Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Dave Tedeyan]

Howie,
The timer does not reset when voltage dips below EQ, it just stops
counting. So sometimes after 3 hours of EQ, the timer may have only counted
down 30 minutes.

Jay, I did try lowering the EQ voltage. When it was set to 62V, the voltage
would hover at 62.0 and 61.9, then when it was lowered to 61.6V it hovers
around 61.6 and 61.5.

Lots of good info and ideas here, thanks all.
-Dave

*Dave Tedeyan, PE*
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC

110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com

Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013


On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 7:46 PM jay  wrote:

> Hi Dave,
>
> Only thing I would check is to see if lowering the eq by 1 volt changes
> anything. IE the batteries are just struggling to keep up.
>
> But the CC should tell you what mode it’s in right? IE is it regulating or
> is it full power. Either in the menus or just looking at VMP/watts
>
> If it’s regulating then it’s on the OB side
>
> If it’s max power then it’s on the battery side
>
> Jay Peltz
>
> On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM, Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where
> when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ
> voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer
> does not count down properly, and so left to its own devices the system
> would equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever. This
> will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the
> generator, or both. The customer can manually keep track of the time and
> manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt
> with this before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?
>
> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year
> or so.
>
> Cheers,
> Dave
>
> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
>
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[jay]

Hi Dave,

Only thing I would check is to see if lowering the eq by 1 volt changes 
anything. IE the batteries are just struggling to keep up. 

But the CC should tell you what mode it’s in right? IE is it regulating or is 
it full power. Either in the menus or just looking at VMP/watts 

If it’s regulating then it’s on the OB side 

If it’s max power then it’s on the battery side 

Jay Peltz

> On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM, Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
> 
> Hi All, 
> 
> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where 
> when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ voltage, 
> but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer does not count 
> down properly, and so left to its own devices the system would equalize for 
> way longer than it should, potentially forever. This will happen when doing 
> an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the generator, or both. The 
> customer can manually keep track of the time and manually stop the EQ after 3 
> hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt with this before and have any 
> suggestions on how they fixed it? 
> 
> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year or 
> so.
> 
> Cheers, 
> Dave
> 
> Dave Tedeyan, PE
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
> 
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. 607.277.1118 x121  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com 
> 
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
> ___
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Lones Tuss]

Hi All
On OutBack inverters the EQ process is not temp comped.
The eq timer will not count down until the voltage set point is achieved.
You comment on the issue being somewhat intermittent is interesting.
Could there be a loose cable, bad crimp or corroded connection somewhere in the 
system?
Sorry but nothing jumps out at me.
Someone mentioned specific gravity.
Are the SG readings widely separated?


From: RE-wrenches  On Behalf Of Dave 
Tedeyan
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 8:17 AM
To: offgridso...@sti.net; RE-wrenches 
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

Brian,
I had tried lowering the EQ voltage by 0.4V. The batteries still get up to the 
EQ voltage, but then fluctuate right at or 0.1V below.

Dave,
The EQ countdown timer does not count down when the battery voltage is below 
the EQ setpoint (even if by 0.1V). And since the timer never gets to 0, the 
system just stays in EQ.

Also, we have found that the issue is somewhat intermittent. At one point 
Outback had me reset the CC and FNDC back to factory settings and reprogram 
them. It seemed that it helped, but then a month or two later it showed the 
same issue. So this does not happen with every EQ cycle, it just happens for 
most of them.

I also received another suggestion that the battery bank has a couple bad cells 
which will lead to higher temps and so with the temperature compensation the 
bank is just not getting to a high enough voltage.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave Tedeyan, PE
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
[https://www.taitem.com/signatures/logo.png]
110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. 607.277.1118 x121  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=5701528f-0b93655c-57025b04-0025908791f8-7843d8765bd8fdf1=1=7bfbb7f8-a424-4770-a18d-9f7142695ecc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.taitem.com%2F>

Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013


On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:08 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar 
mailto:offgridso...@sti.net>> wrote:

Does not sound right to me. Usually both Outback and Schneider protect against 
uncontrolled EQ time and end EQ.

I think I would remove the network after the battery is full and test one 
controller at a time. Might have been damaged by lightning or gen glitching. 
Since you say it does this from the inverter charger on genset (only no fm80's) 
is even weirder. Eliminate the network.

Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar

"we go where powerlines don't"

http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=cee1a1a4-92739677-cee2a82f-0025908791f8-9b7d5f72ebfbfdd2=1=7bfbb7f8-a424-4770-a18d-9f7142695ecc=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.sti.net%2Foffgridsolar%2F>

e-mail  offgridso...@sti.net<mailto:offgridso...@sti.net>

text 209 813 0060

On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 07:00:21 -0700, Brian Mehalic 
mailto:br...@solarenergy.org>> wrote:
Sorry you had already answered the first two questions :) What about the others?
Brian


On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM, Dave Tedeyan 
mailto:dtede...@taitem.com>> wrote:
Hi All,

I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where when 
the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ voltage, but 
will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer does not count down 
properly, and so left to its own devices the system would equalize for way 
longer than it should, potentially forever. This will happen when doing an EQ 
from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the generator, or both. The customer 
can manually keep track of the time and manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but 
that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt with this before and have any suggestions 
on how they fixed it?

This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year or so.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave Tedeyan, PE
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
[cid:image001.gif@01D61D59.20569B90]
110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. 607.277.1118 x121  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=7ddcb947-214e8e94-7ddfb0cc-0025908791f8-0b1140d2fc2a33ca=1=7bfbb7f8-a424-4770-a18d-9f7142695ecc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.taitem.com%2F>

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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Howie Michaelson]

I would tend to agree with Ray's analysis, with one question:

   - Does the Eq timer reset to 0 when the voltage dips?  It should
   basically hold the time the batteries were at Eq voltage when it drops
   below, sort of putting the EQ timer on hold until the voltage comes back
   up.  So eventually given enough sun and long enough day, or long enough
   generator run time, the mate should still report that equalization was
   reached.
   - If it doesn't reach equalization do that even though the battery
   voltage is being attained for enough time, then it might suggest a Mate
   issue...

Howie

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 2:12 PM Ray  wrote:

> I would add to the chorus that it probably is a battery issue.  Here are
> the symptoms that lead to that conclusion:
>
> A) it started occurring recently,
> B) it is somewhat intermittent,
> C) the system has aging L 16s  (failures at 4 to 5 years are pretty
> common)
> D) they are the Trojan RE series  (dead cells at less than 2 years has
> been documented several times on this list)
> E) the customer is trying to equalize regularly. (which causes over
> heating, and accelerates cell failures)
>
> Besides checking battery voltages, an infared camera can quickly show over
> heating, bad cells.  Also, I would advise the customer to only equalize
> when the batteries are unequal, based on specific gravity readings.
>
> Ray Walters
> Remote Solar
> 303 505-8760
>
> On 4/28/20 12:20 PM, Dave Tedeyan wrote:
>
> Steve and Jerry,
> Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to take a closer look at the battery
> bank next time I am out there.
> The solar setup is 4 strings of 3 kyocera 270's into each charge
> controller. So that is almost 65A @50V coming out of each charge controller
> for bulk. The parallel battery strings all have the same length of premade
> cable, so current should be balanced (unless there is a dead cell or two in
> there...).
> Cheers,
> Dave
>
> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
>
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:52 AM Jerry Shafer 
> wrote:
>
>> Sounds like a battery issue at first glance, as you EQ a battery it gets
>> warm or even hot and this will effect ability to charge. If e en one of the
>> L-16 is not exactly the same voltage you will not get to EQ untill another
>> battery over voltages to show your overall volts. Need to look at each
>> battery volts under this charge condition. Also if you have a battery
>> acting up be very careful working around them.
>> Jerry
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 6:50 AM Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B)
>>> where when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ
>>> voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer
>>> does not count down properly, and so left to its own devices the system
>>> would equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever. This
>>> will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the
>>> generator, or both. The customer can manually keep track of the time and
>>> manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt
>>> with this before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?
>>>
>>> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past
>>> year or so.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Dave
>>>
>>> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
>>> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>>>
>>> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
>>> o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
>>> www.taitem.com
>>>
>>> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
>>> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
>>> ___
>>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>>
>>> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
>>>
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Ray]

I would add to the chorus that it probably is a battery issue. Here are 
the symptoms that lead to that conclusion:


A) it started occurring recently,
B) it is somewhat intermittent,
C) the system has aging L 16s  (failures at 4 to 5 years are pretty  common)
D) they are the Trojan RE series  (dead cells at less than 2 years has 
been documented several times on this list)
E) the customer is trying to equalize regularly. (which causes over 
heating, and accelerates cell failures)


Besides checking battery voltages, an infared camera can quickly show 
over heating, bad cells.  Also, I would advise the customer to only 
equalize when the batteries are unequal, based on specific gravity readings.


Ray Walters
Remote Solar
303 505-8760

On 4/28/20 12:20 PM, Dave Tedeyan wrote:

Steve and Jerry,
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to take a closer look at the 
battery bank next time I am out there.
The solar setup is 4 strings of 3 kyocera 270's into each charge 
controller. So that is almost 65A @50V coming out of each charge 
controller for bulk. The parallel battery strings all have the same 
length of premade cable, so current should be balanced (unless there 
is a dead cell or two in there...).

Cheers,
Dave

*Dave Tedeyan, PE*
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC

110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. _607.277.1118 x121_  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com 

Solar •Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013


On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:52 AM Jerry Shafer 
mailto:jerrysgarag...@gmail.com>> wrote:


Sounds like a battery issue at first glance, as you EQ a battery
it gets warm or even hot and this will effect ability to charge.
If e en one of the L-16 is not exactly the same voltage you will
not get to EQ untill another battery over voltages to show your
overall volts. Need to look at each battery volts under this
charge condition. Also if you have a battery acting up be very
careful working around them.
Jerry

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 6:50 AM Dave Tedeyan mailto:dtede...@taitem.com>> wrote:

Hi All,

I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan
L16RE-B) where when the customer equalizes, the batteries
hover right around the EQ voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v
less. Because of this, the EQ timer does not count down
properly, and so left to its own devices the system would
equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever.
This will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright
sunny day, or the generator, or both. The customer can
manually keep track of the time and manually stop the EQ after
3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt with this
before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?

This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in
the past year or so.

Cheers,
Dave

*Dave Tedeyan, PE*
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC

110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. _607.277.1118 x121_  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com 

Solar •Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Dave Tedeyan]

Steve and Jerry,
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to take a closer look at the battery
bank next time I am out there.
The solar setup is 4 strings of 3 kyocera 270's into each charge
controller. So that is almost 65A @50V coming out of each charge controller
for bulk. The parallel battery strings all have the same length of premade
cable, so current should be balanced (unless there is a dead cell or two in
there...).
Cheers,
Dave

*Dave Tedeyan, PE*
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC

110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com

Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013


On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:52 AM Jerry Shafer 
wrote:

> Sounds like a battery issue at first glance, as you EQ a battery it gets
> warm or even hot and this will effect ability to charge. If e en one of the
> L-16 is not exactly the same voltage you will not get to EQ untill another
> battery over voltages to show your overall volts. Need to look at each
> battery volts under this charge condition. Also if you have a battery
> acting up be very careful working around them.
> Jerry
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 6:50 AM Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B)
>> where when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ
>> voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer
>> does not count down properly, and so left to its own devices the system
>> would equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever. This
>> will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the
>> generator, or both. The customer can manually keep track of the time and
>> manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt
>> with this before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?
>>
>> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year
>> or so.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Dave
>>
>> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
>> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>>
>> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
>> o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
>> www.taitem.com
>>
>> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
>> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
>> ___
>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>
>> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Steve Higgins]

I know the old FX's didn't temp compensate in EQ mode but the charge
controllers do... I know... that is what I said when I learned this years
ago!

I don't think the Radians observe temp compensation while in EQ either...
That would be a better question for Lones Tuss... You out there Lones?

Instead of using global EQ try to EQ only with the Solar or the
Inverter...BTW how much solar is connected to the FM's and how much
current going to the batteries while in the bulk stage?   Also is this
current balanced between the parallel strings?

Also, you should do an eq after a full bulk/absorb stage can/have you
finished a full buik absorb cycle before starting the EQ?  The best way to
do this is to start the generator and run it manually let it run until you
are in the float or silent mode... then at that time start the EQ...

I've never been a fan of EQ'ing batteries!  There are just so many things
that can and will go wrong when EQ'ing.  What's going on within the battery
is a chemical reaction attempting to force it by cooking the batteries
often does not end well.

I have found that if you charge to what is supposed to be a full charge
then you discharge 10-20% then charge back to full 2-3 times a day and you
repeat this for a week or two this often will recover unbalanced cells
faster and keep the batteries cooler (Causing Less overall Damage) than
EQ'ing the battery bank.

Lastly, what Dave has said, yes a dead cell, either an open or short can
cause the EQ to never be fully met.Check the Voltage of the batteries
at rest and at load over a period of time usually 2-4 hours @ a C10
discharge current... If you notice that the voltages drift more than .4 to
.6 vdc (6 Volt L16), EQ'ing probably isn't going to help.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Steve Higgins ⋅ Technical Services Manager
t +1.902.597.4020  m +1.206.790.5840
f +1.902.597.8447  e st...@surrette.com
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On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 8:17 AM Dave Tedeyan  wrote:

> Brian,
> I had tried lowering the EQ voltage by 0.4V. The batteries still get up to
> the EQ voltage, but then fluctuate right at or 0.1V below.
>
> Dave,
> The EQ countdown timer does not count down when the battery voltage is
> below the EQ setpoint (even if by 0.1V). And since the timer never gets to
> 0, the system just stays in EQ.
>
> Also, we have found that the issue is somewhat intermittent. At one point
> Outback had me reset the CC and FNDC back to factory settings and reprogram
> them. It seemed that it helped, but then a month or two later it showed the
> same issue. So this does not happen with every EQ cycle, it just happens
> for most of them.
>
> I also received another suggestion that the battery bank has a couple bad
> cells which will lead to higher temps and so with the temperature
> compensation the bank is just not getting to a high enough voltage.
>
> Cheers,
> Dave
>
> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
>
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:08 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar <
> offgridso...@sti.net> wrote:
>
>> Does not sound right to me. Usually both Outback and Schneider protect
>> against uncontrolled EQ time and end EQ.
>>
>> I think I would remove the network after the battery is full and test one
>> controller at a time. Might have been damaged by lightning or gen
>> glitching. 

Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Jerry Shafer]

Sounds like a battery issue at first glance, as you EQ a battery it gets
warm or even hot and this will effect ability to charge. If e en one of the
L-16 is not exactly the same voltage you will not get to EQ untill another
battery over voltages to show your overall volts. Need to look at each
battery volts under this charge condition. Also if you have a battery
acting up be very careful working around them.
Jerry

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 6:50 AM Dave Tedeyan  wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where
> when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ
> voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer
> does not count down properly, and so left to its own devices the system
> would equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever. This
> will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the
> generator, or both. The customer can manually keep track of the time and
> manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt
> with this before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?
>
> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year
> or so.
>
> Cheers,
> Dave
>
> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
>
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
> ___
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Dave Tedeyan]

Brian,
I had tried lowering the EQ voltage by 0.4V. The batteries still get up to
the EQ voltage, but then fluctuate right at or 0.1V below.

Dave,
The EQ countdown timer does not count down when the battery voltage is
below the EQ setpoint (even if by 0.1V). And since the timer never gets to
0, the system just stays in EQ.

Also, we have found that the issue is somewhat intermittent. At one point
Outback had me reset the CC and FNDC back to factory settings and reprogram
them. It seemed that it helped, but then a month or two later it showed the
same issue. So this does not happen with every EQ cycle, it just happens
for most of them.

I also received another suggestion that the battery bank has a couple bad
cells which will lead to higher temps and so with the temperature
compensation the bank is just not getting to a high enough voltage.

Cheers,
Dave

*Dave Tedeyan, PE*
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC

110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com

Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013


On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:08 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar <
offgridso...@sti.net> wrote:

> Does not sound right to me. Usually both Outback and Schneider protect
> against uncontrolled EQ time and end EQ.
>
> I think I would remove the network after the battery is full and test one
> controller at a time. Might have been damaged by lightning or gen
> glitching. Since you say it does this from the inverter charger on genset
> (only no fm80's) is even weirder. Eliminate the network.
>
> *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
> "we go where powerlines don't"
> http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/ 
> e-mail  offgridso...@sti.net 
> text 209 813 0060*
>
> On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 07:00:21 -0700, Brian Mehalic 
> wrote:
>
> Sorry you had already answered the first two questions :) What about the
> others?
>
> Brian
>
> On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM, Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where
> when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ
> voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer
> does not count down properly, and so left to its own devices the system
> would equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever. This
> will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the
> generator, or both. The customer can manually keep track of the time and
> manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt
> with this before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?
>
> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year
> or so.
>
> Cheers,
> Dave
>
> *Dave Tedeyan, PE*
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
>
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. 607.277.1118 x121  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
>
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
> ___
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
>
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar]

Does not sound right to me. Usually both Outback and Schneider protect
against uncontrolled EQ time and end EQ. 

I think I would remove the
network after the battery is full and test one controller at a time. Might
have been damaged by lightning or gen glitching. Since you say it does this
from the inverter charger on genset (only no fm80's) is even weirder.
Eliminate the network.  
Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where
powerlines don't"
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/ [1]
e-mail
offgridso...@sti.net [2]
text 209 813 0060

On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 07:00:21
-0700, Brian Mehalic  wrote: Sorry you had already answered the first two
questions :) What about the others?

 Brian 
 On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM,
Dave Tedeyan  wrote:

Hi All,   I've got an outback system (Radian
8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where when the customer equalizes, the
batteries hover right around the EQ voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v
less. Because of this, the EQ timer does not count down properly, and so
left to its own devices the system would equalize for way longer than it
should, potentially forever. This will happen when doing an EQ from the
solar on a bright sunny day, or the generator, or both. The customer can
manually keep track of the time and manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but
that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt with this before and have any
suggestions on how they fixed it?This system is 3-4 years old, and the
issue only started in the past year or so.   Cheers,  Dave 
DAVE TEDEYAN, PE Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC 110 South Albany
Street | Ithaca, NY 14850 o. 607.277.1118 x121 f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com [3]   Solar * Sustainability * Energy * Design Certified
B-Corporation since 2013
 
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Brian Mehalic]

Sorry you had already answered the first two questions :) What about the others?

Brian

> On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM, Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi All, 
> 
> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where 
> when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ voltage, 
> but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer does not count 
> down properly, and so left to its own devices the system would equalize for 
> way longer than it should, potentially forever. This will happen when doing 
> an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the generator, or both. The 
> customer can manually keep track of the time and manually stop the EQ after 3 
> hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt with this before and have any 
> suggestions on how they fixed it? 
> 
> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year or 
> so.
> 
> Cheers, 
> Dave
> 
> Dave Tedeyan, PE
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
> 
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. 607.277.1118 x121  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
> 
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
> ___
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> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
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Re: [RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Brian Mehalic]

What’s the capacity of the battery bank? And the size of the charging sources? 
What’s your EQ voltage? Have you tried a lower EQ voltage setting to see if it 
does the same thing?

Brian

> On Apr 28, 2020, at 6:50 AM, Dave Tedeyan  wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi All, 
> 
> I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where 
> when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ voltage, 
> but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer does not count 
> down properly, and so left to its own devices the system would equalize for 
> way longer than it should, potentially forever. This will happen when doing 
> an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the generator, or both. The 
> customer can manually keep track of the time and manually stop the EQ after 3 
> hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt with this before and have any 
> suggestions on how they fixed it? 
> 
> This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year or 
> so.
> 
> Cheers, 
> Dave
> 
> Dave Tedeyan, PE
> Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC
> 
> 110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
> o. 607.277.1118 x121  f. 607.277.2119
> www.taitem.com
> 
> Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
> Certified B-Corporation since 2013
> ___
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[RE-wrenches] Outback EQ not holding voltage

[Dave Tedeyan]

Hi All,

I've got an outback system (Radian 8048A, 2 FM80, 16 Trojan L16RE-B) where
when the customer equalizes, the batteries hover right around the EQ
voltage, but will often dip to 0.1v less. Because of this, the EQ timer
does not count down properly, and so left to its own devices the system
would equalize for way longer than it should, potentially forever. This
will happen when doing an EQ from the solar on a bright sunny day, or the
generator, or both. The customer can manually keep track of the time and
manually stop the EQ after 3 hours, but that is not ideal. Has anyone dealt
with this before and have any suggestions on how they fixed it?

This system is 3-4 years old, and the issue only started in the past year
or so.

Cheers,
Dave

*Dave Tedeyan, PE*
Senior Engineer | Taitem Engineering, PC

110 South Albany Street | Ithaca, NY 14850
o. *607.277.1118 x121*  f. 607.277.2119
www.taitem.com

Solar • Sustainability • Energy • Design
Certified B-Corporation since 2013
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