radarcontact
Senior Member
I recently replaced my Zamp charge controller w/a Blue Sky SB3000i. I have 2 panels on my roof, both Zamp panels, a 160W and an 80W, connected in parallel through the roof plug. For some reason unknown to me or Blue Sky, my controller won't stay in float mode once Vfloat is achieved or exceeded. The controller amps out reads 0.0A in float mode, and the resting voltage drops steadily over a period of a minute or two to my set float voltage point, 13.5V. Once it gets there it jumps out of float and back into absorption. Voltage rises to 14.5 for less than a minute, enough for the battery to exceed 13.5V. Then back to float, etc. This can go on all day. The problem is no amperage going out to the batteries in float mode. The only load when this is happening is the LED lights on the charge controller (maybe 0.1-0.2A). Everything else is turned off.
Can anyone think of anything that might be causing this in my camper? I've connected each panel individually to the rooftop plug, and also to my sidewall plug, same scenario. I've quadruple-checked all my connections, everything's good. Blue Sky has been trying to help me - they sent me a replacement controller last week, but the same thing is happening. Why would the controller not be sending out amperage in float mode? It has to send out a trickle, otherwise you get this constant cycling back and forth from float to absorption. I don't think it's the unit...probably something in my camper setup. I've also hit the 'kill' switch and turned off the IOTA IQ4 converter, thinking that maybe it was knocking heads with the solar controller, but no joy. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Can anyone think of anything that might be causing this in my camper? I've connected each panel individually to the rooftop plug, and also to my sidewall plug, same scenario. I've quadruple-checked all my connections, everything's good. Blue Sky has been trying to help me - they sent me a replacement controller last week, but the same thing is happening. Why would the controller not be sending out amperage in float mode? It has to send out a trickle, otherwise you get this constant cycling back and forth from float to absorption. I don't think it's the unit...probably something in my camper setup. I've also hit the 'kill' switch and turned off the IOTA IQ4 converter, thinking that maybe it was knocking heads with the solar controller, but no joy. Any input would be greatly appreciated.