Are my solar panels charging my batteries?

[WanderBred]

My 5.0 ta O2 solar panels does not seem to be charging a batteries on sunny days what should I be looking at?
I leave on the morning on a mostly sunny day at 74% on Victor on shunt get back 6 hours later to 74% on my victron shunt.
Thanks

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by WanderBred

My 5.0 ta O2 solar panels does not seem to be charging a batteries on sunny days what should I be looking at?
I leave on the morning on a mostly sunny day at 74% on Victor on shunt get back 6 hours later to 74% on my victron shunt.
Thanks

A couple of questions to start:
1 Have your solar panels been working in the previous winter?
2 Are the panels getting direct sunlight?
3 What, if anything, is pulling 12 Volts? Like 'fridge turned on, inverter in the on position, watertank heaters, etc? In other words, things that run silently and usually are not visible.

[WanderBred]

It was running, and compressor fridge and full sun.

[Vermilye]

If you have the Victron shunt, check the current while the sun is shining on the panels. It should show a positive number (which indicates that current is going into the batteries). If it is negative with the sun shining, you are either drawing more current than the panels can supply (a pair of 190 watt panels in full sun should be capable of producing at least 15 amps, even if you are looking at low angle winter sun) or there is a wiring/connector/controller problem.

If you have a Victron solar controller you can use the app to determine the output of both the panels & the controller.

[Centex]

My Victron MPPT manual explains that the controller requires an input voltage from the panels at least 5V greater than the battery voltage to start charging; once started the difference only needs to be at least +1 volt to continue some charging.

Panel output voltage is a function of solar exposure.

Is it possible that given low winter sun angles the system doesn't start charging until much later than expected in the day, resulting in a short charging time that's only just keeping up with whatever loads are on the battery?

Might it be worthwhile to check voltage at the controller inputs through the day to see what the panels are supplying at various sun angles?

[WanderBred]

Thanks I'll be looking into it in two days when I'm in Quartzsite Arizona.