Why won't my solar work??

[jimindenver]

Peak output depends on a few different things. Tracking the sun will produce the best. Mounted flat the worse except for high mid day sun of summer and even that depends on how far north you are.

Altitude and temperature can have a considerable effect on panel production.

The voltage of the bank will seem to inflate the amps but really it's just a numbers thing. The lower the voltage, the higher the amps.

I have just started playing with the Eco-Worthy 40 amp controller, so I do not know that it is true like it is with the 20a. The 20a MPPT controller would take a gentler approach to charging the batteries unless you kicked in the butt with a big load. After that it would run at full output.

One thing that I have been able to do is run a pair of 200 watt 12 volt panels in both series and parallel. There isn't a big difference in output either way.

The app used on your phone looks near identical to the one Victron uses except for the color.

 

[jonyjoe303]

15 amps for 300 watts is about right. I get about 12 amps from my 240 watt panel. Theoretically you might get 20 amps (300/14.4 = 20.8 amps) but that would be charging a completely dead battery when the sun is right above you. With lead acid I notice 1 amp per 20 watts is about average in the best sun conditions.

Check for voltage drop between controller and battery, by raising the bulk voltage you can sometimes get extra amps. The bigger the voltage differential from the controller and battery the more amps will flow to the battery. I see this when charging the 11.1 volt lithium, I can get 15 amps and seen peaks of 17 amps off my 240 watt panel. In your situation when the controller reads 14.4 volts your battery at terminal also needs to read 14.4 volts, if its only reading 14 volts, you need to raise the bulk to 14.8 volts to compensate. If the battery only charges to 14 volts its being undercharged.

 

[grahampa]

Thanks jony I was just wondering about proper voltages. I am reading 14.4 and max 14.6 currently with the charge controller just past the "bulk" charging phase. My worry is that I already harmed the batteries, they were stored in a garage in the cold at first then I used about 100 ah of my 200 total before ever charging them. Hopefully they are unharmed.