Solar issues

[ksitte]

Greetings, all solar wizards.

Upon retrieving our Escape from winter storage, I noticed my solar controller moon symbol on the charge controller even in daylight. Following the GoPower troubleshooting guide, I checked, among other things, the voltage coming from the solar panel at about 20 V. However, the solar panel wiring leads entering the controller read 10.8 v. That seems like an incredible drop in voltage between the output of the panels and the input into the charge controller.

Of course, most of the wiring is behind the shower and the cabinetry, coming in through the refrigerator vent. I have no idea what could cause such a voltage drop or whether that drop is normal over the distance of the wire.

Do I need to rewire from the panel to the controller? And, if so, is it easy to pull the wire from the controller through the fridge vent?

Your thoughts?

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Originally Posted by ksitte

Greetings, all solar wizards.

Upon retrieving our Escape from winter storage, I noticed my solar controller moon symbol on the charge controller even in daylight. Following the GoPower troubleshooting guide, I checked, among other things, the voltage coming from the solar panel at about 20 V. However, the solar panel wiring leads entering the controller read 10.8 v. That seems like an incredible drop in voltage between the output of the panels and the input into the charge controller.

Of course, most of the wiring is behind the shower and the cabinetry, coming in through the refrigerator vent. I have no idea what could cause such a voltage drop or whether that drop is normal over the distance of the wire.

Do I need to rewire from the panel to the controller? And, if so, is it easy to pull the wire from the controller through the fridge vent?

Your thoughts?

Its possible its the wiring but unlikely. to get a true voltage drop you would have to remove the wires from the controller. I thinking may be a battery problem. what is you battery voltage? If the batteries where left in and the panels where covered in snow this could discharge the battery. if the battery voltage is low its possible the battery will not take the charge that the panels are putting out.. check the battery voltage a hour after its been unplugged from shore power. while possible Its unlikely that something happened to the solar wiring while parked .