midwifevicki
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Location: SOLANA BEACH CA
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Help!Outback Solar system in trouble
I have a house in Punta Chivato with a huge Outback solar system . It has been working for 3 years. On a recent trip theeere we made some changes and
found out our Coleman Powermate back up generator won't start (needs a new starter motor) . I just got an e-mail from a friend down there who says
our system is NOT working properly. Our Outback Solar system is shutting down every 10 secs??? We just had a new charge controller installed after
the old one charge controller fan burned out. We also recently replaced our wind turbines. The trouble started after these two changes. The changes
were both made by a mexican "electrician". The system is a 24 volt system, about 24 batteries (deep cell 6 volt fired in series of 4) total. The
turbines were 12 volt (a shipping mistake) so he "Mexineered" the sytem to accept them, by separating out 2 batteries exclusively for the turbines. We
need a troubleshooting repair person for the Outback system. Is there any one down there or willing to travel? Thanks for any assistance.
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maspacifico
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I'm not sure if there is anyone close to Punta Chivato, but you might put your question with as much information about your system as you have, onto
the Outback users forum. Sunday might not get the quickest response, but Outback people monitor the forum and the people writing in know their stuff.
Outback has great product support.
http://www.outbackpower.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17&sid...
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Russ
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Hi Vicki, I know you've been here a long time and you had one of the better designed systems here. If Carlos redesigned your system, Why? He is a
pretty good electrician and has a working knowledge of a lot of the systems here but he isn't an engineer. Please consider going back with your
original equipment. If you trying to upgrade ask the Outback people or the forum above. Carlos can do the install with the drawings Outback or other
reputable companies should provide. I think your wind generators can be hooked directly to the battery bank through their own breaker system.They
should have their own charging system built in. But make a list of what you now have and a wiring diagram and what the symptoms are and call a tech at
Outback. They may want you to fax them a copy of the diagram. Sorry if I presumed Carlos was/is you electrician and he isn't. Russ
Edit: I would offer my help but I'm not famillar with your equipment. And certainly no expert. Best of luck! Only other folks here that I'm aware of
that have a large system are Bob & Susan. Oh, Mike Morris seems to be pretty good at installing solar systems.
2nd edit: Forgot about the 12 volt wind generator. There may be a kit you can get from the manufacture to upgrade them to 24v. Otherwise the 12v
charger built in to them may cause problems if you wire them in as 24v. They may have been what caused your problems. Take them off line and restart
the controller/inverter.
[Edited on 7-13-2008 by Russ]
[Edited on 7-13-2008 by Russ]
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rts551
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I don't believe the 12 volt turbines can be hooked to the 24 volt system directly
[Edited on 7-13-2008 by rts551]
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BigWooo
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I agree with Russ about your problems so I won't add more.
But...did you keep your old charge controller? I understand you replaced one of yours because the fan went out. You can order a fan from outback (no
charge). I had the same problem and I replaced the fan. It works just fine. Fortunately I caught mine before there was heat damage to the
controller.
If you didn't fry it, you should fix and keep the old one as a backup.
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midwifevicki
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Thanks for the input. Jorge from Palo Alto was the one who originally installed the system and Jorge has maintained it for the most part with a
little friiendly advice from Bob Davis and Lou. Because it has worked perfectly for the last three years with the exception of the charger fan
burning out which I understand is common, I havw great confidence that we can work it out. I will contact outback right away, thanks. I also have a
suspicion that it has to do with the newly installed wrong wind turbines. Do Bob and Susan have an Outback system?
I did keep the old controller and am planning to try and get a fan as it was still working with an external fan blowing on it when we removed it.
thanks again V
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Russ
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V, Don't know what they have other then it's big. Harry got a free fan an told me it was a real pain to install. He but the backup in instead. Think
he plans to have Outback install the new fan. Jorge (Palo Verde?) is really good. So is Bob Davis.
Edit: here's a form on the fan problem: http://www.outbackpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27...
[Edited on 7-14-2008 by Russ]
OOPs just saw your posting
[Edited on 7-14-2008 by Russ]
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BigWooo
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Russ
Harry got a free fan an told me it was a real pain to install. |
I was really nervous because you have to remove a few critical parts to get to the fan, but the instructions are very good (it took me about 20
minutes). The most important thing is keeping the screws in the order you took them out so you don't forget where they go back in.
I had to replace mine myself because I didn't have a backup controller to use while it was being repaired. Since you aren't relying on it anymore,
I'd send it to Outback to replace it, much easier and less stressful.
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Bob and Susan
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yes return the controller to your dealer for repair if its damaged
we have outback controllers and xantrex (trace) inverters
it may be the 12v "wind fan" does not produce enough electricty to "start" the outback controller
it needs a min voltage (watts) to "wake up"
did you check the current comming from the wind turbines???
is it 24volts???
did the electrican hook the two 12v wind turbins together to make 24v?
what size wire is comming down from the panels???
this is VERY important!!!
the temp just rose in your area and if the wire is too small you'll get resistance now that you didn't have in the winter and the solar panels will
not "wake up" the charge controller
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Russ
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FYI< not related to the question.Also during the hot part of the summer your batteries may not go into "float". It's just too hot. My batteries
right now show 25.6v - and 26.5v in the temp. compensation window. Seems like every summer this goes on for a couple months. Just make an effort to
check the water level more often.
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midwifevicki
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I appreciate all the input. Jorge is coming tomorrow so we will hope for his amazing talent to find the problem...if not Jim found the guy who sold
us the system up in Oregon and he still has a friend here in SD that might want to visit Baja.
I think we will disconnect the wind turbines and see if that improves everything or not. Once we have the basic system back on tract we can try to
get the proper volt turbines because we really need them in this HOT weather. Thanks again for all the help.
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Bob and Susan
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russ
you CANNOT trust the
(25.6v - and 26.5v in the temp. compensation) voltage
the ONLY WAY to correctly check the batteries charge to see if they
are full or not is to use a "hydrometer"
a hydrometer is the thing that you put into the water of thebatteries and the balls rise showing the condition
the voltage is NOT the measurement of the condition batteries
you can have completely DEAD batteries and show that you have 25 volts of power!!!
midwifevicki
you may need to separate the batteries and
charge them one or two at a time with a charger
until completely charged...
don't let the batteries stay discharged
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CaboRon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob and Susan
russ
you CANNOT trust the
(25.6v - and 26.5v in the temp. compensation) voltage
the ONLY WAY to correctly check the batteries charge to see if they
are full or not is to use a "hydrometer"
a hydrometer is the thing that you put into the water of thebatteries and the balls rise showing the condition
the voltage is NOT the measurement of the condition batteries
you can have completely DEAD batteries and show that you have 25 volts of power!!!
midwifevicki
you may need to separate the batteries and
charge them one or two at a time with a charger
until completely charged...
don't let the batteries stay discharged |
As an electrician I agree with this post ... good advice
Also, do not alow so called electricians to reengineer ANYTHING .... they are low to med skill electricians , at best.
CaboRon
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Russ
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B & S I totally agree with you but I use the voltage meters to see any change then go to the hydrometer. Thanks for clearing up any misconception
I may have caused.
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Phil S
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Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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Vicki. We have friends in Eugene Oregon area that have a home "off the grid" in Juncalito who is collecting data as to what type of system he should
get. Installation will be sometime in October. He takes his time making decisions, so I'd like your contacts name & phone number to pass on to
him. You can U2 me with that information Thanks for helping him out here. Good luck in getting your problem resolved quickly.
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midwifevicki
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follow up
Turned out a breaker was bad so it was no big deal, Jorge, the local electrician and mayor of Palo verde figured it out and fixed it. He also
dismantled our generator and took out the starter motor. We ordered a new one in SDand sent it down DHL for a whopping $150 and Jorge installed it
and all is working well.
We mistakenly put up 12 volt wind turbines and will be replacing those next week with 24 volt turbines, so we have two slightly used wind turbines
available.
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Bob and Susan
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hey vikki....
sooo....
then can you NOT put two 12volt windmills together???
is it because they have to spin at the same speed???
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