Renogy Wanderer: No PV Light/Indicator?

[riggyk]

Hey Everyone,

So all my electrical on my van is in, but I was curious if there were any folks out there who've used the Wanderer Solar Controller? Did you experience any issues with no PV reading? Aside from the potential controller specific stuff, anybody out there have the faintest clue why my controller would pickup battery but no PV reading whatsoever?

 

[riggyk]

I spoke to Renogy and they said there could be a reverse polarity issue, and I tried swapping the wires to account for that and still nothing. I'm hoping the panels/connects aren't faulty...

 

[Trebor English]

Reversing polarity, swapping wires and hoping sounds like a recipe for disaster.  Disconnect the solar panel and check the voltage with a volt meter.  Do not connect panels backwards.

 

[riggyk]

Yeah... makes sense to me. What's to look for here? A specific reading or just SOMETHING coming on the volt meter/multi meter? Would the panels need to be in the sun in order to do this?

 

[highdesertranger]

yes the panels need to be in the sun. there is a label on the back of the panel that shows what the voltage should be. you didn't hook up the panels before the battery did you? highdesertranger

 

[Trebor English]

With the panel in the sun it should be about 20 volts with nothing connected.  The thing you want to look for with your voltmeter is which wire is positive and which one is negative.  Your controller is marked as to which input is positive and which is negative.  The instructions probably say to connect the battery before connecting the panel to avoid frying the controller.  The battery should not be connected backwards either.  

When the Renogy guy said you might have a polarity issue that did not mean go reverse the wires.  That meant go check that as well as 100 other things.  Every connection could be the one that is open.

 

[riggyk]

Ok, got it. Hard to say but we DID swap the connections out at one point, but the panel wasn't really in direct sun so we put it on hold (when I posted here), then yesterday removed both connections just to be safe. Hopefully the controller hasn't been compromised but all can say FWIW is that the other lights are still working on the controller, though who knows if that's even relevant. I did buy a multimeter, and am ready to hopefully get to the bottom of it. Any help here (newb alert) on how to use this thing? Do I just ground it like a test light and tap both wires to find a hot connection at 20w signaling the +, (whilst on the sun) and then install accordingly? I connnected the batteries and controller to batteries prior to adding the pv feed. Also, are there any risks with doing this while my current circuit is intact? My batteries and such are currently connected to the alternator/solenoid.

 

[Trebor English]

The meter you bought came with instructions  That's the easiest place to start with figuring out how to use it.

 

[riggyk]

The meter you bought came with instructions  That's the easiest place to start with figuring out how to use it.

Hah! Touche. Will dig in

 

[Skyelght]

Hey Everyone,

So all my electrical on my van is in, but I was curious if there were any folks out there who've used the Wanderer Solar Controller? Did you experience any issues with no PV reading? Aside from the potential controller specific stuff, anybody out there have the faintest clue why my controller would pickup battery but no PV reading whatsoever?

I have the same problem and now my battery light went from green to yellow to red. I do not even know what a PV light is. Can someone tell me?

 

[wayne49]

Just stick each of the multimeter probes to each of the solar cables.
If you end up with + solar to - multimeter, the V will read as -V. Can't hurt anything doing that, and it is still useful information. That will tell you which solar cable is +, and the other would be -.

Suggest that you use red colored tape to mark the positive cable for future reference.

PV = PhotoVoltaic, aka "solar", electricity that is coming from a solar panel setup.

Zero PV is normal when the sun don't shine.