HOW To Set Up an MPPT Solar Controller - EPEVER XTRA XSD2
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- This video is about the basics of installing and using MPPT solar charge controllers. The model used is a EPEVER XTRA XSD2.
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Nice tour of your system.
Circuit breakers don't actually break at their rated capacity, unless there is a short circuit fault. The rating is more to do with heat dissipation.
The DC circuit breakers are rather expensive for a small solar setup. A good one here like Clipsal will cost you $25 aud. I just use a $1 switch on the positive wire going into the charge controller and 2 simple inline mini 10a fuses (my setup is 10A. It looks like you also have the same fuze set up in your case. I think that for the small/cheap builds the circuit breakers are overkill. Also, you need to find space and DIN rail to mount them etc etc.. However, if you do have the cash/space to set them up they are good. You just have to remember to use a DC one. they have a different designs to AC one.
Hey Down Under Garage. Yep completely agree. A simple toggle switch is more than enough. I will update this video soon with a better one.
A DC 16A CB is about $23 and a din mount another $8. Bit of overkill for a small system.
a 2-stroke motocrosser in the background.... awesome.
Excellent info Thanks
Hey man! Thanks for the video... i have a question, i just connected an Epever 40 amp xtra 4210 on a flooded battery... the battery manufacturer said that the lowest the battery can be discharged is up to 11.7 v... how can i set that parameter into the controller!?
Hey mate. The only way you can control when your loads are cut off from the controller is by running it through the load output on the controller.
Then you need to go into the battery parameters (with an mt50) and you can edit the low voltage cutoff.
There’s another video on how to edit battery parameters. Hope this helps.
Nice video man! Can you set the load to a certain current and voltage, and measure the battery capacity by powering this load?
Hi Henri. Thanks mate! So the load output of the MPPT will basically act as switch/regulator between your battery and the load which you can use to control when you want the load to turn and off. If your battery is at 13V - then it will be powering your load at 13V, you can't change the voltage output. The load Amps out is restricted to MPPT charge capacity ie. 40A controller = max 40A out (it will only supply whatever your device draws). The MPPT will measure the battery voltage and display this on the screen, it uses the voltage and the batteries capacity (which you input) to determine the battery % left. So yes whatever you are doing, powering a load, chargingi the battery it will tell you in realtime the % of your battery. The benefit of the load output is you can control when the load turns on and off and also it will cut off at the nomintaed low battery disconnect voltage to protect the battery if you load draws it down.
The video helped me with the install, thanks mate.
Why is it that you don’t run the loads directly from the load terminals on the controller? Can I connect my switch panel for my lights and fridge etc to the load terminals on the unit?
Thanks
Hey Matt - yeah you can definitely run them directly from the load terminals. Positives are that you can semi control when the loads are on and the controller will protect the battery for you from discharging to low, short circuit etc. Negative is that the load current is limited to the controller max charge, ie 20A controller can only feed 20A to loads. Hope this helps.
Does the temperature sensor need to install this
Nope don’t need the sensor.
Hey man thks for the video , i got the load
terminal conected, when i press the power
button turns the load off right. But says the
battery is 56 % soc, when i press the power
button again turns the load on, but now the
battery says is 86% soc, i dont understand
that part , how do i know wich is the real soc
and load should be of or on when i charge the
battery. 120ah lithium.Thks mate
Hey mate. Easiest one to answer. You can definitely have load on while charging. The charger will just deliver the power coming in from solar directly to load and surplus to battery or draw from battery to load if not enough solar. Now do you mean when you press the load button it turns the load on and off? Thats strange that the SOC % is changing. I would have thought maybe when you turn the load on and its being powered by the battery that the SOC % showing will drop because when a load is on the battery the voltage will drop slightly. The SOC % is just a calculation based on the battery Voltage. Can you do this again and tell me what the voltage of the battery is each time you do this? Eg 86% 13.3V, 56% 13.1V.
Hi man thks for answering🫡 , ok load is on says battery 86% at 13.3 v. Press esc/power load goes off , controller reads 12.7 v at 56%. Something is wrong, something to say no matter if load is on or off 12v appliances light etc all dc works fine regardless . Multimeter reads 13.1 v . Thks new on this things sorry
One more thing aswell when i unscrew the load terminal cable , charger goes off 🤷 feels like the load is on constanly powering all the 12v things on the caravan
@@gustavoprezioso9687 No worries mate. hmmm, this is sounding pretty strange. Do you have a photo of your set up you could send? When you turn the load off the light on the left turns off? The circuit you are powering off the load doesn't have a battery connected to it does it?
helpful video, what type/brand of circuit breaker are those?
Hey mate - they’re specifically DC circuit breakers. Not supposed to use AC on a DC system. The brand I think is DKG. Search them on tradezone in Au.
Oi mate. I wonder.
If I do a set up like that
On a solar system I’ve got run out of my shipping container shop !
I wonder if I can just ground the battery to the container
And run my power out to lights and shit just with a positive wire
Then ground the light or what ever to the container ?
I’m not a sparky aye
But sounds fair dinkum aye ?
Like a car set up.
Negative ground ?
Whatta reckon?
Hey mate. Well yeah I think in theory it should work but I’ve not done that before.
I’d imagine You’d have to have a good connection to the container to let the power flow.
Trial one and let me know how you go.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 right on. Much aloha. Thx bra.
I just saw how you had the positive wire going to that disto box. And I had that idear
Hmm how do you complete the circuit from that disto box anyway ?
I’m super new to solar. Kinda cowboy my way thru tings
Shoots bra
@@rjayareg9124 no worries man. Let me know how you go.
I have a second version of this video.
The set up is a lot neater than this one with the busbar.
Happy powering 🤙🏻
Is the busbar bit neccesary? What happens to excess energy coming in from the solarcell that the battery cant handle?
No not necessary. It’s really only there if you want to run another circuit off it.
So the MPPT will only draw what ever the system needs from the panels. So if your battery is in float and only needs like 20W of power but it’s the middle of the day and the solar system could produce 300W. It doesn’t matter, the mppt will only pull what it needs from the panels - 20W.
What setting should I use for pure lead battery
Depends what type of lead acid battery you have. The EPEVER's have 3 different lead acid charging profiles. Sealed, Gel, flooded. Check the specs on your battery and compare to epever manual.
Does generated energy kWh reset daily by itself?
nah it shouldn't - you have to do it yourself
i bought a 550w (46v)solar panel and a 300w power station. my power station can take 100w (12v) from a solar and my solar panel is 550w (obviously too much). what do i do in this situation? i want to reduce the power of the solar panel to balance out everything with my power station.
Hi Mate - what power station is it? Can you send me brand and model. My thoughts are you probably need to put it through a DCDC 48 to 12V (min 10A) converter. Usually they have an input Voltage range of 30-60V. You only need 10A. I'm assuming the power station has an inbuilt MPPT. You set the output voltage to 15V or whatever the minimum is on the power station and it will pull whatever power it needs from the converter which takes from the panel. I can't be completely sure though if the converter will like the fluctuation power from the panel. I could do a test run for you.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545i live in south africa. the brand is EcoNode. no, it doesn't have a built-in mppt. i searched on google for answers on how to reduce the high voltage from the solar panel. mppt was suggested and i came across your video. should i find a professional near me to help? because im on a tight budget, i can't afford to sell my current solar panel and buy another one that's lower in voltage.
Hey dear I am facing power dropping issue in series connection. I have connected 340watt and 380watt solar panels in series to epever 40A mppt controller with 12v battery. It show power of one panel when I disconnect solar connector and reconnect, the mppt show both Panels. It’s hard to do this every morning. It was fine in winter but now summer starting and facing this issue. Using both panels form 2 months. after wire disconnect and reconnect the voltage jump from 33-36 to 75v. If something wrong with one solar panel then it should not work after replugging mc4 or solar wire in the mppt after that It work whole day but same issue next morning Both panels volts amps are little different. Tesla 34.51v maxpower 33.18v. Tesla amps 11.01amps maxpower 10.29amps.
Hi Mate - can you describe what is happening again? First in the morning when both panels are connected in series it is only showing 33-36 V on the MPPT? but if you disconnect the panels from being in series via the MC4 connectors and then reconnect it shows 75V on the MPPT? I will need to have a multimeter to do some testing. First thing you need to do in the morning is test the voltage going into the MPPT. Use the multimeter on the MPPT solar terminals and read the voltage, this is to check what the MPPT is showing is correct. Next, disconnect the panels from the MPPT (you can leave pos or neg still in the mppt, just measure one terminal and the other free cable). Do not disconnect the panels from series at this stage just check the voltage of the panels. It should say 75V. I can not understand at all how it would not.
Do this test and let me know the results.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 thanks. I will test volts in mppt terminal there might be error in display and mobile app. From last two days both panels connected in parallel and working normally. After 3,4 days I will connect them again in series. but this was strange that in series connection mppt pick one panel. Last year I faced the issue of 0.3A with 33-36v at 11,12,1 afternoon time. Mppt used to stand by panels and starts battery power in hot sunny weather. After few days of troubleshooting issue resolved. I though battery sensor sending overheating message of battery and mppt standby the panel. But epever told me that you have oversized your mppt it’s 12/520watt max at single battery and my panels 340+380watt they told me to never cross the 520 otherwise it will damage the mppt. But solar panels never produce 100% I am getting 70-75% power. Mppt never crossed 40A. Reached to 39.5 amp and 574watt once after rain. Usually never crossed 520. If issue remained I will sell 380watt solar to buy another 340 to match both.
@@DigitalMind.254 - Ok let me know how you go with testing the panels. 1st step - try to confirm it is an error with the controller not the panels. It makes no sense that the panels could change their output voltage unless there was a loose connection but that still doesn't add up to me.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 ok brother I will wait 2 days more for parallel connection. Will connect them again in series to see what they response
hi Zach, so late to find such a good explanation video. Thanks. Can I share it on my social media?
Hi Joanna, thank you!
Yes if you would like to.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 thank you, Zach.
Hello, could you tell me, how did you install the temperature sensor? Thanks.
Hi there - plug the sensor into the controller and run it down to the battery. Tape it to the side of the batter or positive terminal should be fine.
whats the safety switches for do you need them
Doesn't need to be a circuit breaker between panels and controller - just a switch so you can turn off if needed. Between batteries & controller or other equipment you need protection. This could be a CB or a isolator + fuses.
Do I need both positive and negative running through breaker or can I put two positives from the panels through the breaker and then just connect the negatives directly to the controller via a busbar?
Hey mate. I'm assuming you're paralleling your panel into the controller? If so then yes nothing stopping using one CB on the positive side. You can put the negative cables to a busbar then into the controller.
But if you are paralleling two panels look at buying two 'Y' branch MC4 connectors to parallel the panels at the roof and run 1 pos and 1 neg cable down to the MPPT. Feel free to email me if that doesn't make sense.
What lights are supposed to be on?
Do you mean on the controller
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 yes.
Hi mate
The circuit breaker which has the positive and negative to the battery (right hand one in your video).....what amps is it? and is it 12v as the other one is?
Cheers
Hi Mate - its a DC 20A CB. I think those DC cb's candle handle upto 600V.
Instead of a CB you can also use a normal switch and a fuse. Normally if you have higher current draw or charge you would have a fused cable and decent isolator switch between battery and equipment ie inverter, mppt over just a CB. Watch my other video on how to set up mppt to see what I mean.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 cheers mate
Do you need the 2-pole breaker from the battery? Is a 1-pole breaker on the positive lead sufficient?
Hey Mate - single pole on the pos is sufficient. If you can run a fuse close to the pos battery terminal.
Hey, nice vid. Can you tell me why there's no earth/ground cable on the Tracer Heta sync? Apparently theres some con fusion on these as they are positive ground not negative ground like all the other stuff would be on a 12v camper. I'm looking for ways to ground it safely. Thanks.
Hey mate. I’ve just not put one on here for the video. The xtra and tracer should be common negative grounding.
I believe you can ground your controller and system to the camper chassis.
sao paulo -brasil
I am using the controller of epever 40A. But the problem is that the 12v battery is loaded off only when it is 11.1v. I want to load off at 10.5v. I can't set it. Please help me.....Bangladesh.
You need to use you custom charge profile and adjust your discharge limit v & low voltage disconnect voltage down to your 10.5V.
I have another video on setting the customs profile with an mt50. You need mt50 or wireless dongle to edit profile.
i'm stumped on setting the load and float
On the values or how to set them?
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 on how to get to the options to set them
@@DrunkenAussieAdventures you using an MT50?
The time in mins should be available to edit when you go into customise the charge profile. Like when you go into adjust ‘user’ alongside the voltages there should be a time to adjust for equalize
My battery is under voltage but EP-01 app show charging status: Equalising and it’s from many days . It’s must be in boost state
Hi Wisal - send me an email with more info if you need assistance.
Hi. What type of temp sensor is needed NTC, PTC, thermocouple....? Thanks. Also when setting the battery capacity for 2 series connected batteries the total of the two must be set, right?
Hey Mate - Epever have a recommended temp sensor to use which they sell. I don't know much about them but I think its thermocouple?
Correct. But if you have 2 x 12V 100ah batteries in series that = 24V 100ah.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 Thanks for the reply. I will connect a 100A batt and a 70 A one in series with a battery balancer. The voltage will be automatically detected but capacity will have to be set @ 100 or 170? I know the balancer might trigger an alarm but at this stage I'm experimenting.
@@4aidiotfreeworld Hi - So this is a little beyond me. I have not done any experimenting with batteries of different capacities in series. I believe its usual taboo unless the battery balancer can regulate it and protect the smaller battery from being drawn done too low.
The capacity will actually be 70ah (the smaller of the two). In series the smaller ah battery is default capacity.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 Yeah the rule is don't connect different capacities.....unless there's a balancer involved which regulates the charging. Well...trial and error it is! Thanks a lot.
@@4aidiotfreeworld Cool. Let me know how it goes!
Hİ The Xtra model controller I am using measures the battery and solar panel voltage incorrectly with a difference of +-0.20~0.30 volts. What is the status of your device? Are the voltage measurements different?
Hi There - what are you comparing the voltage reading to? A multimeter? Are you measuring the voltages at the controller itself?
I can normally see a minor difference in voltage readings.
There could be differences if you are measuring at a different location - voltage drop.
Can anyone please tell me what size breaker I would use for 3 110amp solar panels wired in series going to a epever mppt 60 amp (Model Tracer 6415an) charge controller and also what size breaker I would use going to 2 12 volt lithium batteries wired in series and do I only need to connect it to the positive. Any links would be appreciated.
Thanks you!
Hey mate - watch this video on how to size cable and breakers. ruclips.net/video/VCy6Ha0o4_M/видео.html
Feel free to send me an email if you have anymore questions.
You only need a switch on the solar panel side but if you want to use a break I'd say a 10A. For the MPPT side max current will be around 12A. Breaker should be 12A or higher (you could get away with a 10A) and the cable current capacity bigger than the breaker.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 Thanks so much! A bit complicated with the math involved, but I'll do my best to figure it out. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Hi, thanx for the vid.
Im setting up a Off grid solar system on my block of land.
Found your video cos i have purchased 40amp Epever Triron 4215N 12V/24V mppt.
Just having probrems understanding what size DC ( 2 pole ) circuit breakers i need and fuses between battery etc. Like your setup.
I have 8 x 160W ( 1280W total ) mono solar panels.
Your advise me would be appreciated, cheers ( in country Vic 🇦🇺 )
Triron4215N recommend max 1040W solar panels for 24V batteries system , your 1280W solar panels is also ok . if you set batteries as 12V system , the input power will burn the controller . recommend 45A breaker and 45A fuse . Hope that could help you .
As Jove has said the 40A Triron, like the XTRA, will have a maximum array size that can be connected to it. You can typically oversize your the array for an Epever controller by 1.5times meaning you can actually connect 1560W of panels for a 24V system, but it will only charge at a max of 1040W. Check page 11 of the Trion manual - it has a table showing this (the online manual shows you can connect 3120W but I'm sure that's a typo).
If you're running a 12V System you will be best to have 2 x 40a controllers in parallel each with 3 panels.
I have another video explaining how to size your cables and fuses.
Send me an email mate if you want some help in sizing your cables, fuses and a switch/breaker. To size them normally need to know what else you might be running off the battery.
How much AMP ur using D.C break switches...
Hi Anil. Depends on your wire size, which is determined by the load and distance. I'm using a 10A DC breaker between solar panel into the controller.
@@sunbiasolaroffgridsolution6545 thanks.
I don't think you need the inline fuse after the breaker on the battery side
Hey Daniel Clarke.
Is that cause there is a circuit breaker to protect the cable? I agree.
Usually I don’t have a CB though, just a normal battery isolator. That’s when you do need a Fuse.
Hello. I'm setting mine up in my van. Did you use the little grounding nut in the corner at all?
Hi Alistair - yes you can ground to your van chasis.
You're missing the Shunt.
Yeah don't have a shunt in this demo. Might do one in the future with a shunt. It's not critical - only if you want to monitor power flow.
So you MUST use the MT50 to set the USER charge parameters for lithium?
Correct. You can also plug into a PC and use the EPEVER software but this is a little more tricky compared to the MT50 IMO.
@Sirius White Yeah exactly. It really should be a standard feature with newer models. Maybe so they can keep selling MT50's!
نريد الشرح بي العربي
Hi Mate - you want explanation in Arabic?
Trop rapide on a pas le temps de lire la tradution
Sorry mate.
HELP PLEASE
I am trying to programme my EPEVER Tracer 50A
I have installed and can connect to the charge controller which is feeding down to
2 x 12v (SuperBatt 110ah leisure batteries) there is a label on the battery that says
always keep battery voltage above 12.4 and never below 11 volts.
So what setting should I use on this form
ruclips.net/video/fexLxCpDH7Q/видео.html
Thanks for your help
PS
the system will be connected to 2 panels each supplying about 36v at about 15 amps
Hey Mark - Really sorry for some reason I didn't see this till now? I'm assuming you don't need help any more