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Post by Sarah W on Oct 10, 2018 17:50:38 GMT
Hello!
I bought a van yesterday with a fully decked out Renogy solar setup that I'm still just barely beginning to understand.
Last night I had an LED strip and the LED puck lights that are installed in the ceiling on and everything suddenly went dark. I had no idea what happened so I jumped into troubleshooting mode and learned a lot about the system and how the controller works. I eventually figured out how to turn the system back on (it's been in manual mode) and upon doing so, realized that everything works fine except the puck lights, which immediately upon switching on (they come on for a fraction of a second), short circuit (E4) the system. I can reset and get everything else (a fridge, the LED strip, a little fan, an inverter, etc) to work. The fuse for the lights looked fine, the battery has plenty of charge, and it seems like the system as a whole is working good.
My question is: what could be causing this short circuit? And, what steps can I take to narrow down why this is happening?
The previous owner, an engineer, said everything had been working fine, and until last night, it was. We had the puck lights on for a long time yesterday while we were showing the van off to various people.
Let me know if any of you have any ideas! I appreciate everything!
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 17:58:06 GMT
E4 is an over load code... Which is common if it's not hooked up correctly..
What size of system do you have? That would be a lot of help...
Are the lights hooked to the load side of your CC Charge controller or the batteries? I'll bet it's hooked to the CC...
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Post by Sarah W on Oct 10, 2018 18:22:24 GMT
Weird, I filled in a bunch of boxes with equipment specs but I guess that doesn't post on the forum.
Here is my system:
- 400 watts of Renogy monocrystalline slim and rigid design solar panels
- 40 Amp Renogy Rover MPPT Charge controller
- 200 amp hour renogy AGM sealed battery
There is a fuse box and bus bar that house everything; they both go into the load side of the controller.
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 19:01:41 GMT
Weird, I filled in a bunch of boxes with equipment specs but I guess that doesn't post on the forum. Here is my system: - 400 watts of Renogy monocrystalline slim and rigid design solar panels - 40 Amp Renogy Rover MPPT Charge controller - 200 amp hour renogy AGM sealed battery There is a fuse box and bus bar that house everything; they both go into the load side of the controller. Yep that's your problem just like I thought... Unhook it from the load side of the CC and attach it to the battery. Problem solved... Let us know if that fixes your problem.... But I'm sure it will... |
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 19:05:36 GMT
Here is my system: - 400 watts of Renogy monocrystalline slim and rigid design solar panels - 40 Amp Renogy Rover MPPT Charge controller - 200 amp hour renogy AGM sealed battery By the way that's a great system.... You should be able to do a lot with it... If you don't have a volt/amp meter go buy one you will need it in the future....
Also are you running anything off of an inverter or is everything you have 12v?
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Post by Sarah W on Oct 10, 2018 19:27:55 GMT
Thanks for your timely replies!
I'm *super* green with all of this so apologies if I sound like an idiot, but:
What exactly should I be unhooking from the load side of the panel, the entire fuse and bus or just the puck lights? And what exactly do you mean by "attach it to the battery"? Attach it to the battery directly, or to the battery side of the panel? Right now the battery hooks into the battery side of the panel... I really want to make sure I'm doing this right and don't cause any serious damage before I start moving things around.
And thanks, it seemed like the previous owners put together a good system! Thanks for the tip on the volt/amp meter! And we have a 1500 Watt steady state/ 3000 Watt Surge Pure Sine Wave inverter for all other electronics. I do video and photo so having a good solar setup that could handle my bigger batteries and laptop was an *extremely* important consideration when making this purchase. Now it's just a matter of learning how all this stuff works!
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 20:08:28 GMT
Thanks for your timely replies! I'm *super* green with all of this so apologies if I sound like an idiot, but: What exactly should I be unhooking from the load side of the panel, the entire fuse and bus or just the puck lights? And what exactly do you mean by "attach it to the battery"? Attach it to the battery directly, or to the battery side of the panel? Right now the battery hooks into the battery side of the panel... I really want to make sure I'm doing this right and don't cause any serious damage before I start moving things around. No apologies needed.... Everyone has to learn... I'm still learning...
What you need to do is unhook both + & - wires that are going to the load side of the CC only.... Then hook them directly to the + & - post on your battery itself.... The load side on the CC is for very small things only.... If it was me I wouldn't hook anything to it other that a small light...
Can you take a pic of your CC setup?
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 20:14:26 GMT
I think why all the things that you listed of your system didn't show up is because your a guest not a member...
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Post by Sarah W on Oct 10, 2018 20:20:16 GMT
Ah, that makes sense! And I presume that whichever wire goes into the positive side of the load will go to the positive side of the battery and vise versa?
I will grab that picture for you as soon as I'm able. And I'll probably sign up for a membership now that I've seen how incredibly useful this forum is!
Thank you again for all of your help.
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 20:22:58 GMT
Ah, that makes sense! And I presume that whichever wire goes into the positive side of the load will go to the positive side of the battery and vise versa? Yes you are correct..... Pos to Pos Neg to Neg..... |
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sarahw
Solar Newcomer
Posts: 4 
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Post by sarahw on Oct 10, 2018 20:46:39 GMT
And is there anything I need to do to prep the battery (or anything else) for these connections, or just go for it like jumper cables?
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 21:37:20 GMT
And is there anything I need to do to prep the battery (or anything else) for these connections, or just go for it like jumper cables? No preps to the battery at all...
You really need to put a wire lug on the end of the wire to attach it to the bolts on the battery... A jumper wire isn't secure enough.... Plus every junction looses power... Your not going to be taking the battery in and out of the van for any reason are you? |
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sarahw
Solar Newcomer
Posts: 4
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Post by sarahw on Oct 10, 2018 21:40:09 GMT
Oh yeah, I was going to use a wire lug, just wanted to make sure I didn't need to disconnect anything before connecting the two leads. And no, the battery is like 3 feet long so hopefully I won't have to take it out for a long, long, time (or ever...).
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Post by tattoo on Oct 10, 2018 21:44:19 GMT
Oh yeah, I was going to use a wire lug, just wanted to make sure I didn't need to disconnect anything before connecting the two leads. And no, the battery is like 3 feet long so hopefully I won't have to take it out for a long, long, time (or ever...). Got ya, Nothing special just don't touch the wire ends to anything except where they go..... If you have a breaker or a fuse going to the lights, trip it or take out the fuse while attaching the wires to the battery.....
I like to do the positive end first then the negative... |
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sarahw
Solar Newcomer
Posts: 4
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Post by sarahw on Oct 10, 2018 21:56:39 GMT
Awesome! I have a whole fuse box full of stuff (fridge, more lights, USB ports, etc) so I'll just plan to take out all the fuses while making the connection.
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