New Flexmax 100 and Mate3s

[Lara2023]

Hello, we had some additional panels installed and I’m running into an issue w the Flexmax 100. When charging up in the morning all 5 charge controllers operate normally but the Flexmax 100 does not produce close to the capacity it has. The array has 3k and I’m getting 20-30%. Everything is connected through the Outback Hub … after some time the unit goes to silent mode and letting the rest of the controllers run in float. Any thoughts and/or advice appreciated. Maybe I’m missing something … Thanks

[Jesse Lankhaar]

Please call technical support at 360 618 4363 M-F 6am-5pm PST.

[pss]

Your system is in disharmony.

Your battery bank is too large for your PV capacity. How old are your batteries?
You have too many charge controllers.
You did not say what inverter you are using and have connected to your batteries.

In these types of inquires, it is very important that all of the hardware that makes up your PV system be listed so those persons who operate the same or similar configurations can offer help. AND THEY WILL.

Please reply and update your posts with the complete system make up and approximately where geographically you are located. If your system has an FNDC, please say so.

Also, do you have a connection to Optics RE working?

A PV system operates in this order: To charge the batteries by either solar energy with a charge controller or supply power to the inverter's charge controller either by means of a connection to a utility source or a local generator. Any solar power that is present after batteries have been charged is used to power the loads connected to your local panel. Lastly, if you have the proper configuration and agreements in place, you can sell an excess PV that remains to your local utility. When your batteries are charged, your loads are met and if applicable, your selling is at maximum allowed, any extra PV will not be harvested, it will be lost for all time since there is no place for it to go. So your charger may go silent.

Lastly, if you are not up to the task or very experienced, you may be better off working with a solar consultant or engineer/electrician familiar with Outback Power equipment to properly size and configure your equipment and get the system into harmony with the sun and your loads.

My most important recommendation to you is to thoroughly read all of the Outback documentation and manuals along with tech note that are available for your Outback equipment so you can gain a conceptual working knowledge of how the system should perform and be configured. Also, it is very important that your charge controller settings and any inverter charger settings are properly configured for your Rolls batteries so they do not get damaged. Rolls should supply all of this information to you.

[Lara2023]

Thanks for all the replies. I will update my profile further. We have a 24V battery bank with 16 Rolls S6 L16 HC 445Ah. The batteries are about 3 years old and installed by the previous owner. The arrays have all new panels with a total capacity of approx 11k watts (Jinko), my inverters are 4000 watts Trace/Xandrex SW. Since I have upgraded the panels I’m able to charge the battery bank fully. However, one of the controllers is a FlexMax 100 which currently provides the smallest contribution of KWh generation while it has the largest array. Is it possible that the Mate 3 throttles the 100? Thank you

[pss]

Please try to find out why you have an Outback Mate and Outback hub and for that matter, an Outback charge controller.

So far what you have described is messy without an Outback inverter and FNDC connected and all Outback charge controllers to work in concert together.

Your Flexmax is probably an orphan in this system.

The Mate can help coordinate multiple Outback chargers, but how many do you have and what are they?

[Lara2023]

Thank you, I have 5 Outback Flex 80. One FlexMax 100. I have plugged in the Flexmax 100 to port 1 of the hub after the the connection to the Mate 3 S and the additional port. Right now the Mate 3s shows all ports active and it seems to prioritize the Flex 80’s over the Flex 100. I don’t have the Flexnet DC but thought about adding it. I monitor the voltages and gravities of the batteries. One thing the installer has not done yet is to connect the battery sense … also the panels to the Flex 100 are connected in series, most of the other panels are in parallel. Thanks

[pss]

Assume you have 11,000 faceplate watts of panels. That's the production at 77 degrees and a bright simulated noon.
And your battery bank is 24 volts.

And your input voltage from panels to charge controller is 35 volts which is desireable for the charger's MPPT algorithm to be effective.

With 5 Flexmax 80 you can carry 400 amps and the Flexmax 100 totals 500 amps.

500 amps x 35 volts input equals 17,500 watts of capacity.

This means you have too many charge controllers connected.

Please provide the wattage of each panel, the Vimp, Voc and max current in amps of each panel.

Then your panels and charge controllers can be properly wired and set up in Mate 3 to work together and be balanced.

[raysun]

Another factor may be relative voltage calibration between all the charge controllers. The FM100 has remote voltage sense, and is likely the most precise. The older FMs read voltage at their Bat +/- terminals and may be off from the true battery voltage. If one or more of the older units "read high", they could force the FM100 into idle mode, it thinking there's no work to do.
A session with a voltmeter to measure actual voltage at the controllers, and probably calibration, is a reasonable option.
How to calibrate an FM60/FM80:
viewtopic.php?t=15400
IME, keeping two charge controllers in sync is a chore. Keeping 6 charge controllers in sync would be akin to herding scalded cats. This is one of the shortcomings of deploying a high power system centered on a low voltage battery. Typically, systems over 2-3kW are better off with a 48V battery. It reduces the charge controllers by half, and is more efficient in delivering power to the inverters. Granted, the system is fairly well "cast in stone", as it would require swapping the inverters to reconfigure the battery, so attending to the charge controllers and solar arrays is in order.
At 24V nominal:
FM100: 3500 Watt array
FM80: 2000 Watt array (x 5)
Total 13,500 Watts.
So the aggregate array total is within limits. Of course, each controller needs to be set to its proper configuration and specification limits.
The aggregate array, however, can produce more charge current than the battery can safely accept. The 11kW array @ 25V can produce 440A, but the battery is rated at 200A continuous charge current, and 340A absolute maximum. The charge controllers can be configured to limit their output on an individual basis. If an FNDC is part of the system, the controllers output can be dynamically managed as a group.

[Lara2023]

Thank you, I will measure and adjust accordingly and report back, this is super helpful!

[raysun]

Here's some more information that may be pertinent: Replacing/Mixing an FM100 into an existing System with an FM60/80 https://www.outbackpower.com/downloads/ ... p_note.pdf

[annata20]

I'm having this problem tried contacting support