Battery Old, Faulty Or Undersized; Solar Charger Not Achieving Full Output - Victron energy SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 Manual

8.7.4. Battery old, faulty or undersized

A battery that has reached the end of its service life or has been damaged due to improper use may be susceptible to
overcharging.
A battery is comprised of multiple cells connected in series. In the case of an old or damaged battery, it's possible that one of
these cells is no longer operational. During charging, the faulty cells will not accept charge, and the remaining cells will receive
the broken cell's charge voltage, resulting in overcharging.
To address this issue, replace the battery. If the system includes multiple batteries, it's recommended to replace the entire battery
bank rather than mixing batteries of different ages in one bank.
Determining the exact history of a battery during its lifetime can be challenging. The solar charger retains 30 days of battery
voltage history. If the system has a battery monitor or is connected to the VRM portal, the battery voltages and cycle history can
be accessed to assess the battery's overall health and whether it is nearing the end of its service life or has been misused.
Similar issues can arise if the battery is too small and charged with a significantly high current. The small battery will not be able
to accept the total charge and will end up being overcharged.
Battery health check using battery monitor history data
In the VictronConnect app, navigate to the battery monitor history
Step 1
screen. Or (if applicable) access the battery history via the VRM portal.
Determine the number of charge cycles and synchronisations. Both
Step 2
indicate how many charge cycles the battery underwent.
Step 2 Determine the average discharge or cumulative energy drawn.
Refer to the battery data sheet to find out how many cycles at what
average discharge the battery is capable of. Compare this with the
Step 3
battery history and determine if the battery is approaching the end of
its service life.
Check if the battery has been completely discharged at any point. Total
Step 4 and very deep discharges can damage a battery. Examine the deepest
discharge, the lowest battery voltage and the number of full discharges.
Check if the battery has been charged with a too-high voltage. A very
high charge voltage can damage the battery. Review the maximum
Step 5 battery voltage and the high voltage alarms. Verify that the measured
maximum voltage has not exceeded the battery manufacturer's
recommendations.

8.8. Solar charger not achieving full output

In addition to potential issues with the PV array, several other reasons can hinder the solar charger from reaching its full-rated
output.
Reasons for the solar charger not reaching its full output:
• The PV array is too small. If the PV array's power rating is less than the solar charger's nominal power rating, the solar charger
cannot output more power than the connected solar array can provide.
• The PV array is not reaching its maximum power rating. Refer to the
• The PV array is a mix of different PV panel types or models. Only use solar panels that are of the same brand, type and model.
• Do not use optimisers. Nearly all optimisers contain an MPPT or other tracking mechanisms, which will interfere with the MPPT
algorithm in the solar charger.
• The PV array is wrongly configured. For a detailed explanation of how to configure PV arrays and properly use MC4 splitters
and MC4 combiners, see the "Solar panel" chapter in the
• The solar charger's maximum PV output power is related to the battery voltage. Refer to the
battery voltage [53] subchapter.
• The solar charger's PV electric connections are burned or melted, or MC4 connectors have been insufficiently crimped. Refer to
the PV connections burned or melted [54]
• The solar charger temperature is above 40°C. Refer to the
• The batteries are either full or nearly full, causing no further power to flow into them.
Page 52
MPPT solar charger manual
PV yield lower than expected [53]
Wiring Unlimited
subchapter.
Temperature above 40°C [54]
VictronConnect app showing
battery monitor history
subchapter.
Book.
Maximum output power relates to
subchapter.
Troubleshooting