However if you disconnect the wire from the solar controller output terminal, and measure the voltage on the wire, that should be exactly the same as the voltage of the leisure battery. If it isn't there's a blown fuse or a bad connection/break in the wire.

Thank you I will give it a go