Solar Charge Controller Blinking & Flashing Meanings and Fix

You will notice that almost all solar controllers come with a display when you purchase, whether it is an mppt controller or an economic pwm controller, this display comes with a lot of information containing icons, symbols, text and numbers.

These carry different meanings and purposes, and learning to read the solar controller is one of the necessary steps to properly use the solar controller.

Many users may notice that the icons on the controller display will flash, today we will reveal the secret of the flashing icons. When some controllers do not have a display, they use led lights flashing to convey information, which we will also cover in the article.

Typically, there are 3 main icons/symbols that will show up: solar panel, solar Battery and load.

Solar Panel Icon/Light Blinking:

The panel icon will not light up when the controller does not detect any power input from the solar panel. This is the time to check if the solar panel has enough voltage or if there is a wiring error.

The panel icon starts flashing to indicate that the solar controller has detected solar input, and then it will always light up to indicate continuous and stable solar input.

PV Light Flashing in LED means the same, if there is any power input, it will in Green always. if there is no light, It means that the solar panel is not generating electricity. This situation is normal at night, you should check whether the solar panel is damaged.

Usually the problem is the solar panel junction box solder joints bad solder or not solder caused a broken circuit, or positive and negative terminals connected to the reverse.

Battery Light Blinking

In LCD, Battery icon Blinking has a very straightforward meaning, with a power bar inside, and the battery charging process will dynamically show how much power has been charged into the battery. After the battery is full, the power bar will be full.

Battery icon Fast Flashing Means the Battery has been fully Charged, the battery is running well.

Battery icon Slow Flashing Means the battery is losing power and needs to be charged in time.

In LED Mode, when the battery is Charging, the led light indicator is green and always on. when it is full, the status indicator is green and flashing slowly.

When the battery voltage decreases to under voltage level, the LED Light on Solar Charge Controller turns orange/yellow.

When the battery voltage decreased to the over discharge level, the LED Light turns red, at this time the controller will automatically shut down the output to remind the user to recharge the battery in time

Load Light Blinking

If you have a ZHCSolar solar charge controller, it may have a load feature. This is a feature specifically designed for lighting applications. The load feature is a handy feature for controlling lighting. If it is off for 24 hours, the load will automatically turn back on when the charging current stops. Some models allow you to program the hours the load should be on and off, and some even let you set a schedule.

the Load Icon in LCD will Always display when you plugged the Load to the charge controller, and tell you the work status.

If the Load Icon Fast Flashing, it means there is a overload or short-circuit.

In LED Mode, if the load is working normal, the LED light will always on Green and keep lit up.

If the LOAD led is on Red and slow flashing, it indicates the load power is too large, you have to reduce the load power.

If the load led is on Red and Fast Flashing and the loads doesn’t work, it means there is a load short circuit occur, carefully check the connection to make sure the line is normal.

In Conclusion

Solar controller either with a LCD icon display or a led light indicator, when solar charge controller blinking/flashing in LCD icon or LED lights, it shows the working status of the system and notified if there is a problem, properly understand the flashing meanings will help you better leverage the solar power.