Zamp Solar Controller When Changing Batteries

[SalemDude]

I plan to disconnect my View 24J batteries by (1) disconnecting the chassis battery, and (2) switching off the house batteries, then replace the original batteries. However, the Zamp Solar Controller is still on when I disconnect. A couple of questions: 1. Does the Zamp Solar Controller need to be disconnected somehow when you change house batteries and (2) if so, how do you disconnect it?

 

[creativepart]

No, it doesn't need to be disconnected. The wires from the controller just go to your batteries and when you take off the batter wiring you'll be removing those wires, too.

NOTE: The wires will be electrically hot if you are outdoors and during the daylight hours. So, you'll want to take extra precautions to shield the wire ends. Wrap them good with electrical tape or take other precautions.

If you want to lesson the panels output, you can cut cardboard to lay on top of the panels to shield the panels from any sunlight. Or of course you could do the job in a garage or at night.

Lastly, if you really want to disconnect them you could go on the roof and unplug the SAE plugs from the Zamp 3-panel input.

 

[Winterbagoal]

I didn't bother when I replaced my factory batteries with the Relions.
Just be careful, disconnect the coach batteries using the battery enable/disable switch by the entry door, and turn off the inverter if you have one, as I think it may be wired directly to the batteries behind that 300A fuse in the battery compartment. Remove ground (-) wires first and reattach last. Tape all cable/lug ends if you can, in case they touch the metal frame of the battery box. Also, depending on the size of your factory batteries, you may need a couple of longer short cables to parallel them. I used 2 x 18" #1/0 battery cables with the lugs already installed - the factory 12" ones weren't quite long enough to reach the larger Relion battery terminal posts.

 

[SalemDude]

Thanks, Winterbagoal & creativepart! Your advice will be most helpful. Gonna change them out today.

 

[Winterbagoal]

Thanks, Winterbagoal & creativepart! Your advice will be most helpful. Gonna change them out today.

One more thing. If you can, take a picture of the entire battery box before you begin, that will show you which wires go where. It may save you a lot of grief once you get the old ones out, to give you a map of the "before" wiring.

 

[SalemDude]

The picture came in quite handy. I taped the wire ends as you suggested and was able to slip the batteries in and connect them with no problems except for a spark or two when the wrench touched a hot wire. Solar is reading correctly and charging the batteries. Unfortunately, due to expediency, I replaced them with the OEM NAPA 8240s. Will upgrade to 6v or lithiums next time. What else did you have to change when you upgraded to lithium?

 

[Winterbagoal]

The picture came in quite handy. I taped the wire ends as you suggested and was able to slip the batteries in and connect them with no problems except for a spark or two when the wrench touched a hot wire. Solar is reading correctly and charging the batteries. Unfortunately, due to expediency, I replaced them with the OEM NAPA 8240s. Will upgrade to 6v or lithiums next time. What else did you have to change when you upgraded to lithium?

I have a PD9245 converter/charger that was factory installed. Since it's not a "lithium" specific charger (but works fine anyway), and I didn't feel a need to upgrade, I did buy and add the Charge Wizard Pendant to it, so that I could manually control the boost charge rate, when on shore power. It lets me bump up the rate of charge when I want to take advantage of shore power charging. Currently (pun) I'm just letting the solar panels do ther job, and keep things topped up, while waiting for the travel restrictions to end.
You may have to alter the base of the battery box/tray. If yours has the flanges at the left/right ends to keep the 8240s from sliding left/right, I had to cut/grind them off to make the larger footprint batteries fit in there. I also added a piece of home gym rubber mat, cut to fit over the entire base of the tray to keep them a little more protected from road debris. So far, so good.

 

[SalemDude]

My Zamp ZS-30a Solar display is showing 14.7v, and the manual says "a fully charged battery has a voltage of more than 13.6v." That's the highest reading I've ever had. The old batteries showed 13.3 and lower."

 

[Winterbagoal]

My Zamp ZS-30a Solar display is showing 14.7v, and the manual says "a fully charged battery has a voltage of more than 13.6v." That's the highest reading I've ever had. The old batteries showed 13.3 and lower."

How long ago did you replace the batteries? About 6 hours? That number is what the batteries are calling for from the solar charge controller. I'm guessing here, but they may have been very low when you swapped them in, and are being hit with a bulk or absorption charge, if you're set to WET batteries? What lights are on on your ZS-30A display panel? That's how you figure out what's going on. Consult the chart on Page 6 of the ZS-30A manual.

 

[SalemDude]

Zamp Display

Trying to upload photos, but they won't attach.
Lights are good. Same as shown in the manual for Absorption Charge and also entry for Battery Voltage above 12.5v.

 

[SalemDude]

Zamp photos

Still trying to attach photo....

 

[Winterbagoal]

Trying to upload photos, but they won't attach.
Lights are good. Same as shown in the manual for Absorption Charge and also entry for Battery Voltage above 12.5v.

OK, good.
Look at the numbers for Absorption Charge on Page 8 of the manual. WET is the battery type you should be set to on the Zamp solar controller display, if you replaced the originals with same.
It sends 14.7V to the batteries in that mode.

 

[SalemDude]

Just checked it. It now says 13.1v, so I think it's good. Set on Wet when I installed the new batteries about 11 hours ago. The new batteries were probably not charged well. But they should be now. Have a green light on Charge LED. Thanks for your help!

 

[Morich]

To add pics? Click Go advanced have pic on computer, then scroll down to "manage attachments" then choose file, be sure to hit upload and it should show when you preview!

 

[Winterbagoal]

No problem. Thank you for your service.

 

[SalemDude]

Zamp display


Thank you, Morich!

 

[jcurtisis]

If you end up needing to reboot your Zamp controller, here is a previous postI made which describes the steps. https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/f260/wrong-manual-for-zamp-solar-charger-356239.html