Martin1971 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Hi guys I have a Fivestar 5KW inverter with 4 Canadian 380W panels. For a few days now it seems that the solar charging circuit doesn't work. When Eskom goes off, the battery starts working and the panels stay on 76V @1A. This is constant reading regardless if loadshedding is on or not. Is the solar charging busted? Regards Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coulomb Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 18 hours ago, Martin1971 said: I have a Fivestar 5KW inverter with 4 Canadian 380W panels. For a few days now it seems that the solar charging circuit doesn't work. When Eskom goes off, the battery starts working and the panels stay on 76V @1A. I'm guessing that this is an Axpert clone, the PV input is 145 V max, and the panels are wired 2S2P. That's the only configuration for which a PV voltage of 76 V makes sense. 1 A at the output (so that's around 50 W not around 76 W) usually means that the panels aren't ramping up as yet. There can be various reasons for this. Has the inverter been working for some time before this recent change? What is the output source priority? I don't know what setting that would be on a Fivestar. It might have a name like SBU, SUB, UTI, etc. Is utility battery charging working? 18 hours ago, Martin1971 said: Is the solar charging busted? It's not looking good, but it could be a number of issues, you didn't give us much to go on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin1971 Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 Thank you Coulomb The voltage on the side shows 60V - 105V for panels, so I think the 76V for 2x 380W panels is a good sweet spot. I normally got between 6A and 11A depending on my load for the day. My system is as follows. Fivestar 5KW Hybrid inverter 4x 380W Canadian panels 2 series pairs in parallel (760W + 760W) 2x Greenrich 100A lithium batteries Everything worked great until last weekend. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenFields Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 What's the Voc on the panels? If it's around 50V, chances are you were pushing around the Voltage limit on your charger's PV input. PWM model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coulomb Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 (edited) 9 hours ago, Martin1971 said: The voltage on the side shows 60V - 105V for panels, So that's a PWM model. In bulk charging stage (most of the time when charging the battery), the panels should be connected across the battery, i.e. you should see about 53 V, not 76 V. So it does look like it's not charging, or is trying to charge and failing. If you give us the exact model of 380 W Canadian Solar panel, we can check the Voc. But I think it's going to be around 76 V, so these are probably 72 cell panels. Even if they are 84 cell panels, the Voc is not going to get near 105 V. Do you have a charge LED on your Fivestar? Is it off, on solid, or flashing? Edit: Is it this model? https://nm-tech.co.za/products/five-star-5000w-5kva-48v-hybrid-inverter-80a-mppt Parts say it's PWM, other parts say it's MPPT, ugh! Edited March 21 by Coulomb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin1971 Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 Here are the specs. and models. As I said previously, everything worked great and suddenly not. Will do fault finding today and check the panel wiring. Thank you for all the advice and help. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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