Solar Plug wire grounding issue/short on new Swift - FOUND/FIXED

[Hodakaguy]

After hooking up the solar panel to the charge controller I started noticing that the controller was showing amps in/out but wasn't actually charging. Out comes the meter to find out whats going on.

The factory roof solar plug is wired backwards so I just switched the wiring around at the controller, the wires for the roof plug is now (Red Negative and Black Positive) at the PV input on the controller.....no big deal there. The meter is showing 22 Volts (Open voltage on the panel) from positive to ground so the panel is working.

Now the problem.

I measured voltage from battery + to PV - on the back of the charge controller and read battery voltage....hmm that shouldn't be the case. I lifted the wires off the controller and the red wire (My Negative) is showing common to ground, must be a short somewhere in the red wiring. Neither solar plug wire should be common with ground...especially the red wire. If I was running an older style PWM controller this really wouldn't be a issue since PV ground can be common with battery ground on these controllers. But I'm running a newer MPPT controller which requires the ground on the PV to be separate from the battery ground for proper operation.

I removed the panel and unplugged it from the camper to see if anything changed, nope...red wire is still going to ground. Just wanted to make sure the panel wasn't any part of the cause.

Now to find where the red wire is going to ground at. I suspect a break in the wire at a tight bend somewhere, maybe up by the lift panels or ?. The camper is under 2 months old so I don't suspect wear, maybe a defect during construction? This might be fun to hunt down.

I'll post up where I find it. Anyone else ran into this?

Here's a pic showing resistance to ground on the Red roof plug wire.

 

[CougarCouple]

Morning Hodakaguy
My first thought was look for a screw, but after seeing that low of a reading might be a single strand of wire touching something.
Good luck Russ

Saw you were in auto. Got this off fluke site. Hope this helps.

When testing for continuity, a multimeter beeps based on the resistance of the component being tested. That resistance is determined by the range setting of the multimeter. Examples:
If the range is set to 400.0 Ω, a multimeter typically beeps if the component has a resistance of 40 Ω or less.
If the range is set 4.000 kΩ, a multimeter typically beeps if the component has a resistance of 200 Ω or less.
The lowest range setting should be used when testing circuit components that should have low-resistance value such as electrical connections or switch contacts.

 

[Hodakaguy]

Morning Hodakaguy
My first thought was look for a screw, but after seeing that low of a reading might be a single strand of wire touching something.
Good luck Russ

Saw you were in auto. Got this off fluke site. Hope this helps.

When testing for continuity, a multimeter beeps based on the resistance of the component being tested. That resistance is determined by the range setting of the multimeter. Examples:
If the range is set to 400.0 Ω, a multimeter typically beeps if the component has a resistance of 40 Ω or less.
If the range is set 4.000 kΩ, a multimeter typically beeps if the component has a resistance of 200 Ω or less.
The lowest range setting should be used when testing circuit components that should have low-resistance value such as electrical connections or switch contacts.

That’s what I’m thinking, a frog hair somewhere, a screw through a wire or nicked wire somewhere. Hate to install a splice but might have to cut the wire up by the front lift panel and try to isolate the short to the roof or the lower section then go from there.

Yeah I just left it in Auto for these tests, pretty much a direct short.

Hodakaguy

 

[pvstoy]

Unless you separated the wires, the rear plug in is tied to the roof wires

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

Just for poops grins maybe check the outside plug as well and see if the same thing?

 

[Hodakaguy]

Unless you separated the wires, the rear plug in is tied to the roof wires

I have all the wires separated at the charge controller, neither wire going to the rear plug is grounded. To bad it wasn't the rear plug with the problem.....all would have been well

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Just for poops grins maybe check the outside plug as well and see if the same thing?

It's shows shorted at both ends. I'll be working on it more this Friday and hopefully find the fault location.

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Located and fixed the short in my factory solar panel wiring yesterday

I hooked the meter to the red wire and started following the wire up to the lift panel looking for shorts. Luckily I have a Shell model and can get to all the wiring inside the camper, would have been a nightmare with full kitchen cabinetry. Once I located the shorted area and pulled on the wire the short went open on the meter and I knew I had it, The short was located in a loop of wire at the end of the bed right where it went vertical, a staple had been shot into the wire at this point.

Glad it wasn't in the roof! Solar system is now up and running

Hole in the wire from the staple.

Wire fixed and going back together again.

Just need to install a new strip of Velcro for the Arctic pack and It will be all back to normal.

Hodakaguy

 

[CougarCouple]

Hodakaguy
That was not as bad as it could have been, glad for y’all on that one. Do you think the wire was damaged very badly, before you repaired it. Not the first time I’ve herd of that. Friend has class C and manufacturers screwed thru one the 120v receptical circuts. Seller said it was not a problem just change the gfci recepicals. He spent a lot more time chasing it down. Can be frustrating.

Russ

 

[pvstoy]

Glad you fount it relitlvly quickly. FWC is lucky that it was you that had found and fixed it. A lot of people do not have your skill set and would be disconvienced returning the camper to the factory for repair. Keep up the exceptional fine work!!

 

[paddlesurf.net]

How satisfying must it have been to start uncovering wire and then actually find the hole where the staple shorted out the wire. Great job! I think I kinda can relate to that feeling of satisfaction: moto (drz400) decided it wouldn't idle anymore, ran fine on choke, but the second you came off the choke circuit, bike died. I suspected the idle jet was clogged, remove, inspect and clean tiny idle jet, reinstall carb, moto now works perfect... kinda like your solar.