• We’re Back – Thanks for Your Patience! We’re thrilled to welcome you back! After some time offline, our site is up and running again, though you may experience occasional instability as we work through the final steps of restoring full functionality. Your understanding and support mean the world to us – thank you for sticking with us through this!
  • Email notifications are being sent but may be blocked by spam filters. If you don’t receive an expected email, please check your spam folder.

Solar Panel Controller Confusion

Lane and Michael

Lane and Michael

Junior Ranger
Donating Member
Cary very kindly gave up a good part of his day yesterday, clearing up a number of solar panel/controller/battery questions for me. In my experience that kind of interest and immediate response is a rare thing, and I sure did appreciate it.

Today I was still experiencing difficulties with the solar panel, and after some time on the phone with Morningstar, the company that makes our solar controllers, I was given some information that might be of interest to others on the forum. Because my 160 watt solar panel was making the controller lights flash red and the voltmeter read more than 16 volts going to the battery, I had even more questions than those I had plagued Cary with. I asked if the panel was too powerful for the controller and the answer surprised me: No. As long as the short circuit amperage label on the solar panel reads less than 10 amps, everything should be fine. My panel's label reads 8.88 amps.

I was prepared to purchase a different controller, but the Morningstar rep took down the serial number and is mailing me a replacement. He asks that I send him the original for testing, and said that if this new one does not work properly, to let him know.

I thought that was outstanding service as well, and will post again when I know more.
 
Last edited:
I had issues with my Renogy 100w solar panels. Found the campinn O&M wiring for the 3 pin connection incorrect for my 560 build. I swapped the 2 conductor wiring on the male connector from solar panels that insert into factory Marinco plug and worked perfect ever since.
 
After a certain amount of thought the realization came to me that O&M probably means operator and maintenance. Before I do what I think you are saying, I wanted to clarify that I have it right rather than cause an explosion. You used the same two connections on the Marinco plug, but attached the negative wire where the positive had been? The unused connection remained unused? I had wondered if the wiring could be wrong, but had looked at the diagram closely and was certain I had followed the directions properly. The new MorningStar controller arrived yesterday. I wonder if I should switch the wiring first before opening the new one. Of course the sun is hiding behind the rain today so nothing I do will be verifiable.
 
Lane and Michael said:
After a certain amount of thought the realization came to me that O&M probably means operator and maintenance. Before I do what I think you are saying, I wanted to clarify that I have it right rather than cause an explosion. You used the same two connections on the Marinco plug, but attached the negative wire where the positive had been? The unused connection remained unused? I had wondered if the wiring could be wrong, but had looked at the diagram closely and was certain I had followed the directions properly. The new MorningStar controller arrived yesterday. I wonder if I should switch the wiring first before opening the new one. Of course the sun is hiding behind the rain today so nothing I do will be verifiable.
Click to expand...
hi, I am not near campinn to take pic of wiring at the plug to verify pin 1, 2, 3 and pos, neg, grd. maybe can get pic and diagram tmrw.
 
My renogy 2 wires are terminated at Pin 1 and Pin 3 at marinco plug that inserts into ultra560 with factory installed charge controller morningstar. i weatherproofed the solar panel connection so cannot 100% verify but think solar panel + is pin 3. my build was ~2 yrs ago.
 
MorningStar sent me a brand new controller, unnecessarily as it turns out. The person who wired the Marinco plug goofed, but once the right wires went to the right connections, the controller worked perfectly. I had some stern words for the guy that made that mistake. Please pay no attention to any of my earlier posts on this embarrassing episode.
 
Lane and Michael said:
MorningStar sent me a brand new controller, unnecessarily as it turns out. The person who wired the Marinco plug goofed, but once the right wires went to the right connections, the controller worked perfectly. I had some stern words for the guy that made that mistake. Please pay no attention to any of my earlier posts on this embarrassing episode.
Click to expand...
Hi what/how did you connect your cables to the cig lighter pug provided by CI? I too have a 160w flexible panel I just ordered along with 12g MC4 connector cable for the solar end and the other ends are bare.
The Renogy site says to keep it a 12g max cable size so that's what I ordered.
Now I have to figure out how to get the ends of the cable connected to the 12V dc socket on the side of the CI. I have the plug supplied but the points at which to attach the cable is much too small for the 12g wire! This is what I have so far, Again one end of the renogy 12g cables are MC4 connectors to the solar panels, the other ends are bare, ready for connector/connection. The only thing I can think of is an adaptor of this type. What do you all think? This cigarette lighter plug on eBay says it is heavy duty and can accept the 12g ends of the renogy cable. The other shot is the plug CI supplied for most practical purposes, it would work for 80 or 100 watt panels with much smaller g wires. I would have rather had this heavy-duty connector I found on eBay but with 12 gauge wire extending out ready to accept ones preference for connector so it's not just bare wire connection to the poles supplied. Hope I made any sense.
 

Attachments

Sorry, Rob, to have been so slow in writing. My camper came with a plug that fits in the socket for the solar panel. It will not fit in the cigarette lighter outlet. I think if you are trying to get this to work using the cigarette lighter you are doomed to fail. I didn't need any special adapters. The wires from the panel just screwed into the plug supplied by Camp-Inn. You need to be careful that the positive and negative terminals are correctly wired. I crossed the wires on my first attempt, and nothing worked. I think the manual explains it all quite well. I'm sorry to be of no help. Regards, Michael
 
No worries. All I did was find a replacement DC male plug provided by Camp Inn with another similar except it accepts my 12g solar cables. All is still as documented in the manual, I just found a plug that accepted bigger cables. I will be sure to check the wiring, I think your issue was rare but thanks for documenting your experience, it's definitely worth taking a look, it's a basic diagram to follow. I posted pics of my completed connection to my camper, Thanks again.,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top