Solar charging

[mudski]

This is the exact panels I bought : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-GP-12...item3f1d8b6c94
I want to find out whether they are working properly or not before I try to flog them off as I really don't think they are working correctly.

Regards the Charge LED I'd suggest depending on the order you disconnected the equipment that there is enough capacitance to hold a charge sufficient to light the LED for a period of time

Understood but strange as the charge light doesn't come on when I have everything connected and the panels basking in the in the sun.

Regards the Load LED I'd suggest it is illuminated because you are below the low voltage cut off when the Reg is in 24 Volt mode

I have tried connecting to many different batteries, even my aux battery which was at 12.4v.
If these are faulty which I suspect they are, I want to return them before the warranty runs out. I don't want to sell something that I'm not sure works. The first time I used them, last Easter weekend, 4 sunny days we had. I had the panels on the whole time and the whole time there the charge light never came on and I ended up with a flat battery. Putting it down to my inexperience I just thought my fridge, 32L Engel, was using more power than the panels could produce.

Because I have never heard of 24v folding panels before I would advise you to check the open circuit voltage of the panels in case they have been mis-labelled. Put them in the sun, put the multimeter onto volts & put one probe on each output cable. If they are 12 v panels you should get a reading of up to about 18v. If they are 24v you should get a reading of up to about 31v.

Find this out first & we then we can take it from there.

I did this and the best I could get was no higher than 3v. Yes, 3 Volts.

[Cuppa]

A) It does sound like they might be faulty if you could only get 3v (sure it wasn't 30v?).

But regardless of whether they are faulty or not

B) Demand your money back under warranty because you have been supplied with 24v panels which were advertised as 12v. Goods are not as described.

Even the specs in their ad don't match up If the Max Power voltage is 13.8v (12v panel) then the open circuit voltage would not be 31.5v as stated. (Max of 18 to 22v on a 12v panel). The dimensions on label of your panel are also different to what is in the ad.

If it were me I would not be prepared to accept any replacement panels from this seller but would buy elsewhere. There are some reputable sellers on ebay who sell good panels.

Good luck.

Cuppa

[mudski]

I sent them a message via Ebay. I bet they don't respond to quick about this...

[lorrieandjas]

As Cuppa has said worth following up. Sounds like they know (or care) a whole lot less about their product than some on this forum!

Jas

[threedogs]

X 2 with Cuppa your panels in full sun no cloud should be putting out 17 volts , sounds like the wrong panels
Engel on a hot day , being used for drinks all day open and closing would last 2 .5 days tops in 35 degree temps
Last weekend my battery only just lasted from thursday , only cause BFF topped it up with 10 hot cans.

[threedogs]

Just checked what you bought. 3 x 60 watt panels making 180 watt folding job. these are only putting 2.5 amps an hour back into your battery, 180 watts should be about 6 amps
just brought the wrong ones mate, read the stats, really only need an 80 watt panel that'll put 4.5 AH back into your battery. IMO

[the evil twin]

snip....

ET... are you suggesting that the regulator can accept an input @ 24v & give an output @ 12v. I didn't think this was possible but will happily bow to greater knowledge.

Cuppa

Hiya Cuppa,

Nah mate, that first part was me rambling a bit trying to illustrate that what counts is the current output and that 24 Volt panels supply 1/2 the current 12 Volt ones will. So trying to adapt them (24 to 12) is pointless to get the 160 watts for a 12 volt system from those panels he has. In retro it probably confused more than it explained so my bad.

I think we all agree the best idea is to sell/return the 24 Volt stuff (as is being attempted at the moment) as they are fine for any vehicle or reccy setup running 24 volts. Then use the $'s to get some 12 Volt panels to go with the Steca he has ordered. If the supplier exchanges the panels for 12 volt ones then even better as Mudski won't be out of pocket other than for the better MPPT Reg.

[the evil twin]

This is the exact panels I bought : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-GP-12...item3f1d8b6c94
I want to find out whether they are working properly or not before I try to flog them off as I really don't think they are working correctly.

Understood but strange as the charge light doesn't come on when I have everything connected and the panels basking in the in the sun.

I have tried connecting to many different batteries, even my aux battery which was at 12.4v.
If these are faulty which I suspect they are, I want to return them before the warranty runs out. I don't want to sell something that I'm not sure works. The first time I used them, last Easter weekend, 4 sunny days we had. I had the panels on the whole time and the whole time there the charge light never came on and I ended up with a flat battery. Putting it down to my inexperience I just thought my fridge, 32L Engel, was using more power than the panels could produce.

I did this and the best I could get was no higher than 3v. Yes, 3 Volts.

Hi mate,

I'm not sure where you measured the 3 volts (was it the battery terminals with the battery disconnected) but I'll take a punt on the following...

The charge light won't come on and the battery went flat because the regulator under voltage cutout is around 19 volts or so.

You could hook any amount of 12 volt batteries of varying state of charge to the reg when connected to the panels and it won't let the panels supply charging current because as soon as the panels supply power the Reg is looking for a 24 volt battery/load combination. 19 volts at the Battery terminals or below is considered a fault so the reg won't pass power

If you want to check if the gear is working prior to sale get two 12 volt batteries and connect them in series -ve of one to +ve of the second and then connect the reg across the 24 volts (the +ve of the first and -ve of the second).

Betcha 12 cans to 6 cans it works unless indeed the panels are faulty but the odds of 3 dodgy ones is a tad remote

[the evil twin]

Just checked what you bought. 3 x 60 watt panels making 180 watt folding job. these are only putting 2.5 amps an hour back into your battery, 180 watts should be about 6 amps
just brought the wrong ones mate, read the stats, really only need an 80 watt panel that'll put 4.5 AH back into your battery. IMO

Not quite mate, he has 3 60's not a single 180.
As each panel is a 60 watter and they are paralleled that is 3 x 2.5ish so they will output a total of better than 6 amps as you say.

[mudski]

If the reg I have, CMP12 is rated for both 12 and 24v, which it is, going by the specs I found it should "auto switch" between 12 and 24v. Which it seems its not.
Plus the load light is on even when there is no load at all, just connected to a bare battery.