Please select the topic or question that relates to your query. Our support system should lead you to answers for most support issues, or will provide a specific contact form related to your problem so we can assist you.
If your system has stopped working, first check all the fuses and brakers and then establish which part of your system isn't working or doesn't have lights on any more, and then select from the titles below.
Please see the schematics here
Get hold of a multimeter to test for both voltage and current. (If you have never used one, it's pretty easy, read about it here)
BEFORE YOU START
Find the voltage (V) and current (A) ratings of your panel, you can usually find these written on the back of the panel.
Check that sunlight conditions are suitable for producing readings on your system. To obtain the rated output of your panel you will need full, bright sunlight falling directly onto the panel. Remember, no sun no power.
Make sure you understand how to use the multimeter and that you are using appropriate settings for the power you expect to measure.
If you are testing a charge controller you will need to make sure that the battery is NOT fully charged otherwise it will not be able to accept current.
The first two measurements use the solar panel on its own with nothing else connected. When disconnecting the panel, regulator and battery, take care to disconnect the panel from the regulator first, and then disconnect the regulator from the battery. When reconnecting, connect the regulator to the battery first and then connect to the solar panel. This will avoid causing damage to the regulator.
CAUTION
Observe polarities when connecting solar panels and batteries. Photovoltaic panels produce electricity when exposed to light, so it is recommended that you cover the front of the solar panel if outdoors to help avoid shocks. This is particularly important for higher voltage panels.
Do not short circuit either the panel or the battery.
TO MEASURE OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE - Volts (Voc)
Disconnect the solar panel completely from the battery and regulator.
Angle the solar panel towards the sun.
Measure the voltage between the +ve and -ve terminals by connecting the negative contact from the voltmeter to the negative on the panel and the positive contact on the voltmeter to the positive on the panel.
TO MEASURE SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENT - Amps (Isc)
Disconnect the solar panel completely from the battery and regulator.
Angle the solar panel towards the sun.
Ensure that the multimeter is set at 10A, at least to start with. You can change the setting later if required.
Measure the current by connecting the +ve lead on the voltmeter to the +ve on the panel and the -ve from the voltmeter to the -ve on the panel.
TO MEASURE OPERATING CURRENT - Amps (IL)
Connect the panel to the regulator and battery.
Ensure that the multimeter is set at 10A, at least to start with. You can change the setting later if required.
Disconnect the positive cable between the battery and the regulator
Measure the operating current by connecting the +ve from the multimeter to the positive cable from the regulator, and the -ve from the meter to the positive battery terminal.
This measures the current that the panel and charge controller are passing to the battery. If you connect the meter the wrong way round then you will get a negative current showing. Remember, if the battery is full it may not be accepting current, resulting in a low reading.
Solar panels work on direct sun hitting the solar panel, they need direct sun light to generate power, so ensure you are testing on a good sunny day without any shading on the panel.
Shading of just a small part of the panel has a large affect on its output.
Winter or cloudy days only allow a small amount of sun light to reach the panel so you will see far less power in these conditions.
To check your panel with a multimeter please use the guide above under "How do I test my Solar Panel"
Often people think they are no longer getting power from their panels when the batteries are full. Power is only pulled from solar panels when it is required, if the batteries are full the controller will not be pulling power from the panels.
Charge controllers have staged charging cycles for a set number of hours, so you might see lots of power from the panels in the morning and then they reach a 2hr float charge and then don't give out more power. This is totally normal and how it is designed to work.
Solar works directly from the amount of sun that reaches the panel. If you are getting less power check to see if the panel is dirty.
Dirty - Panels that are laid flat don't get cleaned properly by the rain like panels on an angle so if you have flat panels you should clean them every now and again to ensure best performance.
Shaded - If you are on a boat or van make sure you have parked so that the panels are not shaded. Shading on only a small part of 1 panel will affect the whole solar array so even if you have just 1 cell shaded that will affect all of your panels efficiency.
Check all the cables and connectors to ensure that there has not been a problem with them. Cables can have rodent damage or chafe and become warn, and connectors can get corroded or have water damage.
Sometimes the Diode in the panel can fail, or something else might cause the panel to drain your battery at night. To solve this you need to add a blocking diode to the positive cable of the solar panel. We have them here
Solar panels are heavily affected by partial shading, shading of just a small amount of a panel has huge affects on the output of the whole solar array. Shading of 1 full cell on a panel will cause the whole panel to generate almost nothing!
Series or Parallel.
If you are likely to have partial shading on one panel more than others, then you will get better performance when shaded when the panels are wired in parallel. Panels in series will give you a higher voltage and less losses from the panels to the controller. Panels in parallel will give you better performance in partial shaded conditions.
It is more likely to be your solar charge controller, please use the solar charge controller title below to assist you.
As detailed on our delivery information, our Solar panels are hand delivered without any packaging, this ensures safe delivery and saves wasting huge amounts of packing materials which is important to us as an ecological company. Panels are stored in our couriers warehouse and they are loaded into the van for your delivery the morning of your delivery, they are not going though a normal courier network and it is safer for your panel to be hand delivered without disposable packing materials.
Please complete the form below with as much detail and photos to explain your issue
It is a good idea to read our Battery Maintenance Guide here
It is likely that your batteries need an equalisation charge. Ideally your batteries should have an equalisation charge around once a month. If they do not get a proper equalisation charge they will start to hold less power than they are capable of holding.
Please see our Battery Management Guide for details of how to do an Equalisation charge.
It is very important for your batteries to reach a fully charged state and for flooded batteries to have a regular equalisation charge. If the batteries never reach a fully charged state then the amount of power which they store will reduce over time. You can get power back by doing a series of good equalisation charges. (see our battery management guide)
In Winter time there is far less sun, so your batteries may never reach a point where they are fully charged or get an equalisation charge. This will reduce the power that your batteries hold and you need to ensure that you get a good full charge into them from time to time and that you get a good equalisation charge in them once a month.
For example if you have 400Ah of 12V batteries and 400W of solar and your batteries are low you will need 400ah x 12V = 480Whr / 400W = 12hrs of peak sun to fully charge your batteries. This is never going to be possible from just the solar you have so you will need to charge them from an alternative source such as a generator or an alternator from your engine. In mid winter even good sun will not reach peak solar performance.
Unfortunately batteries have a limited lifetime. Age, number of cycles and depth of discharge all affect their lifetime. If you have an old set of batteries which are not holding power and you have read our battery management guide and can't get power back into them, it is likely that they are too old or too heavily used and have reached the end of their life, so you would need to replace them.
NiFE Batteries - If you have an old set of NiFE batteries then it is likely that you can recover them. We had a customer with a 50 year old set which recovered. Change the electrolyte in all the cells and then give them at least 5 cycle charges, charging cells at 1.7V for 24Hrs and then discharging down to 1V and repeating 5 times. See our section on low NiFE batteries in our battery maintainance guide
If you have a large bank of batteries which is not holding its charge it maybe that you have an individual cell or battery that has failed. If one has failed it will drag the entire bank down and cause a problem for the whole system.
First fully charge the bank.
Check with a Hydrometer - If you have a flooded battery check the fluid of each cell with a hydrometer to see if you can see any anomalies
Check cell or battery voltages - with a multimeter monitor the individual voltages of each cell or battery, make a chart and check them regularly, say every 30mins - 1hr and repeat this for 6 - 24hrs to see if you can spot any cells dropping more than others.
Disconnect all links and check - If you can't spot a problem using the above method or can't do regular checks as above disconnect all the links between the cells or batteries and leave disconnected for 24-72 hours. After this time check the voltages of each individual unit with a multimeter. If any have dropped significantly more than others then there is a problem with that cell or battery.
If you find a battery or cell that has failed please follow the problem with large battery bank in our battery maintanance guide
If your NiFE batteries are low, please read the Low NiFE Batteries in our Battery management guide
New NiFE sets require 3-5 cycle charges for them to start holding their correct power.
First thing is to locate what is causing the power drain.
Start by disconnecting everything, and then re-connect each item individually and check to see if that item is causing the power drain.
If you find that the solar panels or controller are causing the power drain then install a solar blocking diode on the positive cable of the solar panel.
If your batteries are draining without anything connected then please read our battery maintenance guide - check the fluid levels and equalise them. If the batteries have been maintained properly and still have problems after equalisation then they may be nearing the end of their life. If you have let them run dry then it is unlikely you will be able to recover them.
Please complete the form below to contact us with the specific battery problem you have. Please include as much detail as possible and include photos if it helps show your issue.
If something has drained your batteries to a very low level (eg under 8v for a 12v battery) they may have gone below the voltage that is needed to power up the charge controller. In this situation you will need to charge your batteries up on an alternatively source, like Mains or Generator to get the voltage back up to a usable voltage. If flooded batteries check the fluid levels, do a full charge and then an equalisation charge. See our battery maintenance guide for more info.
Running your batteries to this level is extremely damaging for your batteries and they may not recover from extremely low voltages. If they are extremely low and other chargers can't charge them then our Equalising charger will be able to give them charge and may be able to help recover them.
Check the breakers and fuses on the DC side from the batteries to the inverter.
Check any breakers and fuses on the AC side, including the fuse inside the AC plug that is connected to the inverter if it has a 3 pin plug plugged into the inverter.
Some smaller inverters have fuses on the inverter as well, double check to see if your's has one and check if it has blown or not.
Reboot the inverter to see if that corrects the problem you have.
Most of the time this will fix your problem. If it doesn't then please continue with the next questions below to help.
Inverters are set to cut out with low battery voltage in order to protect your batteries from over discharge. If your batteries are low the inverter will cut out. If you are trying to draw a large current this will make your battery voltage drop and it may drop below the cut off point so the inverter cuts out.
With larger Outback and Victron inverters you can program the cut out point to be suitable for your system.
For smaller inverters this is usually set around 11V-12V or 22V-24V mark, check the specs for your model to see what it is set to.
Please select the manufacturer of your inverter below
Outback inverters come with a 5 year warranty. The most common cause is a failed board inside the inverter. Please complete the form below with a detailed description of your problem. If you have a mate controller then please let us know the errors messages shown on the mate. This can be as attached photos.
Victron inverters come with a 5 year warranty. Please complete the form below with a detailed description of your problem. If you have a control panel then please let us know the errors messages shown. This can be as attached photos.
The victron warranty process requires the unit to be sent back to victron for testing, this can take 2-4 weeks. If you rely on your inverter and cannot wait this long Victron advise customers to purchase a replacement from us to be used as the replacement. Once victron have tested the unit and agree it is a warranty replacement then we can refund you the purchase of the replacement unit.
On the small victron inverters if you have reversed the polarity and connected the inverter cables the wrong way around to the battery then you have voided its warranty. Victron will be able to tell you have done this and will make a charge for testing the unit. If you have reversed the polarity then unfortunately you need to purchase a new inverter.
Please complete the form below with a detailed description of your problem.
Inverters are set to cut out with low battery voltage in order to protect your batteries from over discharge. If your batteries are low the inverter will cut out.
If you are trying to draw a large current this will make your battery voltage drop and it may well drop below the cut off point so the inverter cuts out.
With larger Outback and Victron inverters you can program the cut out point to be suitable for your system.
For smaller inverters this is usually set around 11V-12V or 22V-24V mark, check the specs for your model to see what it is set to.
Please complete the form below with as much detail and photos to explain your issue
Check the breakers or fuses on the DC side between the batteries and the charge controller.
Also if you have breakers or fuses between the solar panels and the charge controller check these as well.
The First thing to do is to reboot the controller to see if that corrects the problem you have.
Most of the time this will fix your problem. If it doesn't then please use the other questions below to help.
Check all the cables and connectors to ensure that there has not been a problem with them. Cables can have rodent damage or chafe and become warn, and connectors can get corroded or have water damage.
Please select the manufacuture of your controller.
Victron comes with a 5 year warranty. If yours is less than 5 years old please complete the form below and give a detailed description of the problem and we will request a warranty replacement from victron for you. If you have a colour controller or GX please let us know any error messages (photos can be attached).
If you have rebooted the MPPT and checked the cables and connectors and still think your Outback MPPT controller had failed then attempt a factory reset. Follow the instructions in the video below.
Outback comes with a 5 year warranty. If yours is less than 5 years old please complete the form below and give a detailed description of the problem and we will request a warranty replacement from outback for you. Please note you will be responsible for returning the failed unit to Outback in Germany and they will return it to you. For cheaper shipping you can use parcel2go.com or parcelmonkey.co.uk
Tracer's come with a 2 year warranty. If your unit is less than 2 years old please complete the form below and give a detailed description of the problem and we will review for a warranty replacement.
PWMs come with a 1 year warranty. If your unit is less than 1 year old please complete the form below and give a detailed description of the problem and we will review for a warranty replacement.
You can pretty much ignore the % SOC reading on the meter, its useless and shouldn't be on there, the only way to monitor SOC % is with a bus bar and monitor what actually goes in and out of the battery. The % indicator on there is purely working on voltage, which when the sun it out you will see it happily at 14.4V, but as soon as it goes away it will drop down, or if you turn on a large load then again the voltage will dip. You are best to just monitor the voltage of the batteries according to what is going on (charge, or load or just sitting).
We have a table of state of charge voltages that you can use to be a more reliable indication on our battery maintenance guide
Often people think they are no longer getting power from their panels when the batteries are full. Power is only pulled from solar panels when it is required, if the batteries are full the controller will not be pulling power from the panels as the batteries are full. Charge controllers have staged charging cycles for a set number of hours, so you might see you get lots of power from the panels in the morning and then they reach a 2hr float charge and then don't give out more power. This is totally normal and how it is designed to work.
The charge controller requires a higher voltage on the Solar Panel (PV) side than the voltage it is trying to charge at. If the voltage is too low from the PV it will not be able to charge.
EG: on a 24V system you have 24.2V reading from the PV, but this is under the 28.8V which the controller will be wanting to charge at. Also once current is drawn from this the voltage will drop. You would want to be seeing at least 32V on the PV side of a 24V system.
MPPT controllers can take strings of usually 100V - 150V (check the specs of your controller). This means you can run 2-3 panels in series on most systems which will bring the voltage up for the controller.
If you have a long cable run from the panels to the controller you may be getting a lot of volt drop across the cable and losing power.
If something has drained your batteries to a very low level they may have gone below the voltage that is needed to power up the charge controller. In this situation you will need to charge your batteries up on an alternatively source, like Mains or Generator to get the voltage back up to a usable voltage. If flooded batteries check the fluid levels, do a full charge and then an equalisation charge. See our battery maintenance guide for more info.
Running your batteries to this level is extremely damaging for your batteries and they may not recover from extremely low voltages. If they are extremely low and other chargers can't charge them then our Equalising charger will be able to give them charge and may be able to help recover them.
Please complete the form below with as much detail and photos to explain your issue
If you have a problem with one of our Nemo wind turbines please contact the manufacturer including details of your problem and the model and serial number of your unit.
If you have a Nemo 4kw Grid Turbine here is a document on how to check your turbine, please follow this and then contact Nemo with the results.
Please complete the below form detailing what product from your order this relates to and as much info as you can about your problem. Please also upload photos where possible.
Below are links to the manuals and software download for our main manufacturers
EPSolar - EPever - Tracer Manuals
Other products - We may have links on the product description on our site, otherwise a google search for the make and model of the item should find the manual if it is available. Please try this first, as this is what we will do, if you request us for it!!!