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Post by Admin on Sept 24, 2018 13:25:40 GMT
Renogy 20 amp mppt controller, 100 watt panel. I have read the manual but I don't understand "Load". I have a camper with 2-12V batteries in parallel. I understand the battery connections, and the solar panel connections. I have 3 questions; 1) Is there any reason I can't ignore the "Load" connections and just leave them disconnected? I just want to charge the batteries as I can, and use the batteries as I need to. I have a gas generator to use if the charge level drops too low. 2) I have read that fuses are needed on - as well as + wires. Is this correct? Indeed, my ham radio equipment has fuses on both to avoid a short circuit problem. 3)What switches and where? I know this has been discussed, but I am looking for a water-proof solution that is cheap and easy. The Load feature is for turning on/off 12v stuff dusk to dawn, you can ignore it, leave the batt connected to the trailer and add the +/- from the controller to the batt. single panel does not need to be fused (panel to controller), you can fuse near the controller (controller to batt), batt should be fused, normally just the + is fused. connection order can be an issue, connect the controller to batt first then connect the panels, reverse for disconnect. How do you disconnect the panel if you are to disconnect the controller from the batt? Here is where a fuse between the panel and controller can be used as a disconnect or disconnect a MC4 connection. For a camper you should have a batt disconnect so the CO/propane detector does not drain the battery. I see no need to disconnect the controller/batt as I would leave it connected and allow to charge/maintain your batteries even while in storage. I got all that, and I really appreciate you taking the time to post answers for me! I just finished installing the unit - kinda in temporary mode. I am pleased with the price, and somewhat less pleased with the quality. My Controller has a stripped PV screw, and the MT-5 doesn't connect to my controller as advertised. I just put in a return request for the remote meter. I'll see what support suggests for the stripped screw. I'm thinking it was a returned controller. Solar addict I just bought a 400 watt Eclipse premium kit with a 40 amp controller and a Renogy 2000 watt inverter and a four 6 volt 225A/H I know I need more fuse's you have given me good advice on where to put them I have no idea how big of fuse to use in each place. If you could help me, that would be great. and if you are someone out there has seen a picture of this set up, I foregot I'm putting it in our montana 5th wheel. Rebird Thanks that helps, you have any ideas which way I should run the 4 100 watt panels, parrell or series Thanks, Mel series if there is no shade, that way the amps don't increase and you can use 10g wire from the panels to the controller. Our property in Washington has full southern exsposer from sun up to sun down, Spent over a month there last august and september ran the gen. so long I hope I never have to here it again. We got home and bought a new to us 5th wheel and now were installing the solar on that. I hope it's a big enough system for us. My big problem is figuring out what size fuses to use down in the basement with the CC, inverter charger and battery bank It all depends on what system you have or going to buy........ Isn't there a bit more than that? Seems to me that if you don't run most or all of the camper circuits off the Load output of the MPPT controller you lose the metering associated with the camper circuits. IOW, if you run the camper circuits (e.g. lights, fridge, etc.) from the Rover's Load output you get real time current metering and accumulated AH drawn by the camper circuits on the Rover's display. If you just run the camper circuits from the battery you still get meter information related to solar panel charging but lose the info related to current draw and overall energy consumption in AH related to camper circuits. I guess if you don't care about monitoring the load consumption and just monitor overall house battery voltage as a proxy for capacity then it's easy to just connect camper loads to the battery itself. But if you want the Rover to provide both charge and drain current and energy (AH) information then you'll want to connect camper loads to the Rover's Load output. Well the warning in the manual says not to connect inverters, battery chargers or high amp drawing devices to the load terminals, if ya plug your camper into utility power doesn't your on board converter become a battery charger? Both the rover 20 & 40 are rated 20A load. Most RVs ignore the load feature, I'd use it for timed outside night lights! Furnace, water pump and a few lights and ya might be exceeding 20A. Well you certainly have to manage total load current if you utilize the Load port on the Rover series converters but that said if you bypass the Load port you do lose load current metering. FWIW, I run the fridge, lights, propane heater (glow plug and fans) off of the Renogy Load port. Peak current draw with all devices active is approximately 7 amps which is well below the 20 amp rating of the controller, average current is much less as neither the fridge nor propane heater electrical circuits run on a 100% duty cycle. I do run a 350 watt pure sine inverted directly off the battery as it will draw ~33 amps at full load but it's very rarely turned on. So for the vast majority of the time that I do not use the pure sine inverter I get current monitoring on my camper electrical devices and a running tally of accumulted AH of energy consumed by the devices which is handy for estimating things like average current draw of the fridge and heater, neither of which run on a 100% duty cycle. When the inverter is in use I'm obviously putting a substantial drain on the house batteries that is not accounted for by the Renogy Load monitoring. In terms of charging via shore power that's handled by a dedicated charger that does not interface with the Renogy Load circuit at all and just has shore power AC input and dual charger outputs, one tied to the house battery and the other tied to the starter battery. Clearly if your RV power needs exceeds the total current rating for the Load port then you cannot use that port and lose the ability to monitor current drain and total AH of energy drain but it's unfair to say that all the Load port does is support day/night on off switching (which is only one of the programmable modes) it also turns your MPPT controller into a power monitoring system which is a pretty handy thing to have in off grid applications. So only one of the load modes is on 24/7 and the other 15 or so are timed! Thrilled you figured a work around for using the load feature to your liking, that is not the typical way to wire a controller for TT use. Yes ya loose the monitoring feature and gain the risk of overloading the controller from loads, on board charger and vehicle charge line. Note your inverter use is not monitored and there is no need to rewire anything when adding solar to a TT. I use my load feature to control landscape lights for 3 hrs a night (one of 17 options) and would do the same on a TT. YMMV So is there any documentation on the Load output of the Rover CC? The PDF manual says what you _shouldn't_ do with it, but gives only vague clues about what it's for. This discussion is helpful, but I'd like to find a discussion on the feature in a Renogy online publication. |
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Post by Admin on Sept 24, 2018 13:25:58 GMT
What is it you are after?, the manual shows the 17 different setting for the load terminals. If you want on after dark (with after dark changing thru the year) use em as ya like up total current limit also in the manual!. I see I'm not the only one with this question. The manual says no inverters , no chargers , no high amp draws. What exactly is considered "high amp" ? I'm using it for a water pump in a cabin. The pump draws less than 1 amp at 24 volts while running , but I bet it pulls about 5 amps at start up. Am I going to be OK ? I would like to connect the batteries to the battery terminals , and my pump to the load terminals so that I can monitor how much power I am actually using. I do have a charger for the 24 volt battery bank , but it will be connected directly to the batteries , not the load terminals. |
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Post by Alon on Jan 12, 2020 23:00:46 GMT
Renogy 20 amp mppt controller, 100 watt panel. I have read the manual but I don't understand "Load". I have a camper with 2-12V batteries in parallel. I understand the battery connections, and the solar panel connections. I have 3 questions; 1) Is there any reason I can't ignore the "Load" connections and just leave them disconnected? I just want to charge the batteries as I can, and use the batteries as I need to. I have a gas generator to use if the charge level drops too low. 2) I have read that fuses are needed on - as well as + wires. Is this correct? Indeed, my ham radio equipment has fuses on both to avoid a short circuit problem. 3)What switches and where? I know this has been discussed, but I am looking for a water-proof solution that is cheap and easy. The Load feature is for turning on/off 12v stuff dusk to dawn, you can ignore it, leave the batt connected to the trailer and add the +/- from the controller to the batt. single panel does not need to be fused (panel to controller), you can fuse near the controller (controller to batt), batt should be fused, normally just the + is fused. connection order can be an issue, connect the controller to batt first then connect the panels, reverse for disconnect. How do you disconnect the panel if you are to disconnect the controller from the batt? Here is where a fuse between the panel and controller can be used as a disconnect or disconnect a MC4 connection. For a camper you should have a batt disconnect so the CO/propane detector does not drain the battery. I see no need to disconnect the controller/batt as I would leave it connected and allow to charge/maintain your batteries even while in storage. I got all that, and I really appreciate you taking the time to post answers for me! I just finished installing the unit - kinda in temporary mode. I am pleased with the price, and somewhat less pleased with the quality. My Controller has a stripped PV screw, and the MT-5 doesn't connect to my controller as advertised. I just put in a return request for the remote meter. I'll see what support suggests for the stripped screw. I'm thinking it was a returned controller. Solar addict I just bought a 400 watt Eclipse premium kit with a 40 amp controller and a Renogy 2000 watt inverter and a four 6 volt 225A/H I know I need more fuse's you have given me good advice on where to put them I have no idea how big of fuse to use in each place. If you could help me, that would be great. and if you are someone out there has seen a picture of this set up, I foregot I'm putting it in our montana 5th wheel. Rebird Thanks that helps, you have any ideas which way I should run the 4 100 watt panels, parrell or series Thanks, Mel series if there is no shade, that way the amps don't increase and you can use 10g wire from the panels to the controller. Our property in Washington has full southern exsposer from sun up to sun down, Spent over a month there last august and september ran the gen. so long I hope I never have to here it again. We got home and bought a new to us 5th wheel and now were installing the solar on that. I hope it's a big enough system for us. My big problem is figuring out what size fuses to use down in the basement with the CC, inverter charger and battery bank It all depends on what system you have or going to buy........ Isn't there a bit more than that? Seems to me that if you don't run most or all of the camper circuits off the Load output of the MPPT controller you lose the metering associated with the camper circuits. IOW, if you run the camper circuits (e.g. lights, fridge, etc.) from the Rover's Load output you get real time current metering and accumulated AH drawn by the camper circuits on the Rover's display. If you just run the camper circuits from the battery you still get meter information related to solar panel charging but lose the info related to current draw and overall energy consumption in AH related to camper circuits. I guess if you don't care about monitoring the load consumption and just monitor overall house battery voltage as a proxy for capacity then it's easy to just connect camper loads to the battery itself. But if you want the Rover to provide both charge and drain current and energy (AH) information then you'll want to connect camper loads to the Rover's Load output. Well the warning in the manual says not to connect inverters, battery chargers or high amp drawing devices to the load terminals, if ya plug your camper into utility power doesn't your on board converter become a battery charger? Both the rover 20 & 40 are rated 20A load. Most RVs ignore the load feature, I'd use it for timed outside night lights! Furnace, water pump and a few lights and ya might be exceeding 20A. Well you certainly have to manage total load current if you utilize the Load port on the Rover series converters but that said if you bypass the Load port you do lose load current metering. FWIW, I run the fridge, lights, propane heater (glow plug and fans) off of the Renogy Load port. Peak current draw with all devices active is approximately 7 amps which is well below the 20 amp rating of the controller, average current is much less as neither the fridge nor propane heater electrical circuits run on a 100% duty cycle. I do run a 350 watt pure sine inverted directly off the battery as it will draw ~33 amps at full load but it's very rarely turned on. So for the vast majority of the time that I do not use the pure sine inverter I get current monitoring on my camper electrical devices and a running tally of accumulted AH of energy consumed by the devices which is handy for estimating things like average current draw of the fridge and heater, neither of which run on a 100% duty cycle. When the inverter is in use I'm obviously putting a substantial drain on the house batteries that is not accounted for by the Renogy Load monitoring. In terms of charging via shore power that's handled by a dedicated charger that does not interface with the Renogy Load circuit at all and just has shore power AC input and dual charger outputs, one tied to the house battery and the other tied to the starter battery. Clearly if your RV power needs exceeds the total current rating for the Load port then you cannot use that port and lose the ability to monitor current drain and total AH of energy drain but it's unfair to say that all the Load port does is support day/night on off switching (which is only one of the programmable modes) it also turns your MPPT controller into a power monitoring system which is a pretty handy thing to have in off grid applications. So only one of the load modes is on 24/7 and the other 15 or so are timed! Thrilled you figured a work around for using the load feature to your liking, that is not the typical way to wire a controller for TT use. Yes ya loose the monitoring feature and gain the risk of overloading the controller from loads, on board charger and vehicle charge line. Note your inverter use is not monitored and there is no need to rewire anything when adding solar to a TT. I use my load feature to control landscape lights for 3 hrs a night (one of 17 options) and would do the same on a TT. YMMV So is there any documentation on the Load output of the Rover CC? The PDF manual says what you _shouldn't_ do with it, but gives only vague clues about what it's for. This discussion is helpful, but I'd like to find a discussion on the feature in a Renogy online publication. |
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Post by Alon on Jan 12, 2020 23:02:49 GMT
I have the load light on all the time, what can be the problem?
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Post by NCMountainSolar on Jan 13, 2020 13:40:14 GMT
I have the load light on all the time, what can be the problem? You have configured the controller load to setting #17 which means you can pull voltage from the load terminals 24/7. The other settings for the load terminals allow turning it on manually or timed as others have suggested. I have 12V DC lighting on my load terminals and it's switched so I leave mine on setting 17 as well. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2020 18:50:32 GMT
I have the load light on all the time, what can be the problem? If you are using our 20A MPPT controller with the load light function/feature, the manual of the controller shows the different load settings you can put on the controller and what each setting means. If the load light is on all the time and does not turn off, the controller might be on load setting 17. -Renogy Team |
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Post by Alon on Jan 13, 2020 22:12:41 GMT
I have the load light on all the time, what can be the problem? If you are using our 20A MPPT controller with the load light function/feature, the manual of the controller shows the different load settings you can put on the controller and what each setting means. If the load light is on all the time and does not turn on, the controller might be on load setting 17. -Renogy Team Thank you for the fast answer. I have the 40amp. And the light never goes off. Please advice Thank you |
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2020 23:35:35 GMT
If you are using our 20A MPPT controller with the load light function/feature, the manual of the controller shows the different load settings you can put on the controller and what each setting means. If the load light is on all the time and does not turn on, the controller might be on load setting 17. -Renogy Team Thank you for the fast answer. I have the 40amp. And the light never goes off. Please advice Thank you If you have the Rover 40A MPPT controller, it has the same load settings as the 20A Rover MPPT controller. Have you checked if your 40A controller is on load setting 17? -Renogy Team |
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Post by Alon on Jan 19, 2020 18:08:44 GMT
If not 17, then what yes?
How can I change it?
Many thanks
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Post by Alon on Jan 20, 2020 14:54:59 GMT
My load setting is on 15.
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Post by Alon on Jan 20, 2020 19:00:27 GMT
It was a nice flow of fast answers and now? Hope to hear from you soon, can't work in my camper without it
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Post by bupkis on Jan 20, 2020 23:47:37 GMT
15 is manual, one should be able to press 'enter' to change (on/off) the load. See the owner's manual. OR JUST LEAVE IT ON.
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Post by Alon on Jan 21, 2020 12:06:01 GMT
Thank you for the answer.
The question now is to which number should I change it?
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Post by bupkis on Jan 21, 2020 13:43:03 GMT
what do you want. I'd set it to your need. Only affects loads attached to load terminals (typically not used). Once again the meaning off each setting is outlined in the owner's manual.  |
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Post by Admin on Jan 23, 2020 22:19:32 GMT
If not 17, then what yes? How can I change it? Many thanks Depending on what your needs on, if you are on setting 15, you can manually turn the load on or off by pressing the Enter button, or you can also select the other load settings as shown in the load mode options table in the Rover manual. -Renogy Team |
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