Solar Panel Issues......Help!

[Rbertalotto]

Last year I installed a 120w solar panel and a SunSaver 20L controller to my Truck Camper.

To monitor the system I installed a TRIMETRIC TM2025-RV / TM2025-A BATTERY MONITOR.

And to read the voltage and current directly from the solar panel I installed a simple panel mount meter and shunt.

Here is the SunSaver install:

And here is the Trimetric and the small V/A Meter:

The Solar Panel's neg lead goes through the panel meter shunt before it is connected to the SunSaver

The SunSavers neg output is run through the Trimetric's shunt before it is connected to the battery.

My problem is I'm not seeing any current from the solar panel. Even if I bypass the panel meters shunt I still see no current on the Trimetric.

When I substitute my battery charger for the solar panel, the Trimetric reads positive amps flowing into the battery. With just the solar panel on a bright sunny day I'm seeing 21-24 volts, but no amps.

I'm starting to think the solar panel is defective.

Any ideas?

 

[wrcsixeight]

Sounds like you wired the shunt incorrectly.

Solar panel (-) needs to go into charge controller first, then to the load side of the shunt

 

[Rbertalotto]

Sounds like you wired the shunt incorrectly.

Solar panel (-) needs to go into charge controller first, then to the load side of the shunt

But if I do that I'll be seeing the current from the controller.

I'm trying to read the current directly off the panel......

Is this not possible?

 

[Rbertalotto]

Well...It seems I had two issues. The fuse holder I had going from the solar controller to the battery was defective and intermittent. The battery was not getting any charge from the controller. As I moved wires around I saw the trimetric go from negative current to positive. Replaced the fuse holder and now the trimetric is showing positive current from the panel.

But I still have an issue with the little meter. Here is a quick drawing on how it is wired:

The voltage always shows true. But amps reads 0.0

When I simply check amps on the + and - lead connected to the solar controller, the entire mini panel goes blank. I get a good reading on the VOM of between 3-4 amps (Camper is partially shaded by trees). When I remove the test leads, the mini panel comes back on and the amps are reading perfectly.....for about 20-30 seconds then it counts down back to 0.0. Strange, so it works once I short the +/- leads from the panel through the VOM. But it only reads current for 20-30 seconds.

The meter is a cheapo from China and all it came with for instructions are the three drawings below:

I installed it the way I did based on input from some friends that know more about this than I do....

 

[ripperj]

If the blue wires in your first (hand) drawing are accurate, it appears you have a parallel circuit around the two upper meter inputs. I
on a phone so it's hard to see the labels, but the two blue wires going into the meter will never see current, because it's easier for the current to flow thru the point where the blue wires connect together below the meter

Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ripperj]

Looking again at your drawing I can't really figure out what you have going on, so keep this in mind. Voltmeters can be placed across loads/sources. ammeter are placed in series( in line) with the current to be measured. A shunt is just a precision resistor of very low resistance that is placed in a circuit. The "ammeter " then is just really a Voltmeter that measures the voltage drop across the shunt, but is has a scale that reads in amps.


Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[unseenone]

What kind of fuse holders are you using. You should not be using something so flimsy you have connection issues, like old glass type fuses. Post picture of flimsy connection and any other wiring if you have something bigger.

 

[Rbertalotto]

What kind of fuse holders are you using. You should not be using something so flimsy you have connection issues, like old glass type fuses. Post picture of flimsy connection and any other wiring if you have something bigger.

This is the type fuse holder I'm using. It had an intermittent break internally although it was a brand new device

 

[unseenone]

NICE-- big picture-- Yes, that is what I would suggest, perhaps a better quality one.

Powerwerx has some decent ones, I haven't had any problems with them, some look the same, for all I know they are all made in the same place. http://www.powerwerx.com/fuses-circuit-protection/