I briefly cover that in this video: ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html I always use Manual Control mode. For the timers, they're all based on using these to control loads like street lights or security lights. Basically variations of "on at sunset" and "off at sunrise" with times based on that as I recall. I've never used any of those timer modes myself.
Any chance do you know if the green COM light can be turned off? It's super bright at the cottage, and also I'm not getting the 1/10 of the power I was expecting from my panel, I'm worried it may kill my batteries. Thanks in advance.
Not aware of any way to turn it off via a setting. You might contact the EpEver support folks and see if they have any ideas. One option that I've used is apply a layer or two of masking tape over the LED to dim it down. Or, if you're OK with working on electronics, open the case up and remove that LED. And figure out why you're not getting the power out of the solar panel. Check the voltage and current at point where the panel connects to the controller and make sure that's in-line with the panel rating. Maybe there's a bad connection someplace. I had an issue a few times where if I checked short circuit current at the panel MC4 connectors it was fine. But if I checked down at the inside wiring connection, I got very little current. Turns out my wiring was fine, but the MC4 connectors on the solar panel were not making good contact with the MC4 connectors on my wiring. So I changed out the MC4 connectors on the panel and all has been good for many years.
It was likely set to that value at some time in the past. Easy enough to change that value under the COntrol Parameters screen: ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html
I have a question. My solar panel is working and bringing power in but does not seem to be charging my twin 12v batteries. The MT50 shows no readings on the bottom 3 columns. My batteries are sealed. I'm just not sure what to check or change on my Mppt Solar controller via the MT50? Everything else seems fine.
Never seen that situation myself. But the only 2 times the controller can be bring in power from the solar panels is to charge the batteries or power the DC load output. If the batteries are fully charged or there is no load on the controller output terminals, then very little power will come in from the panels. It may be things are working and the display is just not showing the charging data. Try using a volt meter to check the battery voltage and see if it's up in the boost of float charge range that you have configured. If you have access to a clamp on ammeter, see if any current is flowing into the batteries.
@@The4Crawler So if power is coming in from the panels I should be getting some kind of charge reading? When the sun is out, the warning light on my battery is green when it goes in, it immediately goes red? Maybe i've wired it wrong. I've recently put in a new controller as the las one was dead and i'm more than certain that it's correctly wired.
@@twerpuser Check all your connections between the controller and the batteries. Look for voltage drops, like one meter probe on the controller + or - terminal and the other on the battery + or - terminal. There should be almost no voltage drop measured, if there is find out what is causing the drop. Also, check the battery voltage when the green light is on and then when it goes red. If it goes from say 13.7 volts to 12.0 volts, it may be something is pulling current out of the batteries or one of them may have a bad cell or something.
If using the MT-50 display, there are some "small number" parameters that depend on "large number" parameters. That is, you may need to change some parameter later in the series of screens to a higher number in order to change the earlier parameter. In the manual, they talk about those relationships. So you may need to cycle through the user battery type menus a few times to get everything set up right. I think I talk about that in my 4S lithium battery parameter videos, this is the 3rd in that series: ua-cam.com/video/ofmXkwYEbvo/v-deo.html
Man I’m having the hardest time with my system. I have the epever 4215 bn tracer series I’m trying to connect to 2 X 12v LifePo4 batteries so that it runs 24v. Everythign I see shows the settings for a 12v lithium ion battery but I can’t seem to find anywhere that explains what the user settings should be on a 24v. What would I set the user settings for? Thanks in advance, I have these beautiful batteries sitting here and have not been able to use them.
Simple answer, take 12V settings and multiply by 2 for 24V. Longer answer, take your desired per cell voltages and multiply by 8, assuming your 12V batteries are 4S internally. See below video for how I did this for 16V: ua-cam.com/video/4wt_L2L4W4Q/v-deo.htmlsi=y_l6sdtASAyGwIeU This is for lithium ion cells (4.2V) and 4S, so I took my per cell voltages, multiplied by the 4 series cells and then adjusted values from there as documented in that video series.
@@The4Crawler I’m not sure how many cells it has. It says one but I know that’s not right. 12V 200Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery 150A BMS,NewtiPower 10000+ Deep Cycle Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery for RV/Camper, Marine, Overland/Van, and Off Grid Applications These are the ones I got. I’ll go through the manual again to see if it says how many cells it has. I got two of the 12v 200ah Lifepo4 batteries and have them inseries for 24v 200ah. Thanks for your advice on just doubling what the other video says on the 12v, I’ll give that a try
On the home monitoring screen why does the picture of the battery ON MY MONITOR show half full when resting voltage is 12.8 and full only when non-resting voltage is 13.7?
Best would be to contact Epever support: www.epever.com/contact/ But short of that, you mostly answered your own question. That display element uses a simple voltage measurement to "state of charge" reading. It's complicated by the fact the controller is lacking any sort of voltage sensing other than at the battery connection terminals, so if any current is flowing in or out of the battery, the voltage reading will be off. That's why I run something like the TriMetric battery monitor on my system: ua-cam.com/video/5LcY-EqOV5Y/v-deo.html It gives a fairly accurate state of charge based on measured amp-hours in and out of the battery. So if you have a 100AH battery and pull 30AH out, it'll display 70% SOC.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for the quick reply. I'll have to reach out to Epever to see what they have to say. It really doesn't make sense why the battery icon says half full when the resting voltage is 12.8. somewhere in a setting the icon is getting different information than the voltage readout.
Hello, I had exactly the same question, I have the MT 50 in my motorhome and rarely does the battery icon go solid, don’t think it ever has just with solar or engine running, only after plugging into mains for a day or so, then when you unplug seems to loose some of the black bars very quickly even with no power being used.. frustrating as not very accurate.
Hello my first question is the wire plugged into this all the time from original controller the MT50 ? And can you get an extension of this wire if so ? And what is the ah battery part set up at , if you have 2 x 110 ah batteries ? Thanks
Yes, you can leave the MT-50 cable plugged into the charge controller all the time. Extension, no problem, it's just a standard 8-pin RJ45 ethernet cable, although it uses RS485 serial communications protocol. It can be run for 100s of yards/meters as I recall. For 2 - 110AH batteries in parallel (i.e. a 12V system), 110 + 110 = 220 AH. For 2 batteries in series (12 + 12 = 24V), 110 AH: ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html
@@loony457 I think 200 is the default setting. I've not found that the AH setting has much, if any, effect on the controller operation. I mainly like to set it so that I remember what the name plate of the batteries is.
I've never run into that issue myself. Might try reconnecting the cable or try connecting the cable with the charge controller on and off and see if anything changes. If not, see if the Epever support folks have any ideas.
Good point. I think I had the display backlight set on the longest duration, but it would still turn off in the middle of a clip. Also, I think some of the clips in this video were shot in full daylight and that swamps out the backlight. I guess it's best to film this display in full shade or dusk.
Along that same subject, you can wire up up a load wire. But what I read your not suppose to take have load from their but from the battery. So I would guess you can set up auto room light come on. LOL but if they are taking street light so it ca handle a heavy load taken from that post. I had a old tracer had that too in the minute, but it confusing as there 2 timer clocks. What the timer number you used? To have the load on all the time? Talking about taking power from the far bottom right 2 screw. And what do you use it for?
I use the DC load output for small (up to 20 amp) DC loads like fans, lights, battery chargers, etc. I set the load to be on all the time, setting 17 on my old Tracer unit. Yes, you wouldn't want to run an AC power inverter off the load output. The advantages of that load output are that you can turn it on and off with the load button, it'll shut off automatically with low battery voltage and the meter will record amp-hours and watt hours used on that output.
Here my prob with my charge controller I use 5415 epever model and 12 volt system 2 × 330 watts solar panel in series 2 × 200 Ah batteries in parallel I have 33 volt on pv and only 0.5 amps. On Battery 13.8 volt And 0.8 amps Is it a problem with my charge controller? My batteries are never full charged even I use them
You might want to first test that all the wiring is correct. Disconnect the solar panels at the controller and test for open circuit voltage and short circuit current at the end of the wires. I've run into a few panels that had a bad MC4 connector, it would test out OK at the panel with meter probes shoved into the connector. But plug that connector into the wiring that ran down to the charge controller and I got very low current. It was only when I tested at the end of those wires that I duplicated the problem and then worked my way back up to the bad connector. You might also check the battery type settings and make sure they are correct: ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html Your voltage/current sounds like the batteries are in float charge state. Also, these controllers only sense the battery voltage at the terminals of the controller, so any bad connections between the controller and batteries will result in voltage drops and the controller might think the battery if charged when it's not. Measure the voltage drop on + and - cables between the controller and the batteries.
Assuming you're looking at something like a state of charge monitor, a dedicated coulomb meter would be better for that than the MT50 which is decent at displaying voltage and charging and load current, power and energy.
I assume you're referring to the DC load "light". It is a bit of a strange icon in that when it's on, it shows the light "rays" but also is colored black. In any event, I use that output to power my main DC loads like lights and fans. That way, that output will shut down if the battery voltage drops too low, for example if a light were left on in the shed (BTDT).
@@boscodog4358 Just uploaded a video covering that feature: ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html In short, that "light bulb" shows whether the DC Load output is on or off. These controllers are set up for controlling things like security and street lights at night and those lights would be connected to the Load terminals. Common settings are to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise, for example. I set mine to Manual Control and then can turn my DC loads on an off as needed, or automatically if the battery voltage gets too low.
I chose the 60a unit, and i put up 4 210w panels. The open circuit voltage is 19.83v and short circuit current is 13.09a, if i have my information correct i can run two in series then parallel the two series. I will need a 15a inline fuse in both series before they are paralleled. From there to the controller i won't need any other fuses, but i will from the charge controller to the batteries, do you know if im correct in my thinking? Since i may be adding another two panels in series if i need to, i believe you mentioned i would be all right maxing out/nearly maxing out my controller since it will only take up to 60a, and any more would just be loss of potential, will i need a 60a fuse from cc to battery bank or should i use a 100a in your opinion? From what i gather i need 12awg, is it ok to run 10awg though? I will only have 8-10 feet to run from my panels to cc, then 5-6 feet to my 12v 580ah lifepo4 battery bank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I've asked some of the content creator's that I've followed to get this far, but not all of them (any yet) have responded lol, but hopefully i get some input. God bless!!
Yes, if you have both series strings fused then no need for a separate fuse to the CC, although you might want to add a switch or breaker so you can disconnect PV input if needed. 10AWG is fine, that's about the limit of what fits into most MC4 connectors if you're making your own cables. 80A or 100A to the batteries sounds good, just want to be above the rated output of the CC and sized for whatever cables you are running to the batteries. The CC will limit the battery charging current to it's 60A rating more or less, it may go a bit above that from time to time.
Hi. Thanks for the information you share. I have just started using a 4215BN unit and connected it with a MT50 remote. I would like to bounce some thoughts off someone, and you seem to be interested in this stuff. I am thinking that the load system should be able to be used as a load dump method for when more power is coming in than is needed. Have you had any success setting and using the load system. I am trying to use the settings to start dumping power at a certain voltage and then allow normal function once a lower voltage has been reached. I see in the menu for the load settings, after the voltage setting there is a place to change a time setting. Do you have any idea what that time settng is about?? What I am trying doesn't seem to be making much sense at the moment. Maybe we could have a bit of a to and fro conversation. Regards Stephen
I think a lot of these type of charge controllers started out as a way to power street lights or security lights. So charge the battery during the day and then turn the light on at night. The load functions are all based around that. Time "0", so to speak, is sunset, i.e. the PV input drops to 0 volts. Then the load can be turned on for 1, 2, or how ever many hours and then shut off at the specified on-time. I just leave my load on all the time and then can manually turn it off if needed. You could rig up an adjustable voltage sensing relay to do something like you are talking about. On the other hand, the controller will not bring in more power than is needed. It'll throttle back on the MPPT until the imput power matches the battery charging and load.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for your input. I have my doubts about the throttling back part. Mine just seems to keep pumping. I have tried resetting the boost charge time to a lower value than the factory setting. I will see if that makes any difference. And I don't seem to be able to tell what mode it is in at any given time. ie boost, adsorbtion or float. If it is connected to the PV panels the energy has to go somewhere. I don't think the heat sink is there to dissipate that energy. My system is a little larger than yours. I have three 180W panels and using four 6V 232A/H batteries in series for a 24v system. In stead of throttling back my batteries start to gas and the voltage is staying up in the 29V plus range when the sun is out. I see in the specs that my controller is rated to discharge at 20 amps if needed. That's half of it's rated input current. That's a lot of current. I am concerned that unnesseccary overcharging will shorten the life of my flooded batteries. They are brand new a couple of days ago. Regards for now. Thanks
@@gasonthebrain3738 If you have the USER battery type set up, you can try adjusting the voltages for charging: ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html I had around 200 AH of 12V AGM batteries and mine would drop to the float voltage at 1-2 amps once the batteries were fully charged. In fact just checked now and its at 13.8V and 0.9A. The high voltage might be the equalize charge settings.
What kind of lead acid batteries where u using in this video and do u the amp hours as well ? I have 6 interstate deep cycle batteries in parallel from Costco’s and I wish I new how much amp hours I had . Thanks again great video
Battery information in this video and in the description there: ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html Around 7:15 in that video, I mention the AH setting. I have 2 smaller 12V AGM batteries in parallel, so the total AH is just the sum of both separate batteries. In you case, add up all 6 AH figures (assuming they are all 12V batteries) and that's your total AH. I'm not sure if that setting actually "does" anything in the controller, or at least I've never seen anything change with that setting.
I don't think the clock has any affect on what charging mode the controller uses. I think it goes off of the start of sunlight hitting the panels after a night time period with no panel input. I can trigger mine into a new "day" by switching off the PV input for a while then reconnecting it. With this controller now, I have it hooked up to my 24V battery bank in order to charge my 12V battery bank. It never goes into absorb or boost mode, it just sits on float 24/7, unless I switch off the PV input.
Yes, that's on the screen labelled "Char. Energy" that's next after the time/date screen. However, that only reports AH for the DC load output, not for PV input or battery charging current. It also resets monthly, but does keep a running total.
@@juliecallender5539 Usually the middle readings are for the battery, voltage and current (positive is charging, negative is discharging): www.epever.com/download/mt50-remote-meter/
Glad you found it helpful. I hadn't paid any attention to this screen before but it is a bit confusing as both it and the Control Parameter screens both list "Rated Voltage", but they are really showing two different numbers. I think they should really change the label in the Control Parameter screen to something like "Battery Voltage".
I think the default is 120 mins. but you could set it higher and then see how long it takes for the charging current to drop down to the typical float charging current, which is in the range of 0.01C - 0.02C. Then use that time or if the battery mfg. has a recommended setting, use that.
The 4215BN information is below: www.epsolarpv.com/product/61.html 40A MPPT controller, I think it will handle up to 150V PV input, but that data sheet would have that number.
Do you have a video on using the Load Setting menu? I can find no good explanation for this menu and want to set timers. Thanks.
I briefly cover that in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html
I always use Manual Control mode.
For the timers, they're all based on using these to control loads like street lights or security lights. Basically variations of "on at sunset" and "off at sunrise" with times based on that as I recall. I've never used any of those timer modes myself.
Any chance do you know if the green COM light can be turned off? It's super bright at the cottage, and also I'm not getting the 1/10 of the power I was expecting from my panel, I'm worried it may kill my batteries. Thanks in advance.
Not aware of any way to turn it off via a setting. You might contact the EpEver support folks and see if they have any ideas. One option that I've used is apply a layer or two of masking tape over the LED to dim it down. Or, if you're OK with working on electronics, open the case up and remove that LED.
And figure out why you're not getting the power out of the solar panel. Check the voltage and current at point where the panel connects to the controller and make sure that's in-line with the panel rating. Maybe there's a bad connection someplace. I had an issue a few times where if I checked short circuit current at the panel MC4 connectors it was fine. But if I checked down at the inside wiring connection, I got very little current. Turns out my wiring was fine, but the MC4 connectors on the solar panel were not making good contact with the MC4 connectors on my wiring. So I changed out the MC4 connectors on the panel and all has been good for many years.
I have a system with 2 x 120ah in parallel but my MT50 remote is showing 420ah. Anyone know why this is?
It was likely set to that value at some time in the past. Easy enough to change that value under the COntrol Parameters screen:
ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html
How do u change to clock setting and the back light time
See this video in the playlist:
ua-cam.com/video/Ttd-ZTEht8g/v-deo.html
I have a question. My solar panel is working and bringing power in but does not seem to be charging my twin 12v batteries. The MT50 shows no readings on the bottom 3 columns. My batteries are sealed. I'm just not sure what to check or change on my Mppt Solar controller via the MT50? Everything else seems fine.
Never seen that situation myself. But the only 2 times the controller can be bring in power from the solar panels is to charge the batteries or power the DC load output. If the batteries are fully charged or there is no load on the controller output terminals, then very little power will come in from the panels. It may be things are working and the display is just not showing the charging data. Try using a volt meter to check the battery voltage and see if it's up in the boost of float charge range that you have configured. If you have access to a clamp on ammeter, see if any current is flowing into the batteries.
@@The4Crawler So if power is coming in from the panels I should be getting some kind of charge reading? When the sun is out, the warning light on my battery is green when it goes in, it immediately goes red? Maybe i've wired it wrong. I've recently put in a new controller as the las one was dead and i'm more than certain that it's correctly wired.
@@twerpuser Check all your connections between the controller and the batteries. Look for voltage drops, like one meter probe on the controller + or - terminal and the other on the battery + or - terminal. There should be almost no voltage drop measured, if there is find out what is causing the drop. Also, check the battery voltage when the green light is on and then when it goes red. If it goes from say 13.7 volts to 12.0 volts, it may be something is pulling current out of the batteries or one of them may have a bad cell or something.
I have trouble setting my parameters on number 4 button can’t set the voltage limit on the recommended for a lithium battery
If using the MT-50 display, there are some "small number" parameters that depend on "large number" parameters. That is, you may need to change some parameter later in the series of screens to a higher number in order to change the earlier parameter. In the manual, they talk about those relationships. So you may need to cycle through the user battery type menus a few times to get everything set up right. I think I talk about that in my 4S lithium battery parameter videos, this is the 3rd in that series:
ua-cam.com/video/ofmXkwYEbvo/v-deo.html
Man I’m having the hardest time with my system. I have the epever 4215 bn tracer series I’m trying to connect to 2 X 12v LifePo4 batteries so that it runs 24v. Everythign I see shows the settings for a 12v lithium ion battery but I can’t seem to find anywhere that explains what the user settings should be on a 24v. What would I set the user settings for? Thanks in advance, I have these beautiful batteries sitting here and have not been able to use them.
Simple answer, take 12V settings and multiply by 2 for 24V.
Longer answer, take your desired per cell voltages and multiply by 8, assuming your 12V batteries are 4S internally. See below video for how I did this for 16V:
ua-cam.com/video/4wt_L2L4W4Q/v-deo.htmlsi=y_l6sdtASAyGwIeU
This is for lithium ion cells (4.2V) and 4S, so I took my per cell voltages, multiplied by the 4 series cells and then adjusted values from there as documented in that video series.
@@The4Crawler I’m not sure how many cells it has. It says one but I know that’s not right. 12V 200Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery 150A BMS,NewtiPower 10000+ Deep Cycle Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery for RV/Camper, Marine, Overland/Van, and Off Grid Applications These are the ones I got. I’ll go through the manual again to see if it says how many cells it has. I got two of the 12v 200ah Lifepo4 batteries and have them inseries for 24v 200ah.
Thanks for your advice on just doubling what the other video says on the 12v, I’ll give that a try
@@jimmyp371LiFePO4 is nominal 3.2V/cell:
footprinthero.com/lifepo4-battery-voltage-charts
3.2 x 4 = 12.8V nominal for the 4S/12V battery.
@@The4Crawler Omg you’re a legend. Thank you so much for this, it’s very very helpful!
On the home monitoring screen why does the picture of the battery ON MY MONITOR show half full when resting voltage is 12.8 and full only when non-resting voltage is 13.7?
Best would be to contact Epever support:
www.epever.com/contact/
But short of that, you mostly answered your own question. That display element uses a simple voltage measurement to "state of charge" reading. It's complicated by the fact the controller is lacking any sort of voltage sensing other than at the battery connection terminals, so if any current is flowing in or out of the battery, the voltage reading will be off.
That's why I run something like the TriMetric battery monitor on my system:
ua-cam.com/video/5LcY-EqOV5Y/v-deo.html
It gives a fairly accurate state of charge based on measured amp-hours in and out of the battery. So if you have a 100AH battery and pull 30AH out, it'll display 70% SOC.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for the quick reply. I'll have to reach out to Epever to see what they have to say. It really doesn't make sense why the battery icon says half full when the resting voltage is 12.8. somewhere in a setting the icon is getting different information than the voltage readout.
Hello, I had exactly the same question, I have the MT 50 in my motorhome and rarely does the battery icon go solid, don’t think it ever has just with solar or engine running, only after plugging into mains for a day or so, then when you unplug seems to loose some of the black bars very quickly even with no power being used.. frustrating as not very accurate.
Hello my first question is the wire plugged into this all the time from original controller the MT50 ?
And can you get an extension of this wire if so ?
And
what is the ah battery part set up at , if you have 2 x 110 ah batteries ? Thanks
Yes, you can leave the MT-50 cable plugged into the charge controller all the time. Extension, no problem, it's just a standard 8-pin RJ45 ethernet cable, although it uses RS485 serial communications protocol. It can be run for 100s of yards/meters as I recall.
For 2 - 110AH batteries in parallel (i.e. a 12V system), 110 + 110 = 220 AH. For 2 batteries in series (12 + 12 = 24V), 110 AH:
ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html
@@The4Crawler so it has to be changed to 220ah ? As I thought it was standard 200 , sorry I’m new
@@loony457 I think 200 is the default setting. I've not found that the AH setting has much, if any, effect on the controller operation. I mainly like to set it so that I remember what the name plate of the batteries is.
can u adjust the battery to litium volrage
Yes, choose the USER battery type and have at it:
ua-cam.com/video/ofmXkwYEbvo/v-deo.html
I just installed a MT50. The display keeps telling connecting.. that's it. How does it work then? How do I connect?
I've never run into that issue myself. Might try reconnecting the cable or try connecting the cable with the charge controller on and off and see if anything changes. If not, see if the Epever support folks have any ideas.
Great video!
But please when you or anyone makes a video please use the back light !
I can learn some from your settings.
Looking good 👍
Good point. I think I had the display backlight set on the longest duration, but it would still turn off in the middle of a clip. Also, I think some of the clips in this video were shot in full daylight and that swamps out the backlight. I guess it's best to film this display in full shade or dusk.
Along that same subject, you can wire up up a load wire. But what I read your not suppose to take have load from their but from the battery. So I would guess you can set up auto room light come on. LOL but if they are taking street light so it ca handle a heavy load taken from that post. I had a old tracer had that too in the minute, but it confusing as there 2 timer clocks. What the timer number you used? To have the load on all the time? Talking about taking power from the far bottom right 2 screw. And what do you use it for?
I use the DC load output for small (up to 20 amp) DC loads like fans, lights, battery chargers, etc. I set the load to be on all the time, setting 17 on my old Tracer unit. Yes, you wouldn't want to run an AC power inverter off the load output. The advantages of that load output are that you can turn it on and off with the load button, it'll shut off automatically with low battery voltage and the meter will record amp-hours and watt hours used on that output.
Here my prob with my charge controller
I use 5415 epever model and 12 volt system
2 × 330 watts solar panel in series
2 × 200 Ah batteries in parallel
I have 33 volt on pv and only 0.5 amps.
On Battery
13.8 volt
And 0.8 amps
Is it a problem with my charge controller?
My batteries are never full charged even I use them
You might want to first test that all the wiring is correct. Disconnect the solar panels at the controller and test for open circuit voltage and short circuit current at the end of the wires.
I've run into a few panels that had a bad MC4 connector, it would test out OK at the panel with meter probes shoved into the connector. But plug that connector into the wiring that ran down to the charge controller and I got very low current. It was only when I tested at the end of those wires that I duplicated the problem and then worked my way back up to the bad connector.
You might also check the battery type settings and make sure they are correct:
ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html
Your voltage/current sounds like the batteries are in float charge state. Also, these controllers only sense the battery voltage at the terminals of the controller, so any bad connections between the controller and batteries will result in voltage drops and the controller might think the battery if charged when it's not. Measure the voltage drop on + and - cables between the controller and the batteries.
@@The4Crawler thank you
The device info is of the charge controller, not the MT50 for clarification.
Good point, thanks for the comment.
I have to have this remote display, is it worth have another battery display monitor or is the MT50 accurate?
Assuming you're looking at something like a state of charge monitor, a dedicated coulomb meter would be better for that than the MT50 which is decent at displaying voltage and charging and load current, power and energy.
@@The4Crawler thanks for the reply, I will get one and add to my build.
Regards
What is going on with the light on the right. Looks to be on&off?
I assume you're referring to the DC load "light". It is a bit of a strange icon in that when it's on, it shows the light "rays" but also is colored black. In any event, I use that output to power my main DC loads like lights and fans. That way, that output will shut down if the battery voltage drops too low, for example if a light were left on in the shed (BTDT).
Yes that is what I was referring to.
What is happening when the icon is illuminated. "rays ".on
.mine are on and off
@@boscodog4358 Just uploaded a video covering that feature:
ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html
In short, that "light bulb" shows whether the DC Load output is on or off. These controllers are set up for controlling things like security and street lights at night and those lights would be connected to the Load terminals. Common settings are to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise, for example. I set mine to Manual Control and then can turn my DC loads on an off as needed, or automatically if the battery voltage gets too low.
I chose the 60a unit, and i put up 4 210w panels. The open circuit voltage is 19.83v and short circuit current is 13.09a, if i have my information correct i can run two in series then parallel the two series. I will need a 15a inline fuse in both series before they are paralleled. From there to the controller i won't need any other fuses, but i will from the charge controller to the batteries, do you know if im correct in my thinking? Since i may be adding another two panels in series if i need to, i believe you mentioned i would be all right maxing out/nearly maxing out my controller since it will only take up to 60a, and any more would just be loss of potential, will i need a 60a fuse from cc to battery bank or should i use a 100a in your opinion? From what i gather i need 12awg, is it ok to run 10awg though? I will only have 8-10 feet to run from my panels to cc, then 5-6 feet to my 12v 580ah lifepo4 battery bank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I've asked some of the content creator's that I've followed to get this far, but not all of them (any yet) have responded lol, but hopefully i get some input. God bless!!
Yes, if you have both series strings fused then no need for a separate fuse to the CC, although you might want to add a switch or breaker so you can disconnect PV input if needed. 10AWG is fine, that's about the limit of what fits into most MC4 connectors if you're making your own cables. 80A or 100A to the batteries sounds good, just want to be above the rated output of the CC and sized for whatever cables you are running to the batteries. The CC will limit the battery charging current to it's 60A rating more or less, it may go a bit above that from time to time.
@@The4Crawler Hey i appreciate the information, i can't thank you enough!!
Thank you very much. That was the exact same question I had.
Glad it was helpful!
Hi. Thanks for the information you share. I have just started using a 4215BN unit and connected it with a MT50 remote. I would like to bounce some thoughts off someone, and you seem to be interested in this stuff. I am thinking that the load system should be able to be used as a load dump method for when more power is coming in than is needed. Have you had any success setting and using the load system. I am trying to use the settings to start dumping power at a certain voltage and then allow normal function once a lower voltage has been reached. I see in the menu for the load settings, after the voltage setting there is a place to change a time setting. Do you have any idea what that time settng is about?? What I am trying doesn't seem to be making much sense at the moment. Maybe we could have a bit of a to and fro conversation. Regards Stephen
I think a lot of these type of charge controllers started out as a way to power street lights or security lights. So charge the battery during the day and then turn the light on at night. The load functions are all based around that. Time "0", so to speak, is sunset, i.e. the PV input drops to 0 volts. Then the load can be turned on for 1, 2, or how ever many hours and then shut off at the specified on-time. I just leave my load on all the time and then can manually turn it off if needed. You could rig up an adjustable voltage sensing relay to do something like you are talking about. On the other hand, the controller will not bring in more power than is needed. It'll throttle back on the MPPT until the imput power matches the battery charging and load.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for your input. I have my doubts about the throttling back part. Mine just seems to keep pumping. I have tried resetting the boost charge time to a lower value than the factory setting. I will see if that makes any difference. And I don't seem to be able to tell what mode it is in at any given time. ie boost, adsorbtion or float. If it is connected to the PV panels the energy has to go somewhere. I don't think the heat sink is there to dissipate that energy. My system is a little larger than yours. I have three 180W panels and using four 6V 232A/H batteries in series for a 24v system. In stead of throttling back my batteries start to gas and the voltage is staying up in the 29V plus range when the sun is out. I see in the specs that my controller is rated to discharge at 20 amps if needed. That's half of it's rated input current. That's a lot of current. I am concerned that unnesseccary overcharging will shorten the life of my flooded batteries. They are brand new a couple of days ago. Regards for now. Thanks
@@gasonthebrain3738 If you have the USER battery type set up, you can try adjusting the voltages for charging:
ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html
I had around 200 AH of 12V AGM batteries and mine would drop to the float voltage at 1-2 amps once the batteries were fully charged. In fact just checked now and its at 13.8V and 0.9A. The high voltage might be the equalize charge settings.
What kind of lead acid batteries where u using in this video and do u the amp hours as well ? I have 6 interstate deep cycle batteries in parallel from Costco’s and I wish I new how much amp hours I had . Thanks again great video
Battery information in this video and in the description there:
ua-cam.com/video/4XhvwruVEJU/v-deo.html
Around 7:15 in that video, I mention the AH setting. I have 2 smaller 12V AGM batteries in parallel, so the total AH is just the sum of both separate batteries. In you case, add up all 6 AH figures (assuming they are all 12V batteries) and that's your total AH. I'm not sure if that setting actually "does" anything in the controller, or at least I've never seen anything change with that setting.
My mt50 fails to go to day time charge mode even after 24hr clock has been set hope you can help.Cheers Peter.
I don't think the clock has any affect on what charging mode the controller uses. I think it goes off of the start of sunlight hitting the panels after a night time period with no panel input. I can trigger mine into a new "day" by switching off the PV input for a while then reconnecting it. With this controller now, I have it hooked up to my 24V battery bank in order to charge my 12V battery bank. It never goes into absorb or boost mode, it just sits on float 24/7, unless I switch off the PV input.
Thus was sò helpful❗️thank you💡
Glad it was helpful!
Will the MT-50 show amp hours ?
Yes, that's on the screen labelled "Char. Energy" that's next after the time/date screen. However, that only reports AH for the DC load output, not for PV input or battery charging current. It also resets monthly, but does keep a running total.
@@The4Crawler Thanks for that. Now, what do the Amps below the middle Volts mean to me?
@@juliecallender5539 Usually the middle readings are for the battery, voltage and current (positive is charging, negative is discharging):
www.epever.com/download/mt50-remote-meter/
Does anybody know how to change the Celsius to Fahrenheit
I've never run across an option to change that display setting. No mention in the user manual.
When you see the temperature on the screen, press select and hold it during 5 second it will change to Fahrenheit
Great information. Thank you.
Glad you found it helpful. I hadn't paid any attention to this screen before but it is a bit confusing as both it and the Control Parameter screens both list "Rated Voltage", but they are really showing two different numbers. I think they should really change the label in the Control Parameter screen to something like "Battery Voltage".
How much hours do you recommend setting the boost time charge on the mt50 controller...
I think the default is 120 mins. but you could set it higher and then see how long it takes for the charging current to drop down to the typical float charging current, which is in the range of 0.01C - 0.02C. Then use that time or if the battery mfg. has a recommended setting, use that.
@@The4Crawler thanks much ... .. i am using some trace 6 volts 225 amh lead acid batteries
@@randomtv.9486 Likely your float charge current will be around 2-3 amps then. See how long it takes to hit that as the boost charge tapers off.
@@The4Crawler Thanks much
Spec for this controller ?
The 4215BN information is below:
www.epsolarpv.com/product/61.html
40A MPPT controller, I think it will handle up to 150V PV input, but that data sheet would have that number.
good info can you do a video of whole set up with the 40
Finally got that video edited and uploaded:
ua-cam.com/video/8dpDUFyDVJw/v-deo.html
Anybody know how to change the Celsius to Fahrenheit in the MT 50
Yeah