Solar Panel/Sargent EC328/12V Electrics Fault

John,

That all sounds good.

I will now go ahead and fit my replacement control panel and then reconnect my 

solar panel in the confident expectation that everything should now work correctly.

Will post outcome mid week.

Regards

Michael

Hi John and Peter,

Replacement Sargent EC328 Control Panel fitted this afternoon and solar panel reconnected.
 
As expected previously described faults appear to have been rectified.

I will post a full report after a weekend away in in this glorious weather.

Regards,

Michael

That is great news, having my panel fitted next week so hope it works!!

Hi John, Peter, and others,

A weekend in a very hot Lake District allowed for a full testing of the replacement EC328 Control Panel and the new software recently written by Sargent to prevent the solar panel tripping off the 12v van electrics especially in sunny conditions with nearly fully charged batteries.

Not one malfunction was observed and furthermore when on mains electric everything functioned exactly as it should.

Throughout this rather long saga the customer service from Sargent and their Craig Foot has been exemplary. Despite the fact that my EC328 is out of the guarantee period I have been supplied with a full replacement unit and control panel without charge or even carriage costs in either direction.

Emails have been answered almost immediately upon receipt and significant amounts of staff time have self-evidently been spent in getting to the bottom of the problems and rewriting the software.

All in all a company that I can thoroughly recommend to other motor caravanners and an example to others in the industry.

I hope groundhog that all goes well with the fitting of your solar panel this week .

Regards,

Michael

Thanks to you and Silver for your persistence on this. I suspect that most people would have given up and just accepted that it was "one of those things that happens".  It's been a great help to those EC328 owners like me considering fitting a panel.

And also, as you say, it's a credit to Sargent and their support staff.

Great news second the thanks for your persistence, if I do get problems at least I know they will be sorted by what seems to be an excellent company!

Michael

I'm very pleased to hear you have seen no failures since fitting your updated control panel.

I have just returned from an eight day trip in Scotland during some wonderful sunny weather and can also report I have had no 12 volt failures since replacing the control panel with the updated item from Sargent.

I would echo your comments re Sargent, they have been very helpful together with Marquis, Preston in resolving this issue.

Regards, John

Great that your fault has been sorted and I must admit with our recent contact with Sargent and also a few months back when they sent us a replacement panel due to a faulty  Aux relay in our 325 they were really helpful.
What version of software are you running with your 328 control panel as we are expecting a 328 unit tomorrow and also a new control panel with upgraded software which will hopefully resolve an issue we have with our batteries not charging with solar power.

Robbie

My updated controller is a 328s v2.22

Regards, john

Robbie,

Before Sargents recent correcting upgrade the software version shown on my EC328S control panel was : v2.20.

This has now changed to : v2.22 on the exchange control panel that has been recently supplied.

I hope this assists.

Regards,

Michael

Hi Peter 

No problems here.......coming to the end of an 8 day trip and still no return of the 12 volt issue I'm very pleased to say.

Regards, John 

Hi Peter and John,

Pleased to report that I also have had no further problems and that everything is working as it should.

Michael

Oh how I wished I had found this thread before now. I have had an identical problem with my EC328S V2.20 coupled to an 80 watt solar panel on the very few sunny days we have had this year. The problem did not appear in 2014 (I purchased the van new in July). Auto-Sleepers at Willersey had not come across the problem before and went way beyond the call of duty trying to sort it out for me including carrying out a complete change of the main electrical box which contains the regulator. We thought we had the problem fixed but today we saw the sun for an hour and the problem was still there. A phone call between Mark at Auto-Sleepers and Sargent identified the firmware ' Spike' problem and Sargent have now arranged to send me a replacement control panel with the Version 2.22 software. Having read this thread I feel confident that my problem will now be sorted. Thanks for posting the details guys.

Hope it works out ok. Mine is still working ok.

After having the same problem with 328 unit after solar installation it was good  to read this thread.
Had the same response from sargent and am grateful for the upgraded panel with v 2.22 software from graig foot it seems to have addressed the problem and 12v is staying on, although it is early days yet reading other outcomes, am confident with upgrade outcome.
it is good to know there is still some good firms about 
          thank you
            Dash

The new panel with V2.22 arrived by courier today but it has a different fault. It constantly shows a 61 amp discharge. Refitting the old panel returns  charge/discharge to normal so obviously I have received a faulty replacement unit. Sargent are now closed for the weekend so I will hit the phone again on Monday.  AAAGGGHHH!


Update. I have just found out that the unit can be re-calibrated by holding the selector for a couple of seconds whilst displaying the charge/discharge. Time for me to read up on this a little. I'LL BE BACK.........

All OK. Lack of instructions anywhere in the manual or with the item but found out by applied logic that by holding the selector button down for two seconds whilst charge/discharge was displayed the unit calibrated itself and all seems fine now.

As a matter of interest I also have a problem with my outside temperature under-reading by six degrees and this problem has not sorted by changing the control panel (I was hoping it would). Sargent have sent me a new sensor but wire routing difficulties mean that I have not yet been able to install it to see if the problem is then solved. To be honest it is not worth disturbing the refrigerator connections, which would  probablybe necessary) because of this minor problem so I will just live with it. Unless anyone knows better of course :)

Blast! Have just read these posts, Driftwood 6, and had I read them a few minutes earlier I would not have troubled Sargent with an email query.

My 2-week old Nuevo has the EC328S, with v2.22. All seems OK, apart from a strange reading for the Current, which like yours shows a discharge of -60.5 amps.

Thanks to your post, I'll try the remedy to recalibrate tomorrow morning (assuming no eclipse to mess up the solar!)

I apologise to Sargent because having read the manual again the recalibration info is clearly there in section 5.2 on page 12. If you don't have the manual it can be downloaded from here http://www.sargentltd.co.uk/EC328_User_Instructions.pdf

Oh the joys of a new motorhome.......

Cymro wrote:Blast!  Have just read these posts, Driftwood 6, and had I read them a few minutes earlier I would not have troubled Sargent with an email query.

My 2-week old Nuevo has the EC328S, with v2.22. All seems OK, apart from a strange reading for the Current, which like yours shows a discharge of -60.5 amps.

Thanks to your post, I'll try the remedy to recalibrate tomorrow morning (assuming no eclipse to mess up the solar!)

Success! Now gives a sensible current reading. Very many thanks for guidance.

Isn't this Forum a wonderful source?

Cymro wrote:My 2-week old Nuevo has the EC328S, with v2.22.

Out of nothing more than curiosity, does anyone know what the "S" in EC328S refers to? I checked mine and it shows as being a EC328B (also with V2.22 because Sargent very kindly upgraded for me when I fitted a solar panel)? I concede that it ~might~ be because mine is supplied via B1lb0s, but that seems a bit unlikely...

I seem to recall that when I accidentally changed mine from 328 to 325 I had the option of S or B when I changed it back. I looked at the manual and the suffix was something to do with enabling certain optional features and EC328S seemed right for my van. Sargent manual not handy at present but easily available on line.