Harmony Control Panel

Rather than hijack another thread which has some really helpful info in it relating to the Harmony CP as fitted to the 2021 van conversions (and the fact the handbook that comes with the van doesn’t have any instructions for it...) I’ve a further query that the collective can probably help with!

The Harmony CP in my van is currently switched off, and the EC700 PSU is switched on.

The CP has a setting in it called “smart” for solar charging distribution between the vehicle and leisure batteries which enables it to (AFIK) to put the charge where it is needed.

So if my CP is switched off, does this mean that the solar is not actually connected to the batteries, or is solar charging distributed per the last setting in the CP, or is it doing something else entirely?

Previous vans have had split solar charging that works whether the CP is on or off, hence I turned the CP off.....but I’m not sure whether I should!

youll get loads of advice about how best to set up your solar system and the 'issues' you might get with the EC700 and its 'smart' capabilities and its overall power draw from your solar harvest.
many have installed solar and have bypassed the EC700 (and its poor contoller) wiring directly to a new MPPT unit and letting this do to split charge, smart, distribution....and then it will work as youve been used to...with all other power devices off...

Indeed @boleroboy ....I am just trying to save a trip to Van Bitz to get it set up as I’m used to . I know that if I go that far, I’ll get them to swap out the solar for a 150 and add a second leisure battery...and so it goes on! Much cheaper for me if I can work out how to use what I’ve got and see how I get on with it for my use

Before I did ‘the solar controller mod’ I was just using the standard setup which I think is what you are planning to do for now.
I’ve got the EC500 so there may be some variations compared to your EC700 but I suspect the basics are pretty similar.

After trial an error (and obviously in situations where you are not on EHU), I found it best to simply avoid the solar smart charging altogether. Soon after arriving at site I went into my advanced settings and set the solar to leisure only. This generally worked very well and there was never an issue with the vehicle battery going flat. 
That was the best solution I could find with the standard setup but trust me, you won’t regret just doing the solar mod.

Dbvwt wrote:
Soon after arriving at site I went into my advanced settings and set the solar to leisure only. This generally worked very well and there was never an issue with the vehicle battery going flat. 
That was the best solution I could find with the standard setup but trust me, you won’t regret just doing the solar mod.

Thanks for this info. Sounds like I’ll have to dig deep and get the solar mod done at some point.

But in the meantime, before you did the mod, did you leave the control panel “on” (but all lights/pumps etc off on the panel) to make the solar charge the battery when you were home?

As far as I can remember, during summer months my EC500 was left permanently on but the EC480 control panel (my basic harmony equivalent) was off when back home. Solar smart still worked but the EC500 itself was a big drain on the battery if parked up at home for any length of time.
Perhaps best waiting for someone with an EC700 to give more info in case of variations in our systems.

My understanding from reading the technical literature is that setting the solar to “smart” will work regardless of whether or not the control panel remains on. It’s not the control panel that is actually doing anything smart. It’s just telling the main EC700 power supply to work in that mode.

Unfortunately my solar isn’t working at all though - waiting for warranty work in mid June, which was the earliest Marquis were prepared to look at it. Presumably it is not included in the PDI for new vehicles.

v8oholic wrote:

Unfortunately my solar isn’t working at all though - waiting for warranty work in mid June, which was the earliest Marquis were prepared to look at it. Presumably it is not included in the PDI for new vehicles.

That’s a shame. 

I have concluded that either I’m doing something wrong or mine isn’t working either. There is meant to be a sun symbol on the control panel if it’s working, and do what I might, I cannot get that symbol to appear. Plus when checking the gauges I cannot see any solar charge being put to the batteries.

I’m calling in at the dealer later today en route to a few days break and will get them to either show me what I’m doing wrong or get them to confirm it’s not working and book it in for warranty fix at some point.*

I’ll update later one way or the other

*I would also have expected this to be picked up on PDI if it’s not working...

Millie The Moocher wrote:

v8oholic wrote:

Unfortunately my solar isn’t working at all though - waiting for warranty work in mid June, which was the earliest Marquis were prepared to look at it. Presumably it is not included in the PDI for new vehicles.

That’s a shame. 

I have concluded that either I’m doing something wrong or mine isn’t working either. There is meant to be a sun symbol on the control panel if it’s working, and do what I might, I cannot get that symbol to appear. Plus when checking the gauges I cannot see any solar charge being put to the batteries.

I’m calling in at the dealer later today en route to a few days break and will get them to either show me what I’m doing wrong or get them to confirm it’s not working and book it in for warranty fix at some point.*

I’ll update later one way or the other

*I would also have expected this to be picked up on PDI if it’s not working...

Yes, it sounds like you have exactly the same problem. Even when we had a sunny spell, there has never been a solar symbol on my display panel, and i checked it quite frequently before conceding it doesn't work.

Mid June is one thing, but they have told me that visit will just be for an assessment. The next step will be to get warranty approval from Auto-Sleepers, and then order any parts needed, before finally attempting to book it in again for the actual fix. I'm not expecting it to be working anytime soon. I hope that's the only warranty problem, as it is lower importance in the general scheme of things.

I don't think there's anything you could be doing wrong, but if they somehow get yours working today, I'm all ears!

Millie The Moocher wrote:

Dbvwt wrote:
Soon after arriving at site I went into my advanced settings and set the solar to leisure only. This generally worked very well and there was never an issue with the vehicle battery going flat. 
That was the best solution I could find with the standard setup but trust me, you won’t regret just doing the solar mod.

Thanks for this info. Sounds like I’ll have to dig deep and get the solar mod done at some point.

But in the meantime, before you did the mod, did you leave the control panel “on” (but all lights/pumps etc off on the panel) to make the solar charge the battery when you were home?

Millie, other thsn the cost of a more modern (duo output) MPPT controller, like a Votronic the 'mod' is more about routing the cable from the solar panel into this new controller and not into the Sargent unit.
then cables can be run directly from the new controller to the cab and leisure batteries...
yes, you might need a bit of cable and a couple of fuses but thats about it...

Millie and V8, the thing is, if Marquis 'fix' both your solar systems, they will only put them to the AS/Sargent spec, which is what many are complaining about.
id certainly be having a go at my dealer, explaining the overall poor performance of the original set up and see if i could come to some agreement about using their warranted labour to fit the system as indicated many tomes in this and other threads. you could even purchase the Votronic for them and just get them to 'sort the solar'to your requirements. 
certainly no harm in having the debate.

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Ok, well as promised, an update.

I called in to SMC Newark en route to Sandringham C&CC site to see if they could show me what I was doing wrong, or agree it was broken and book in for a fix.

Much to my surprise and delight, the technician was able to look at it straight away and after agreeing it wasn’t user error started to poke around the PSU.

On the Kingham this is located under the settee. So we removed all the cushion so we could get easy access and over the top of the PSU is a big wooden cover, which he unscrewed.

To the left of this is where all the wires come in and the controller unit sits.

Immediately he could see that a click block wiring connector between the control unit and the wires in from the panel were not connected. Either they had become detached, or , much more likely, had not been connected at the factory.

As soon as the connection was made the sun symbol appeared on the Harmony panel, and charging commenced!

If it’s any help @v8oholic pictures are attached, I’ve circled the connection that wasn’t connected and also a picture of what the Harmony panel now shows. As Marquis can’t see you until June it might be worth looking at this as a solution and fixing it yourself (if I’d known where to look it would have been as easy as plugging in a 3 pin plug to a socket)

Hope this helps someone anyway!

Apologies for out of sequence photos, for some reason this is how they got loaded into the message...

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Glad you got it working! Better service than my experience with Marquis, too.

I will have a look tomorrow and see if I can spot anything similar. Maybe the apprentice who connects those wires was furloughed that week