Solar question

[gp]

I have two 100 watt panels and two 125 amp batteries connected to a Renogy 30 amp PMW controller. When the sun is out and the batteries are charging, the battery full light blinks. If I do not use any of the stored power and my panels continue to produce watts, and the battery full light continues to blink, is there any change of the batteries overcharging to the point of being hazardous? I thought that the charger was to prevent the battery from overcharging.  And, What if I don't use my van for a week or so and this occurs every day? Do I have to worry about fire?  How will I know if the charger is not working correctly?  And another question, if I am concerned about fire and disconnect the panels from the charger, am I creating a fire hazard?

 

[VanKitten]

You can disconnect the panels from the charger...no problem.   The warning has always been to disconnect the panels....never disconnect the battery before disconnecting the panels.   When reconnecting...be sure the batteries are connected first.

You shouldn’t have an issue with the solar charger over charging the batteries.   You can check this by looking to see what amps the charger is accepting from the panels.   It will stop accepting input when the batteries are full.   Look when the light is blinking.    You should have some control panel or display that will show you this.

 

[jimindenver]

The whole point of the charge controller is to do just that, control the charging. It does this by controlling the voltage and not letting it get too high cooking the batteries. The battery itself will self limit the amps coming in when it gets closer to full. Eventually the power accepted from the panels will drop to nothing or near nothing as it requires a small amount of power to maintain float voltage. You can still use the power the panels produce charging or running things without lowering the voltage of the battery.

 

[gp]

Thanks for the replies. I'll quit worrying about frying my batteries. I tested the battery level even after the battery full light was blinking like crazy, and it never went over 13.54.

 

[Surly Biker]

Thanks for the replies. I'll quit worrying about frying my batteries. I tested the battery level even after the battery full light was blinking like crazy, and it never went over 13.54.

Do you have the specs for your charge controller? It should have profile to match your battery type (AGM, LiFe, lead, ...) and will stop charging when the battery reaches a preset voltage limit.  My controller stops at 14.2V, maybe yours is set to 13.5