We have been considering sending the MX 60 in for a firmware update.
From what the tech support guy said, all the firmware update would
do would be to allow the CC to talk to the Mate and keep voltage
spikes from showing up on the display. Does the firmware update have
other benefits?
At present, the system seems to be working correctly. Should I still
replace the temperature sensor?
Thanks,
Drake
At 12:30 PM 11/19/2014, you wrote:
To add; I am a firm believer that every few years I will send OB
CC/Mates in for firmware up date. I will repole an off grid system
at least twice a year. Temp sensor is imperative! and if the site is
not maned do not set auto eq.
On Nov 18, 2014, at 1:40 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
Drake,
I'll add just a bit to Jarmo's excellent reply:
You mentioned that you were unsure if the MX60 was set to auto-EQ.
This could be a source of trouble. The MX60 had the unfortunate
characteristic whereby if set to auto-EQ, it would continue to try
to complete an EQ indefinitely once triggered. As such, if the
array was not sufficient to hold the batteries above the EQ voltage
for the set duration, or as the batteries aged and their internal
resistance increased such that the EQ voltage couldn't be
maintained, the controller would never complete and exit EQ mode.
31V, while conservative, is high enough to cause this.
If that is what occurred here, then disabling automatic EQ and
reducing the EQ voltage below gassing threshold should prevent recurrence.
Allan
Allan Sindelar
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Founder (Retired), Positive Energy, Inc.
505 780-2738 cell
On 11/18/2014 11:03 AM,
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
wrote:
Hi:
This may not be the problem, but I wanted to bring it up as I have
heard of a few cases of battery boiling issues with various charge
controllers and want to suggest a possible cause.
I'll do this point form. It's easier to describe it that way:
1. Solar charge controllers are programmed to go to bulk charge in
the morning.
2. The intensity of the sunlight starts off low in the morning and
depending on the weather during the day, the intensity can reach
any level between virtually 0% and 100%.
3. The exit criteria for bulk is that the battery voltage reaches
the Vbulk/abs volts setting or a bulk/abs timer times out.
4. If the sunlight conditions are just right to keep the charging
voltage just below the Vbulk/abs setpoint, the exit from bulk/abs
will be the timer.
5. Bulk/Abs timers are usually set for rather a long time, many
hours is not uncommon.
6. Given the above, it is possible that the battery stays at
gassing voltages for many hours every day at certain times of the
year when the sunlight intensity is just right to support that.
7. As a consequence the boiling problem will show up only at
particular sites, particular battery/charge controller sizes and
particular times of year.
Again, I am not suggesting that this is necessarily the cause of
battery "boiling" in systems with solar charge controllers, but it
could be a reason.
2nd ps. All manufacturers do precise battery voltage/current
measurements on the bench with a wide variety of conditions, but
we will never be able to simulate the 1000's of conditions that
happen on the 1000's of installs out there. With that in mind,
on-site battery voltage/current data logging is a very powerful
tool when investigating these kinds of issues.
JARMO
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Jarmo Venalainen | Schneider Electric | Solar
Business | CANADA | Training & Development Specialist - Senior
Phone: +604-422-2528 | Fax: +604-420-1591 | Mobile: +604-505-0291
Email:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
| Site: www.SEsolar.com | Address: 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby, BC V5G4M1
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*** Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
From: Drake
<mailto:[email protected]><[email protected]>
To: RE-wrenches
<mailto:[email protected]><[email protected]>,
Date: 11/18/2014 09:15 AM
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Suspect MX 60
Sent by: "RE-wrenches"
<mailto:[email protected]><[email protected]>
Hello Wrenches,
An MX 60 boiled a 24 volt bank of 4 Trojan L-16 batteries last
summer. The batteries all checked out to be in good shape. It is
not totally clear that the CC was not set to auto equalize, but
the EQ voltage was only set at 31.0 V.
The battery bank has been replaced by 8 Full River L-16 AGM
batteries. The parameters have all been reset for AGM with EQ
disabled. The homeowners are concerned that the charge control may
not work, and damage their new battery bank.
If there is a problem with the CC, it is very intermittent. Has
anyone ever seen an intermittent MX 60?
Outback tech support says if we send it in they will update the
firmware for $90, and do a 24 hour bench test. It appears that the
firmware update will not do anything useful for this off grid
system. There are no new boards available for this unit. I'm not
sure if the bench test will show up an intermittent problem.
Has anyone had this situation before? Would it be better to:
* Replace the CC
* Send the CC to Outback
* Do nothing
Thank you,
Drake
Drake Chamberlin
Athens Electric LLC
OH License 44810
CO License 3773
NABCEP Certified Solar PV
740-448-7328
<http://athens-electric.com/>http://athens-electric.com/
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