Cali 6.1 ocean - MPPT connected to front battery

[andrzej.lipka]

Hi,
My first post here. I've looked through the whole forum and the responses where not 100% clear, so hence my question, sorry if it was answered somewhere.
My situation: I have a 6.1 Cali Ocean 2 years. Didn't know much when I bought it (now I do) and I asked a company that does custom van conversions to install solar for me. They installed it (160W) but they connected the Victron to the front (under driver seat) leisure battery, they didn't know the california (neither did I back then) and didn't know about the rear leisure battery..
Ofc now the control display panel is not aware of charging which sometimes (rarely) results in the panel thinking its empty or close to empty when I can see in victron and voltage its fine. I understand this is due to the shunt and connecting of the victron.
Now my questions are:

1. Can I fix the issue without moving the victron to back and connecting to back? If so, how? I read that the negative from victron should be connected to chassis (ground) not to the negative terminal of battery, but my guy from the van says that's never the case.
2. If I need to move the victron to back, how do I connect it (negative from MPPT to chasis instead of back battery negative terminal?) - is there any good manual to do it? Will that allow the panel to see the amps going into the battery? (without that the Cali will still sometimes think its empty/near empty).
3. Is there any way to workaround the issue, like reset the control panel so it would just look at battery voltage (which is fine) instead of historical amp readouts (which miss the solar charging)?

I attach some photos of my connection.
Thanks in advance for any tips,
Andrew
PS: Had I known more I would have bought @Roger Donoghue solar set, but back then I was a total noob

 

[WelshGas]

Hi,
My first post here. I've looked through the whole forum and the responses where not 100% clear, so hence my question, sorry if it was answered somewhere.
My situation: I have a 6.1 Cali Ocean 2 years. Didn't know much when I bought it (now I do) and I asked a company that does custom van conversions to install solar for me. They installed it (160W) but they connected the Victron to the front (under driver seat) leisure battery, they didn't know the california (neither did I back then) and didn't know about the rear leisure battery..
Ofc now the control display panel is not aware of charging which sometimes (rarely) results in the panel thinking its empty or close to empty when I can see in victron and voltage its fine. I understand this is due to the shunt and connecting of the victron.
Now my questions are:

1. Can I fix the issue without moving the victron to back and connecting to back? If so, how? I read that the negative from victron should be connected to chassis (ground) not to the negative terminal of battery, but my guy from the van says that's never the case.
2. If I need to move the victron to back, how do I connect it (negative from MPPT to chasis instead of back battery negative terminal?) - is there any good manual to do it? Will that allow the panel to see the amps going into the battery? (without that the Cali will still sometimes think its empty/near empty).
3. Is there any way to workaround the issue, like reset the control panel so it would just look at battery voltage (which is fine) instead of historical amp readouts (which miss the solar charging)?

I attach some photos of my connection.
Thanks in advance for any tips,
Andrew
PS: Had I known more I would have bought @Roger Donoghue solar set, but back then I was a total noob

View attachment 134620

View attachment 134621

View attachment 134622

View attachment 134623

Doesn’t matter which battery the MPPT is connected to, front or rear.
What does matter on the T6.1 is that the Solar output from the MPPT is connected to the battery correctly.

Red +tve lead from MPPT to Red + tve Battery terminal.

BUT Black -tve from MPPT to a Chassis ground NOT to the battery -tve otherwise you bypass the Control Panel leisure battery monitoring function.
There is a Chassis Earth stud under the front seat where the front leisure battery is positioned.

 

[dspuk]

As WG says. Your fix is as simple as moving that earth cable to a seat bolt.

To add, as you already have a cable going to the front battery you could change the MPPT and reuse that cable to trickle charger your starter if you reposition it to the split charge relay.

Unfortunately Victron don’t do one (an MPPT that does leisure and starter) which yours is.

Then just add a new wire down to the rear leisure for leisure charging, which will take priority over starter.

 

[andrzej.lipka]

@WelshGas @dspuk thank you so much. just a question: i have two cables connected from mppt to negative battery right now: black is from ground connection of mppt and blue is from the “battery -“ port of the mppt(attached photo). which should i connect to ground/chassis? or both?

 

[dspuk]

As far as I can see from image the thicker wires (red and black) are the vehicle wires. The thin ones are from the MPPT. Leave the thin red where it is and attach the thin black to a chassis earth.

Edit. Can’t see why you have two thin blacks but the one coming from the MPPT should be chassis earth.

 

[andrzej.lipka]

@dspuk thank you, yeah I have two as they both go from MPPT. one is from the MPPT neg- battery slot, the other is from the MPPT ground slot (see attached). Should I redirect both to chassis earth or just one (which?)

 

[WelshGas]

@dspuk thank you, yeah I have two as they both go from MPPT. one is from the MPPT neg- battery slot, the other is from the MPPT ground slot (see attached). Should I redirect both to chassis earth or just one (which?)

View attachment 134765

you should only need the output wire to chassis ground but putting the 2 wires to ground is also fine.

 

[andrzej.lipka]

thanks. thats what i did (attached its not ideal but hope the screw is the ground one (right in front of battery). right now the panel still shows -1 amps but maybe its because the battery is full and mppt this in float mode. i’ll check later when batteries get used more and ill have more sun

 

[WelshGas]

thanks. thats what i did (attached its not ideal but hope the screw is the ground one (right in front of battery). right now the panel still shows -1 amps but maybe its because the battery is full and mppt this in float mode. i’ll check later when batteries get used more and ill have more sun

View attachment 134773

View attachment 134774

What does the Control Panel show?
Don’t forget, if the control panel screen is On there will be a current draw which will go once the screen goes off ie: hibernation state.

 

[andrzej.lipka]

What does the Control Panel show?
Don’t forget, if the control panel screen is On there will be a current draw which will go once the screen goes off ie: hibernation state.

full batteries and -1A as below. i guese until i see used batteries and full sun at the same time it wont be easy to see a difference