Solar b u z z .. (1 Viewer)

[stcyr]

Hi all.
We have 2 solar panels, a 50w and an 80w feeding a 110a battery through an Oscar 380w/30a regulator.
All's been working fine for over a year.
The 80w panel and the regulator were on our previous MH,but with 2 x 110w batteries.
This morning the sun is particularly bright and my lie-in was disturbed by a loud buzzing noise from the regulator. The noise stopped when I switched on a couple of lights.
All is quiet at the moment, with tv and one 10w light on.
Battery monitor is showing between 12.50/12.60ish (fluctuating occasionally so presumably operating correctly?). Only 3 of the 4 leds (marked 10v/11v/12v/13v) are illuminated now.
Does anyone know definitely what the problem may be? I'm not sure how old the battery is. Wondering if it may be on its way out?
Thanks for any pointers!
:thumb:

 

[stcyr]

Anyone got any suggestions on why alarm sounds?

 

[pappajohn]

if the regulator is buzzing it sounds like a fault on that moreso than a bad battery.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[vwalan]

i had that problem once or twice with a maroc reg . its like the sun wasnt powerfull enough to switch the really in the reg . adjust the fridge or turn off the inverter for a few minutes was enough . in bright sunshine no probs . now have pulse wave modulation reg dont get that problem. its like the power and usage equal out and confuse the relay.
summer is coming bet it stops happening soon.

 

[pappajohn]

i had that problem once or twice with a maroc reg . its like the sun wasnt powerfull enough to switch the really in the reg . adjust the fridge or turn off the inverter for a few minutes was enough . in bright sunshine no probs . now have pulse wave modulation reg dont get that problem. its like the power and usage equal out and confuse the relay.
summer is coming bet it stops happening soon.

Hi all.
We have 2 solar panels, a 50w and an 80w feeding a 110a battery through an Oscar 380w/30a regulator.
All's been working fine for over a year.
The 80w panel and the regulator were on our previous MH,but with 2 x 110w batteries.
This morning the sun is particularly bright and my lie-in was disturbed by a loud buzzing noise from the regulator. The noise stopped when I switched on a couple of lights.
All is quiet at the moment, with tv and one 10w light on.
Battery monitor is showing between 12.50/12.60ish (fluctuating occasionally so presumably operating correctly?). Only 3 of the 4 leds (marked 10v/11v/12v/13v) are illuminated now.
Does anyone know definitely what the problem may be? I'm not sure how old the battery is. Wondering if it may be on its way out?
Thanks for any pointers!
:thumb:

that scuppers that idea Alan

 

[stcyr]

Thanks for the response. :thumb:

Yes, it only happened for the first time this morning, the first really bright sun we've had here so far this year. After the sun went in after about an hour (so that's summer over...) it didn't happen again.

Could someone remind me how you work out the size of regulator needed for 130w of panel? Only fitted the 80w panel last week, I have another regulator which we previously used with the 50w panel but it's only 10a., possibly not big enough?

I think it could be the regulator, as mentioned above: seem to remember the alarm did sound a couple of times on our previous MH ... once again stopped by switching radio or light on...

:Sad:

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[vwalan]

hi an 80wt panel is about 5 amp ,very max. a 10amp reg would do it.
i use two banks of 3x80wt panels . each bank as a 30amp reg.
the idea is if one reg went down i could link it all through one reg.
i always think it should work cooler if not working to capacity. might be wrong but seems to work.
i found the cheap maroc regs were ok but shut off and then didnt come back on till the batteries were quite low. changed to the pulse wave two years ago when i fitted the second bank of panels .
they arent fancy regs just a few lights . there are some on ebay smaller in amps than mine quite cheap. dont need all that fancy gear. so long as it works i dont care.
been working fine just lately run the inverter then power fridge and things in the house from a long ext lead . keeps the bills down.

 

[stcyr]

Thanks. I'll dig out the other regulator to try ... watch this space