Charge Controller Troubleshooting Guide
This guide is intended to assist customers with troubleshooting their Charge Controllers without speaking with a technician. The below steps are universal for all of our controllers and will give our customers a good place to start if they believe their controller is not functioning properly. This will assist to determine if there is an issue with the controller or in the system configuration. For troubleshooting a specific charge controller, see Model-Specific Troubleshooting.
Items You Will Need
- Multimeter
- Solar Panel spec sheet
- Charge Controller Manual
Connection Check
The first step to take when diagnosing a charge controller is confirming all connections are tight and secure on the controller.
First connect the controller to the battery bank and then to the solar array, be sure to firmly tighten the controller terminal screws to ensure safe and secure connections. Once connections are verified, take a look at the controller’s display or LED indicator behaviors and then compare these to the behaviors listed in the controller’s manual, you may be able to determine the issue with an incorrect behavior or fault indicator.
Basic Troubleshooting Steps
If there are no fault indicators we can begin the basic troubleshooting tests.
Step 1: Confirm the battery connection by checking voltage readings at the Battery Bank terminals and the Charge Controller’s Battery terminals which should be similar.
With the multimeter test for DC voltage with a range above 20V, place the (+) lead on the (+) terminal of the battery bank and then place the (-) lead on the (-) terminal of the battery bank and check the reading on the display.
Next follow those same steps to verify the voltage by placing the leads on the controller's battery terminals. As long as the correct wire gauge is being used from the Controller to the battery, the voltage readings should be within a couple millivolts of each other. If it's not there may be an issue with the Controller and we would recommend speaking with a technician.
Step 2: Confirm the PV connection by checking the voltage reading at the PV terminals on the Controller.
With the multimeter test for DC voltage with a range above 150V, place the (+) lead on the (+) PV terminal and then place the (-) lead on the (-) PV terminal of the Controller. The voltage reading should be the solar array’s operating voltage or VMP, please refer to the (VMP) reading on the specifications sheet of the solar panels in the system, the reading should be +/- 10% of the overall VMP reading.
If it’s not there may be an issue with the solar panel connectivity, also confirm that the PV array is connected with the correct polarity, if the multimeter is showing a (-) voltage reading then there is reverse polarity and those leads need to be switched.
On condition that there is still a voltage discrepancy then there may be an issue with the Charge Controller and we would recommend speaking with a technician.
Model-Specific Troubleshooting
For troubleshooting a specific charge controller, visit the links below:
- Rover Li 20 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SKU: RNG-CTRL-RVR20)
- Rover Li 30 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SKU: RNG-CTRL-RVR30)
- Rover Li 40 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SKU: RNG-CTRL-RVR40)
- Adventurer Li-30A PWM Flush Mount Charge Controller w/LCD Display (RNG-CTRL-ADV30-LI)
- Voyager 10A & 20A PWM Waterproof Solar Charge Controller (RCC10VOYP & RCC20VOYP)
- REGO 12V 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller (RCC60REGO)
- Wanderer 10A PWM Charge Controller (RNG-CTRL-WND10)
- Wanderer Li 30A PWM Charge Controller (RNG-CTRL-WND30-LI)
- Rover Elite 20A MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SKU: RCC20RVRE)
- Rover Elite 40A MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SKU: RCC40RVRE)
- Rover 60A MPPT Solar Charger Controller (SKU: RNG-CTRL-RVR60)
- Rover 100 Amp MPPT Solar Charge Controller (SKU: RNG-CTRL-RVR100)
We hope this information has helped you familiarize yourself with the troubleshooting steps for Charge Controllers. For any other questions or concerns please give our Support Team a call.
