Greetings everyone, I’m really new to this solar stuff and was hoping that the new AC200P power station would be easy to set up. Unfortunately, it’s not charging with my new Rich Solar 200 watt panel. I thought this was “plug & play” system as the owners manual suggested, but seems there’s a trick to getting things up & running. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks!
Welcome @pete to the forum!
First off we need to understand the working voltage the AC200p needs to operate. The unit needs a solar panel input with a working voltage of DC 35v-150v with max input of 12A to start charging. And it will start charging as soon as you plug the panels into the solar input…
That said, I see the Rich Solar RS-M200 200w panels have a VOC of 24.3v & 9.8a IMP so you will need at least 2 of these panels connected in series to get that voltage over the 35v minimum.
As you connect panels in series, the voltages add up, amps stay the same. And when you connect panels is parallel, the amps add up, and the voltage stays the same.
Here’s a nice little video that can help you understand the importance of reading voltage and amp in regards to solar wiring… this guys videos have helped me out ALOT!!
Here’s a link to the manual. Page 8 will show steps of charging…
https://cdn.shopifycdn.net/s/files/1/0370/4986/0229/files/User_Manual-AC200P.pdf?v=1606794630
Hope this helps get you started man, let us know if ya have any questions!