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Bought a 30a 12/24v provista mppt controller and it overcharges

gary arnold1
Prodigy 40 points

I have a 30 amp controller and a 250w schott solar panel on a camper well the controler goes into an error E2 which is high voltage checked voltage and there was 17.5 volts comeing from the solar  panel and 16.1 going to the batteries, disconnect the solar the error goes away and the voltage from batteries is 13.5 volts . reconnect solar panel and the same thing happens.   Anybody know what to do?        Thanks Dean

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 36110 points

    Could be a bad connection in your cabling that causes the voltage at the charger to be higher than the voltage on the battery.  You care about your battery voltage, not the voltage out of the charger.   These can be different.  You might consider working this issue through your charger's manufacturer.  Maybe others have additional troubleshooting steps and will be able to respond.

  • 0 in reply to Matthew Day
    Prodigy 10 points

    I have  Provista 3040 MPPT chrage controller connected to a 220W panel & 12V, 125Ah battery.
    This also produced a repeated E2 error, when the battery was fully charge and no other load was present.

    The large capacitor, 1500uF 80V, subsequently exploded.
    My initial though the Vmax on the solar input (29V) had been exceeeded, as the Voc of the panel could be 34V

    The capacitor was replaced & a LDO Pmos Voltage Regulator added in series with the panel to limit Vax to 28V
    The unit bench testing using a power supply to replace the solar panel.
    It appears the controller cannot regulate the battery voltage when the current demand is below 3A.

    This regulator has failed AGAIN and now shorts the panel.

    I have tried two other regulators in the same setup with no problems
    A simple 30A PWM controller bought at show
    A 25A ebay MPPT controller

    Conclusion the Provista 3040 MPPT is not fit for purpose

  • 0 in reply to Richard Anderson
    Prodigy 40 points

    Thanks so much for that info. My batteries are toast, so I got two more, and sent that other controller back, and they sent me a new one, but I am not going to use it. I am just going to go with a simple pwm controller.  Thanks again  Dean

  • 0 in reply to gary arnold1
    Prodigy 20 points

    I am experiencing the same symptoms with a 3042.  The 3042 has bulk & float voltage settings.

    I have a newly installed 3042 in a Mercedes Sprinter Motorhome with  a 150 watt solar panel and a AGM 100a/h house battery connected to the Mercedes alternator via a BEP VSR .

    The 3042 regulator shuts down with an E5 error and this code does not appear in the handbook. 

    After charging with the engine alternator the battery reaches near fully charged, the voltage seems to run away tup to around 15+ volts then shuts down with an e5 ERROR cutting both charge and load.

    The standard Mercedes regulator seems to run at 14.2v and I wonder if the 3042 sets its overvoltage shutdown from the float voltage settings attempting to dissipate the over voltage (that is coming from the alternator), it gets very hot. 

     I was of the belief that the MPPT converted the power to the boost/float voltage and ran the current by the PWM pulse width modulation. 

    Has temporarily overcome the problem by disconnecting the solar panel whilst the alternator is running but this si not a real solution.

     

    Kevin H.

    BTW I have not experienced significant battery temp increase as yet, but I disconnected early.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin Hutchison
    Prodigy 20 points

    Seems the ISC3042 had a firmware problem and my regulator has been replaced.

    The E5 related to a battery over voltage I think caused by the standard regulator in my Mercedes Sprinter Regulator.

    All is operating as expected with the new 3042 regulator.

    Kevin

  • 0
    Prodigy 10 points

    Hi

    I construct soar systems for camping etc and use these units regularly. The E2 error is an over/under charge error, what you need to do is sort out what type of batteries you are using and then adjust the bulk/float charges....if you are using AGM batteries then set the bulk charge to 14.7v and the float charge to 13.7v This error can also occur when you disconnect the battery while the panels are still connected..........connect the  battery first, solar second and when packing up disconnect the panels first then the batteries...Hope this helps