morribm Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Hi,About to head off north after removing the Heki hatch, getting rid of the old (non-adherent) silicone and then prepping the surfaces and replacing the structure after using the new 'you beaut' adhesive/sealer Tom sent us in the mail - no charge - geez, they're good like that, aren't they? Of all caravan jobs, that really is a PITA.And then noticed the green winking LED on the Xantrex C35 solar controller wasn't blinking!! Man, we've had Murphy wreaking havoc with us.Call to Tom who referred me onto Enerdrive who are the agents for the controller which was just as well because the Instruction Booklet that comes with the controller was of no help at all. Tried depressing the little Reset button on the side of the unit but with no result. In the meantime, I had found a local dealer who had a Plasmatronic controller which is what Kedron used to use and is what we had in our first van and was, by all accounts a very good bit of kit. They couldn't fit it and although I would have given it a go I was warned against doing this because 'those units are really tricky' and I don't have sufficient 12V knowledge to ensure that I wouldn't blow the $460 investment. I found a caravan repairer who had a sparky who was capable of replacing such a unit and they 'could fit me in' later in the week. So, that was my backup all in place.Back to the Enerdrive service man. He advised to remove the cover and to check the voltages at the terminals both from the PV panels and to the batteries. Clearly, there was no output at all from the unit with the terminal to the batteries reading the same as the batteries as per the battery monitor in the van whereas the output from the panels was 19V. I assumed the output voltage should have been more in keeping with the PV input rather than registering the static voltage of the batteries. He decided the unit had died but as a last ditch test, he advised that I remove the negative connections at the terminals both from the PV panels and from the batteries to see if that would 'do a DC reset'. Left them disconnected for about 15min while I arranged to go and pick up the Plasmatronic model but when I then went back to reconnect the wires...the little green LED started blinking again and the unit output to the batteries was much more consistent with a charging function! Perhaps if the little reset button on the side is depressed and held depressed for minutes rather than seconds one could have the same result? Anyway, it's working now but of course the big question is - why did it stop working in the first place? I had the generator hooked up the day before just testing it and the battery charger but since there is no direct link between the two systems how could that have affected the charge controller? Also, after giving the batteries a bit of a jolt from the generator, and after a suitable time after disconnecting the gennie, I synchronised the system because it was shouting at me to do so. Can't see how this could have caused the controller to have a big sulk.Incidentally, none of this requires a university degree in electronics. The printed circuit board inside the unit is well labelled and the terminals in question are all right at the bottom.So, before discarding your seemingly dead solar (charge) controller, disconnect the negative wires, leave for 15min or so and anticipate the same pleasant surprise I received. Or not.CheersBrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvtripper Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Thanks for sharing, Brian.Exactly why an isolator on the input and the output of the solar controller is useful - no need to muck around disconnecting battery wires.Good to see it is all working for you again - bonus is you learnt a little along the way.Safe travels! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian and Jill Brown Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 Hi All,We are having some issues with our vans charging system.The batteries have just been replaced by Kedron during a service a few weeks ago and we were advised everything was working fine.We are camped on the Roper River where the weather is rather hot, but do not appear to be fully charging our batteries during the day.Our PL60 controller was showing 45 and 60 amps charging over the last two days (middle of the day), which is patently wrong.We have 4 x 130 solar panels and 4 x 120 batteries.This morning our batteries were showing 11.8 volts with very minimal use yesterday.Any suggestions/comments would be most appreciated.Cheers,Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted June 16, 2014 Report Share Posted June 16, 2014 Hi All,We are having some issues with our vans charging system.The batteries have just been replaced by Kedron during a service a few weeks ago and we were advised everything was working fine.We are camped on the Roper River where the weather is rather hot, but do not appear to be fully charging our batteries during the day.Our PL60 controller was showing 45 and 60 amps charging over the last two days (middle of the day), which is patently wrong.We have 4 x 130 solar panels and 4 x 120 batteries.This morning our batteries were showing 11.8 volts with very minimal use yesterday.Any suggestions/comments would be most appreciated.Cheers,IanHi Ian, had same problem, try resetting solar controller as Brian did.RegardsRob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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