Hi, I have many rb433 in remote locations in Bolivia working as repeater with 2 XR2 working with solar power energy: every repeater use 2 40W panel and 2 battery 40Ah connected in parallel with Steca power charger.
The last few days many of then hang at same time: the sky has been clouded for 2 weeks, cold and very wet (it’s winter here). It would be ok if they had powered off by Steca Low Voltage Disconnect function, but when i climb up to to mountain I found all the RB433 on but without any response, wireles or ethernet. My solution was to turn it off and on.
I changed controllers to EPSolar and I changed my installation to work in 24V, but now (with sun) the RB433 are blocking every few days.
I’m going to change back to 12V but I’m afraid that when weather changes, they will block again.
I have placed 10000uF capacitors in parallel with the battery and load. Can I do something more to improve stability? I guess the problem happens when the power charger connects again the load after a low voltage event.
Battery is a HUGE Capacitor, you dont need to install another.
What AWG(diameter) has your cable between battery, regulator, MK and solar panel ? We normaly use 4-8mm2 for single or two MK but on main POPs where are 8-16MK we use 16mm2 cables
It is very important to use very thick cables = less voltage drop and less energy loss
I’m using 3.3mm2 cable because they are very short: 5mt max.
Last week I changed my systems to 24V and I saw some random blackout.
Yesterday I climbed again and I found that my load was at 27,6V with sun. Too high for RB443. I put 3 diodes rectifiers in series to lower the voltage. My power charger can not stabilize the load.
This is why I use 12v solar systems for my routers. I have RB333, RB433, and RB433AH units on solar for the last few years with no problems. The Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD) on the solar charger is set at 11.5v.
Just a question, do you have cell coverage at your high sites, if yes you can use a gsm commander. It will monitor your voltage, can restart your device if a hang is expierenced, It can disconnect your devices at low voltage. I have all my high sites using these devices. it will send sms to me if low voltage, high temp or I can send sms to restart device if a device hangs.