Solar Panel PV light flashing

[12vconvert]

Hiya there, i have recently had a solar panel fitted to the roof of our van, im really impressed with it and we get a fully charged battery most day's, it is left to its own devices and just sits merrily away charging up 24/7, i have a voltmeter on the van and it is usually around 13.4 volt's, however when the sun is really bright and warm the solar panel light flashes which apparently is "overvoltage from the panel" is this normal, the volt's hover between 13.8 and 13.6 when this occur's, im assuming the regulator deal's with this but is everything ok?? Hope someone can help, cheer's.

 

[Parksy]

Provided that your solar power regulator is the appropriate one for the wattage of your panel power should be regulated to prevent any overcharge.

 

[JTQ]

Assuming your system is not one with a very sophisticated MPPT technology regulator [retailing £170 +] then if your voltmeter is hovering between 13.6 and 13.8 on a very sunny day it shows to me the regulator is doing what it was designed to do. The caveat is that some very sophisticated, multi stage ones, like MPPTs can pulse at higher voltages but these are more often found in high wattage domestic solar rather than recreational systems.
I have not had a regulator that has a flashing panel light so cant coment on that. Mine have been DIY and Morningstar [PWM, Pulse Width Modulating] units. Have you checked in the regulator's operating manual or makers online manual?
If you saw it cooking the battery over 14 volts for more than an hour you need to investigate.

 

[12vconvert]

Thankyou so much for your help, the van has been in storage and i have checked on it, the unit is a PWM unit , it pules about 13.8v then drop's when the pv light is flashing, according to the instruction leaflet supplied this means the battery is full and so a float charge is being applied. It's very nice knowing that the battery is almost always full. Now i just have to fix the gunk around the battery terminal issue's. It's like a hard but brittle crud, any ideas?? Cheer's again!

 

[Ancientcaravanner]

Disconnect the battery and scrape the crud off the posts and terminals. Finish off cleaning the posts with fine emery paper. Refit the battery and put a thin coat of vasaline on the posts and terminals.