Replaced the JayCommand display with a controller

[TomC_AZ]

Do you have any way to tilt your solar panel to help it generate better/more power, that might allow you to test if its the 0kwh idea.

[gobdeep]

Originally Posted by TomC_AZ

Do you have any way to tilt your solar panel to help it generate better/more power, that might allow you to test if its the 0kwh idea.

Good idea, I'm actually on shore power at the house so the charge controller is maintaining the batteries. I will pull shore power and let solar do the heavy lifting for a few days.

[TomC_AZ]

I believe, not 100% sure on this, that a MPPT will only allow the amount of power to the battery that it senses is needed for it to be at full charge. So maybe do something to drain some power. Not sure if it will still show the full amount of power generated if the battery is at capacity. I believe it only shows what is passing through it to recharge, but again not 100% sure.

[gobdeep]

I'm not sure how to do in-line images to "tell my story", so I'll multi-post this (sorry).

I killed shore power yesterday and ran the fans and LEDs overnight. My batteries dropped down to 11.9 volts (up to 12.4 in the pic because I plugged in shore power briefly to see if it would clear the warning).

I checked the Renogy battery monitor and my JayCommand app and was not happy with the results. Although it did generate 1 KWh, the warning was still present.

Renogy showed that my battery was depleted down to 127 amp hours, 75% full, and that I was not generating any electrical charge. If the batteries are charging, I will get a teal "pulse" and arrows pointing up. If the batteries are draining, I will get a teal "pulse" and the arrows pointing down. There was nothing although the GP MPPT was showing "charging" as per the battery LED.

It is a beautiful day here in Virginia so I should be generating SOMETHING.

[gobdeep]

I climbed up on the roof and checked my panel voltages. 22 volts-ish and the polarity is correct.

I checked my leads to the new MPPT controller and voltages were good, polarity was good, everything was correct. I still had the warning in the app and my input and output amperages were in the tenths range - 0.5, 0.8, etc. Voltages matched what I read on the voltage meter, but this thing was not putting out amps.

I pulled the wires off the new MPPT controller and wired my battery bank and panel back to the old GP charge controller. I immediately saw results.

I have an input of 3.79 amps and 59 watts according to the Renogy battery monitor, generating 4.9 amps according to the GP charge controller. Remember that Renogy is measuring input and draw. The charge controller is only measuring output.

At this point I'm getting angry. Is the new MPPT controller trash? I would hate for it to be a bad unit.

[gobdeep]

I dug through the documentation on how to reset the new MPPT controller. I found nothing but did stumble upon a YouTube video that says to pull the panel leads (cover the panel with a blanket) and pull the battery leads. Leave the new charge controller without power for 15 minutes. I let it sit for 30.

Once I reconnected the panel and battery leads it lit up solid!

My Renogy battery monitor indicated that I was inputting 6.33 amps at 81 watts and climbing.

The error on the JayCommand app cleared and it was recording panel input of 19.5 volts and current of 5.8 amps, output of 13.8 volts and a current of 7.6 amps (8.0 amps in my last screenshot). The error also cleared for now.

In the end, I have no idea what the error was about but I imagine it had something to do with the MPPT charge controller not "allowing"? power to flow because the controller was indicating that the panel input and controller outputs were in the tenths range for amperage but voltages were the same.

It looks like a reset maybe did the trick? I'll keep it on solar and battery for a few more days since we are having nicer weather here in VA.

I wish a few things were different:

• Add detailed error messages. Seeing as we are dealing with RV-C (CANBUS), it is possible to carry detailed error messages or message codes. We need the app to display detailed data.
• Add a reset button - having to pull wires for the unit to reset is a PITA.

[tazakrzewski]

Originally Posted by gobdeep

Ladies and gentlemen, after two months, please welcome to the stage....

*drum roll*

GP-RCV-MPPT-30 fully integrated with the JayCommand/BMPro system. BAM!

It works without issue. Even kept a data log so when I got the RVC-C CANBUS cable built, it says that it has been up and running for four days. Gave me the historical information which tells me it is storing the data on the GowerPower MPPT device. Nice!

Even better, it comes with a battery temperature sensor. When I ran the cable for the battery monitor, I ran a few extra pairs. I'll use one of the unused pairs and extend the temperature sensor to my battery bank. The other end of the run comes out in the grey box behind the batteries.

You can see my temp cable being run. My wife told me to have the trailer put back together by tomorrow night so it was now or never. So me, Busch, and Lynyrd Skynyrd got it wired up.

It's open mic night, so ask away!

Did you have an open Can Bus port on your BMpro node ?

[NoFly]

Originally Posted by tazakrzewski

Did you have an open Can Bus port on your BMpro node ?

Hi Taz, yes Gobdeep had an open Canbus on his node. We have a '20 Pinnacle and we also have an open Canbus on ours as well.

Thanks for asking... Let us know if you have any additional questions...

[TomC_AZ]

Here is an interesting update. I’ve installed 2 more 200w panels but so far left everything else stock.

I have the GoPower GP-PWM-30-SQ controller.

We’re camped in CA on the beach and just hanging by the trailer this afternoon and our Maxxfan would turn on and then off right away. After looking at it I didn’t find anything wrong other then this behavior. I then opened the JAYCOMMAND/TravelLINK app and bam it says over voltage detection. So it shuts things down.

Our hot water heater was also behaving with a click on and off as well.

Basically it appears I’m pumping too much voltage, was at 14.7, for this charge controller to handle.

I have a Victron to replace it just didn’t have time to install before this trip. I believe I can control its output voltage, but not sure.

Thought I would share. Found it to be a good/bad interesting problem.

[TomC_AZ]

Actually looked at my Victron shunt. It’s showing over 17v.

[gobdeep]

Originally Posted by TomC_AZ

Here is an interesting update. I’ve installed 2 more 200w panels but so far left everything else stock.

I have the GoPower GP-PWM-30-SQ controller.

We’re camped in CA on the beach and just hanging by the trailer this afternoon and our Maxxfan would turn on and then off right away. After looking at it I didn’t find anything wrong other then this behavior. I then opened the JAYCOMMAND/TravelLINK app and bam it says over voltage detection. So it shuts things down.

Our hot water heater was also behaving with a click on and off as well.

Basically it appears I’m pumping too much voltage, was at 14.7, for this charge controller to handle.

I have a Victron to replace it just didn’t have time to install before this trip. I believe I can control its output voltage, but not sure.

Thought I would share. Found it to be a good/bad interesting problem.

Yeah, anything over 15.5 volts results in an overvoltage situation.

Nominal System Voltage
12V
Max Solar Array Current
30A
Battery Voltage Range
6V – 15.5V

The new GP MPPT controller with RV-C looks like it could handle it:

Max PV Input Voltage
<100V
Rated Current Charge
30A
Max Panel Input Voltage 100Voc

Although there is a high voltage disconnect at 16 volts but maybe this is a battery voltage reading.

High Voltage Disconnect 16.0

[tazakrzewski]

Originally Posted by gobdeep

I dug through the documentation on how to reset the new MPPT controller. I found nothing but did stumble upon a YouTube video that says to pull the panel leads (cover the panel with a blanket) and pull the battery leads. Leave the new charge controller without power for 15 minutes. I let it sit for 30.

Once I reconnected the panel and battery leads it lit up solid!

My Renogy battery monitor indicated that I was inputting 6.33 amps at 81 watts and climbing.

The error on the JayCommand app cleared and it was recording panel input of 19.5 volts and current of 5.8 amps, output of 13.8 volts and a current of 7.6 amps (8.0 amps in my last screenshot). The error also cleared for now.

In the end, I have no idea what the error was about but I imagine it had something to do with the MPPT charge controller not "allowing"? power to flow because the controller was indicating that the panel input and controller outputs were in the tenths range for amperage but voltages were the same.

It looks like a reset maybe did the trick? I'll keep it on solar and battery for a few more days since we are having nicer weather here in VA.

I wish a few things were different:

• Add detailed error messages. Seeing as we are dealing with RV-C (CANBUS), it is possible to carry detailed error messages or message codes. We need the app to display detailed data.
• Add a reset button - having to pull wires for the unit to reset is a PITA.

Do you have a wiring layout for the cable you made from the Node CAN bus port to the solar controller.

Thanks !

[gobdeep]

Originally Posted by tazakrzewski

Do you have a wiring layout for the cable you made from the Node CAN bus port to the solar controller.

Thanks !

This is very crude. I just whipped it up in Visio.

[tazakrzewski]

Thanks for the diagram, it's perfect.

Tom

[NoFly]

Morning gents,

Anyone have any idea how I could utilize a 6000 watt inverter that's designed to run off a 24 volt power system?

I've attached photos of what I have.

Thanks much...

[gobdeep]

Originally Posted by NoFly

Morning gents,

Anyone have any idea how I could utilize a 6000 watt inverter that's designed to run off a 24 volt power system?

I've attached photos of what I have.

Thanks much...

Do you mean integrate with RV-C CANBUS or is this a new thread/topic?

[NoFly]

Originally Posted by gobdeep

Do you mean integrate with RV-C CANBUS or is this a new thread/topic?

Sorry about that.... If I can actually use this inverter, that was going to be the next question, that's why I posted it here first.

[TomC_AZ]

So for the moment forget about any RVC connectivity.
- What is the use case that your looking at this for?
- Also do you already have it, is it older or new, I cant find any thing on it but this, https://www.magnum-dimensions.com/si...9-RevB_web.pdf

It does not look like its RVC compliant in any way, at least from what I see.


Couple comments though:

!. to use it you will need a 24 volt battery source, not a big deal but for 6000w that is a good number of batteries of good size. You would best look at something like this and prob at least 4 of them (if my calculations are correct) https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-ll-li...ery-24v-200ah/

2. for the RV since its 12v you would need a 24v to 12v DC converter, easily found, Victron makes a good one.

3. this is a modified sinewave inverter, meaning its not "clean" power i.e. you would not want to hook up some electronics to it.

[NoFly]

Originally Posted by TomC_AZ

So for the moment forget about any RVC connectivity.
- What is the use case that your looking at this for?
- Also do you already have it, is it older or new, I cant find any thing on it but this, https://www.magnum-dimensions.com/si...9-RevB_web.pdf

It does not look like its RVC compliant in any way, at least from what I see.


Couple comments though:

!. to use it you will need a 24 volt battery source, not a big deal but for 6000w that is a good number of batteries of good size. You would best look at something like this and prob at least 4 of them (if my calculations are correct) https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-ll-li...ery-24v-200ah/

2. for the RV since its 12v you would need a 24v to 12v DC converter, easily found, Victron makes a good one.

3. this is a modified sinewave inverter, meaning its not "clean" power i.e. you would not want to hook up some electronics to it.

Tom, thank you for all of that.... The part about the sinewave is what I was wondering mostly about. I do have it but wanted to know if I could make it work before I put it up for sale...

With that being said, it's now available if anyone wants it...


Here is the site I found it for sale on...

https://www.invertersupply.com/index...ucts_id=200956

[TwoCampingDudes]

I am going to do this as well and I have a question. When you got your Lenovo tablet all fixed up did you have to do anything to pair it to the Bluetooth or did it automatically pair when you plugged it in?