Dumb question, are these solar charger result normal?

[daveb]

One thing mine does the way its wired that I use frequently is the amp draw in/out vs solar. I like to be able to see if the load that is being used is fully supplemented by the solar or not. For instance if I have good sun and I'm seeing 12 amps being produced by the solar (per the solar controller) and I kick on something that draws 5 amps, I like seeing a positive charge of 7 amps is still going into the battery (per the Xantrex meter). Same as in low sun and the solar is only putting out 2 amps, it's nice to know when the vans load is something like 5 amps I'm loosing 3 amps from the house battery. If they wired it wrong then the ammeter is only working with alternator/inverter charge. Seems to me if its wired like the picture all you'll see is the usage load when no vehicle or inverter charge is being applied so W/O a solar amp gauge on the controller you would never quite know if your getting a charge (or at least how much) from the solar, or am I missing something?

[skijunkie]

Originally Posted by Scalf77

We would like it to look more like the Red and Black wires.

Thank you for that picture. It makes it very clear.

So to have the solar amps measured by the monitor the red solar wire would stay where it is in that picture and the blue solar wire would connect to the terminal on the load side of the shunt?

[skijunkie]

Originally Posted by daveb

Same as in low sun and the solar is only putting out 2 amps, it's nice to know when the vans load is something like 5 amps I'm loosing 3 amps from the house battery. If they wired it wrong then the ammeter is only working with alternator/inverter charge. Seems to me if its wired like the picture all you'll see is the usage load when no vehicle or inverter charge is being applied so W/O a solar amp gauge on the controller you would never quite know if your getting a charge (or at least how much) from the solar, or am I missing something?

I was thinking I should be able to look at both the solar controller panel and monitor panel to get an idea. If the solar panel reads +3 amps and the monitor show -5 amps then I know I have a net -2 amp loss right? I will be a pain not seeing the net charge/drain effect in one place though.

[Scalf77]

Originally Posted by skijunkie

Thank you for that picture. It makes it very clear.

So to have the solar amps measured by the monitor the red solar wire would stay where it is in that picture and the blue solar wire would connect to the terminal on the load side of the shunt?

Yes, the drawing is a little complicated, but think of it it as the blue wire not being there as being correct , and the black wire not being there as the wrong way.

daveb wrote:
Same as in low sun and the solar is only putting out 2 amps, it's nice to know when the vans load is something like 5 amps I'm loosing 3 amps from the house battery. If they wired it wrong then the ammeter is only working with alternator/inverter charge. Seems to me if its wired like the picture all you'll see is the usage load when no vehicle or inverter charge is being applied so W/O a solar amp gauge on the controller you would never quite know if your getting a charge (or at least how much) from the solar, or am I missing something?


I was thinking I should be able to look at both the solar controller panel and monitor panel to get an idea. If the solar panel reads +3 amps and the monitor show -5 amps then I know I have a net -2 amp loss right? I will be a pain not seeing the net charge/drain effect in one place though.

actually I believe you would read -2 amps on the monitor, the the 3 amps from the charger would still get applied to 5 amp load. But if you had 2 amp load and 3 amps out of the charger you would expect to see a +1 amp charge on the monitor. Instead you would probably see 0 or close to it. The inverter and alternator would be fine either way. I better stop there it has been a long day.

-greg

[daveb]

Originally Posted by skijunkie

I was thinking I should be able to look at both the solar controller panel and monitor panel to get an idea. If the solar panel reads +3 amps and the monitor show -5 amps then I know I have a net -2 amp loss right? I will be a pain not seeing the net charge/drain effect in one place though.

But you paid big bucks for all the extra features on that voltmeter so why not use it? The comparison is never totally accurate but I can compare to get an idea because mine is wired correctly through the shunt. If my inverter is on and the batteries are fully charged the link-10 will show about zero if a light load is applied because the charger is supplying what the load needs. But if I draw off the batteries without a charge source bringing the batteries off their float charge and the charging is started, my link-10 gauge reflects that. When the inverter ramps up and the batteries are not fully charged the Link-10 will read the charge rate in minus the load. So if it starts at 16A on the inverter and the load draw is 4A, the Link-10 will read a positive [opps edit] 12A. As the charge tapers off both gauges read correctly to the load so a 10 amp charge will read 6A and a 6A charge will read 2A until the batteries are fully charged and the link-10 will then read about zero with the charger supplying everything to the 4A load. At least that is how mine works. To really get an idea where the batteries "fuel" level is, you really need to let the batteries sit with no load or charge for at least an hour and usually longer. It also depends how much of a load in amps that hit the batteries. If you run the microwave and draw down the batteries, after an hour you might see a low voltage like 12.3 for example and even if you run a constant low amp draw all night, many times in the morning (before any sun) the voltage can float back up to a much higher voltage. I've crashed out seeing 12.3 after pulling a short heavy load, ran the espar all night (about a 2A draw) and found the voltage up to 12.6 by dawn before the sun is up. That is where the battery Ah gauge is a bit better telling you the SOC of the battery but on my gauge I need to dial it in better. It's kind of close and as long as I reset it every day after the solar shows the batteries in the float mode I can use it. I seem to always forget

[skijunkie]

Thank you both. Your explanations makes sense on why it will be more of a pain to try and eye ball both panels.

I do intend to look into getting it fixed. However I have a three week trip in about 30 days. In my jaded experience anytime you have someone fix something the chances of something else getting un-fixed goes way up. So I want to wait until after my trip before looking into it now that I know nothing is seriously wrong.

[skijunkie]

I just realized I never came back and updated this thread with my findings. I finally (maybe a month ago) decided to have a good long look at all the wiring. I pulled the Zamp solar panel so I could see what those wires look like and found what looked like the same wire going onto the wrong side of the shunt. I moved this wire to the other side of the shunt and the battery monitor now registers the solar input correctly. Thanks again for all the helpful input. It is so much nicer to have it reading correctly now.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by skijunkie

I moved this wire to the other side of the shunt and the battery monitor now registers the solar input correctly. Thanks again for all the helpful input. It is so much nicer to have it reading correctly now.

Nice Job! .....a happy ending.....

[gypsyjaney]

Skijunkie & other posters, thanks for testing your solar and giving me something to read. I finally got a 65watt panel when I went through Sportsmobile Indiana about 3 years ago, but haven't tested it out yet. They couldn't have given me a better deal! It's a great starting wattage for me since I only need it for the fridge. Unfortunately between work, fires 2 summers in a row, and family vacations with noncampers that left me using it only as a van (no room to even take the panel) I haven't actually tried it.

I never thought of testing it at home before going on the road ... thanks for the idea. It's portable because I wanted to be able to move it for the best sun while parked in the shade so I don't even need to take the van out of the garage for testing. I'm really going to get it tested and used this spring & summer, thanks to getting back on this forum and reading your post. I was looking specifically to see if anyone posted about solar. I don't have the same charger, but at least I'll have a better idea of how to try it and what to look for. I'll post again when I test it.