Issues with solar controller - fuses

[Lcabitac]

Hi,

We have a 2018 Thor Aria 3601.

We recently purchased new house and chassis batteries, and added 400 more watts of solar. Everything worked for a week, then we got this error on the solar controller which indicates it is not recognizing the batteries. We called the guy who installed the solar and he said most likely we need to change the 30 amp fuse between the controller and the battery.

See pictures... we changed the 30 amp next to the controller, and we changed the 30 amp fuse next to the chassis batteries. Nothing changed. We attempted a reset on the controller, still get the error. We can't find another 30amp fuse. I called Thor and they gave me this schematic of where it is, but could not give me any exact location of where to find it. We have looked under the slide, pulled the drawers out of the bedroom cabinet, looked high and low, checked in the wardrobe and can not locate anything.

Any suggestions? At our witts end, and frustrated.

Thanks.

[Grumpy Grampa]

If you haven’t already power down the unit. If not it could be a defective controller.

Good luck keep us posted.

[javelin]

Well welcome to the form. Until the resident solar panel experts chime in (because I am not), I was just wondering if you checked if the new fuse(s) blew and confirmed if the original fuses were actually blown as well? Also your controller says 12v 30 amp.......but for 400 watt solar panels I assume you would require a 40 amp charge controller with matching fusing (gives a little wiggle room power wise). Maybe it worked for a week because of cloudy or less ideal sunny conditions? Also, curious what your “original solar panels” are rated and the associated controller for them? (you said you added another 400 watts).

[RizeMaster]

The code b01 means your controller can't detect batteries. So yeah, could be a fuse. First thing I would do would be to disconnect the panel wire from the controller and see if it still has power. If not, then yes, no connection to the battery.

However, as others pointed out, if you "added 400W of solar" you may be beyond the max capacity of the Controller which only does 30A. Not sure what exactly happens if it goes past that, but if you have the recommended 30A fuse it could have blown.