Specialty Concepts ASC-Plus - Manual (Page 19)

ASC-Plus Case 6 - The "CHARGING" light can be on very dimly at night if the panels are
under even very low levels of light (moonlight or street lights). The "CHARGING" light is
on brightly at night would indicate one of the following:
•
The controller is miswired. See CONTROLLER MISWIRED (Help Note #10)
••
There is a blocking diode located within the solar panels or in the panel connection. This
is not a serious problem, but should be removed if possible.
••
The ASC-Plus may be defective. See CONTROLLER DEFECTIVE (Help Note #12)
TEST: Disconnect the panel (ARRAY (+)), if the light goes off, then it may be possible that
the panel is receiving enough light for a slight charge, or a diode exists in the
connection.
ASC-Plus Case 7 - The “CHARGING” light going on and off rapidly can indicate one of the
following:
•
This could be a normal condition that results from a high charge rate, a full battery and a
load on.
•
The battery could be bad (one that is unable to maintain a charge). See BATTERY
PROBLEM SECTION
•
This could indicate a bad battery connection. - See BAD CONNECTION: BATTERY
(Help Note #9).
TEST: Take a voltage reading at the battery with an accurate meter. If the voltage reading
stays steady while the “CHARGING” light on the ASC-Plus continues to go on and
off, then suspect a bad battery connection. If the voltage here also moves up and
down rapidly, this may indicate the battery bank is bad or too small. This may also
indicate this normal condition: when the battery is fully charged, and the array can
provide a lot of charge current, the controller can pulse on and off rapidly, particularly
when there is current being used by a load. This is a normal operating condition and
is not a problem.
ASC-Plus Case 8 - The buzzing sound is caused by the controller switching on and off very
rapidly and is a problem relating to a bad battery connection. See BAD CONNECTION:
BATTERY (Help Note #9).
ASC-Plus Case 9 - The ASC-Plus may get warm during normal operation. If the unit should
get too hot to touch, consider it defective. See CONTROLLER DEFECTIVE (Help Note
#12)
ASC-Plus Case 10 - A low-voltage condition where the loads do not turn off would indicate
one of the following problems:
•
The battery voltage may not have actually dipped down below the Load Disconnect set-
point (about 11.5 volts)
••
A very low battery. The load-disconnect circuit stops working at about 8.0 volts.