Rogue 3024 Winter Charge Test

[CJW8]

Test conditions: 3ea 115AH flooded batteries, 2ea 135W Kyocera PV panels, Rogue 3024 Charge Controller, Trimetric 2020, Temperature range, 34-55F. All other chargers and known loads were off. Batteries were pulled down to 45% Trimetric by simulating night time camping. Panels are nearly flat mounted, RV.

Refering to my post http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/showthread.php?t=8187 about only getting 1/2 PV output to my batteries, I think the Rogue partially solved this but I have discovered that I am loosing some of my charge current to the RV frame ground. On the drawing in that post, all the negatives tie to the shunt, there is also a short #2 jumper from this point to frame ground. When I lift this frame ground, the trimetric agrees with the Rogue. When it is lifted, I tried to measure the amperage with my Fluke 87 and saw nill which is puzzling. When it is landed, I measured it with a Craftsman Clamp on amp probe and at peak sun it measures about 4 amps. The difference can clearly be seen in the spreadsheet.

I had to give up my efforts to return to work for a month and will continue when I return. I think next, I will lift all user grounds on the other frame ground. Then measure again. If it goes away, I'll reland them till I find it. 4 amps should be easy to find.

Overall I am very happy with the Rogue 3024 and would highly recommend it for small systems and RV's. The features for the price is unbeatable!
Winter test--https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BxE...thkey=CMe8yvIP

[K4GAA]

CJW8,

Glad to see the Rogue is working well your you. Looks like a good product for RV applications.

Before you disconnect all of those ground connections... It's not clear how you have the shunt wired. The shunt should be in series with the negative battery terminal and the RV negative/chassis ground. The only other connection to the negative terminal of the battery should be the sense wire for the Trimetric. You will need to connect a large conductor from the shunt to the chassis.

I hope you enjoy your new solar installation. I'm in my 5th year of solar RVing with no generator.

Ray

[CJW8]

Ray,
Thx for your comments.
"...The shunt should be in series with the negative battery terminal and the RV negative/chassis ground." It is.
"The only other connection to the negative terminal of the battery should be the sense wire for the Trimetric." Yes, it is.
"You will need to connect a large conductor from the shunt to the chassis." That connection is about 5" of #4 wire.

I know I also need to put all positive cables on the #3 battery and the chassis negative on the #1 battery for more balanced wiring.

I don't get to look at it again until a week b4 Christmas and will be pretty busy then. Between Christmas and New Years we are going camping for the first time on solar. I am looking forward to that!

[BB.]

Just to be clear on the shun t--the frame ground is not an issue wrt to "missing" ground return current if you do not have any other ground wires on the "wrong side" of the shunt:

                      shunt   All ground connections here
Battery Negative]=====o~~~o===={ground bus}===={frame ground}
            no other
           electrical
        connections here

As long as all your ground connections are on the GREEN SIDE of the shunt--you are fine.

No other electrical connections on the RED SIDE of the shunt--or you will have electrical current that is not being recorded by the battery monitor.

-Bill

[sloarlite]

I was having trouble viewing CJ's link to his data so I have provided this Pix.




Jim

[CJW8]

Thx Jim, I'll try and get it right next time. Struggling with low bandwidth as I am in Africa at the moment.

[CJW8]

Reviving this old post;

I made a huge discovery a few weeks ago on a problem that had me puzzled for some time. My Rogue data did not match my Trimetric data regarding amps. The Trimetric was always 20-30% low. What I discovered was that there is a #2 ground wire from the generator directly to the batteries. I never moved this negative wire to go through the shunt because I figured if they ran a huge wire, the generator starter must be isolated. Well it isn't isolated. So 20-30% of my charge current was bypassing the shunt. I lifted this wire and presto! The trimetric and the Rogue now agree. Generator starts just fine with this wire lifted and starting current now gets metered. I see no need for this wire that runs from the metal generator case which is bolted directly to the frame. It was probably there because the original wire from the frame to the batteries was only #6. Now that wire is #1 welding cable. This is something to check If you have a trimetric and a onboard generator.

This problem made me think my Xantrex C35 was only giving me 50% of my PV panel potential. This drove me to replace the Xantrex with the Rogue. I am very pleased with the Rogue but the Xantrex was probably not as bad as I thought it was. I will keep it as a spare or use it If I ever add solar to my boat. Live and Learn!

[Jakachira]

Guys, where can I buy this controller in South Africa? (I hope its alled to ask this question here). I mean the Rogue MPT 3024 Controller. i want to upgrade the one I have.

[icarus]

Contact Rogue directly. He sells mostly directly.

Tony

[BB.]

Marc sells them from his website (preferred) or from EBay. Feel free to email (or call) him. Very responsive. From past discussions, Marc has been selling direct to keep costs low(er)--So you might not find a distributor in your part of the world.

www.roguepowertech.com

You will have to decide if shipping to South Africa makes economic sense (and many folks do not ship out of the US).

If you have a friend or family visiting the US--Carrying it home in luggage may make sense. The whole issue of warranty service is going to be an issue too (get two, one for spare ).

-Bill