NyQuest Innovation Labs iCON User manual

iCON
Solar Battery Charge Controller for Home UPS

1. Introduction
iCON is an intelligent solar charge controller that is capable of converting the existing home
battery backup systems like inverters and UPS to a solar powered system, with minimum
investment. iCON with its patented technology to inhibit battery charging from utility grid,
controls the charging of the battery from the solar and from the utility grid in such a way that it
maximizes the solar utilization and minimizes the utility grid consumption. iCON does battery
equalization in regular intervals which helps in maintaining the battery health. Customers can see
their real time solar savings and most importantly the environment savings anytime through our
web portal.
2. General Information
2.1. About the User Manual
The manual covers all necessary information including procedure to install, configure, use and
troubleshoot iCON solar battery charger for home UPS. The device is compatible with almost
all photovoltaic modules (PV), batteries and inverters of various brands. Refer the instruction
manual of each manufacture for confirming compatibility with iCON.
2.2. Important Safety Information
The installation of iCON should be done strictly adhering to the safety instruction given in the
manual. It is always better to depend on qualified personnel for installation and
commissioning.
2.3. Symbols used in this manual
Fatal injury to the operator if the instruction marked with this symbol is not
taken care
Material risk and/or suspension of warranty if the instruction marked in this
symbol is not taken care
2.4. Warranty
Preserve the last page of the manual to claim warranty.
2.5. Limitation of Liability
All damage caused due to an installation that does not comply to instruction, operating the
device in faulty condition and inadequate maintenance cannot be claimed under warranty. The
use of iCON is purely the responsibility of the customer.

iCON is not designed for vital medical care equipment nor any critical equipments that cause
potential risk to human and environment.
Any attempt to copy/reproduce the technology could be subjected to legal consequences.
NyQuest Innovation Labs reserves all rights to make any modification to the product without
prior notification. NyQuest Innovation Labs is not responsible for any incidental, direct or
indirect damages of any kind caused due to defective equipment.
3. Installation
3.1. Unpacking
Check the device is intact and free of any physical damage during transportation and that all
accessories listed below are present. Any fault must be immediately brought under the attention
of the distributor or the contact mentioned at the end of the manual.
●iCON with female part of the MOLEX
●Battery wires- black and red wire with ring type tag on one side and pin type tag on other
side
●Three core wire
3.2. Where to install
iCON is designed to be installed on a flat wall vertically. Leave sufficient space around the unit
for air circulation. Install iCON in an area which is
●Not accessible by children and unauthorized person
●Protected from direct sunlight or heated objects. This may cause the internal components
to heat up and affect the working of iCON.
4. Connecting iCON
Special care has to be taken to connect high voltage systems, Battery terminal.
Always rely on professionals for installation
Take care not to connect the panels to the battery input or the batteries to the PV
input
Phase in and Phase out are very close in the device. Take care to avoid any
external short. Similarly be careful regarding phase to neutral short in AC
connection
iCON is intended to be connected exclusively to photovoltaic source. It is suitable
for charging any type of lead-acid battery

Fig 2 Removing top plate
The PCB lugs where the battery, inverter and solar terminals need to be connected, could be
accessed by removing the top plate of the casing. Cable entry is made through the holes present
in the side casing and tightened from the top. Ensure that the cables are sufficiently tightened and
the connection are correct. The AC connections could be given from outside using the MOLEX.
4.1. Installation/Operation points in the device
S/No
Description
Comment
1
Terminal to connect inverter +
●Ensure proper cable size is taken
●Both the ends of the connecting wire
should be crimped and connected
with appropriate wire tag
●Ensure that the wires are not
connected interchanged or reversed
2
Terminal to connect battery +
3
Terminal to connect solar +
4
Terminal to connect solar -
5
Terminal to connect battery -
6
Terminal to connect inverter -
7
AC neutral out
●Phase and neutral wire from the AC
wall socket is connected to the AC
phase in and AC neutral in
●AC phase out and AC neutral out
goes to the phase and neutral in of the
inverter
●The four pins of the molex are very
close. Ensure proper crimping
●Ensure that phase and neutral wires
are not connected in reverse
8
AC neutral in
9
AC phase in
10
AC phase out
11
Earth wire
●Earth wire from the AC wall socket
has to be externally shorted with the
earth wire that goes into the inverter
12
Push switch and USB port
●Push switch used for configuration

●Push switch used for delaying force
trip by 30 minutes
Note: USB port in the product is only meant for factory and service purpose. The port should not
be used for any normal USB operations like mobile charging, plugging mass storage etc.

Fig 3 Connecting diagram

●Push button: The push button when pressed during normal operation of iCON, would delay
the force trip by 30 minutes. This feature is used in order to help the customer run high loads
in the inverter circuit when the utility power is available.
Note: Availing this feature frequently will adversely affect the savings that is expected from
iCON. It is always better to connect heavy loads to non inverter circuit.
4.2. Solar PV connections
Any panel string voltage between 0 V to 60 V is acceptable for iCON. Considering the efficient
utilization of the connected solar panel, it is advised to connect the solar panel with Voc less than
25 V for 12 V battery system and solar panel with Voc less than 40 V for 24 V system.
Battery voltage
(V)
Ideal Solar panel
150 W Panel
250 W Panel
Voc (V)
Vmp (V)
Voc (V)
Vmp (V)
12
22
19
NA
NA
24
NA
NA
36
32
Table 2 Ideal Voc for 12 V and 24 V system
Depending upon the load requirement, the panel has to be parallel so that the overall power of
the solar installation doubles keeping the Voc unchanged. The maximum power rating for solar
installation is limited to 450 W for 12 V system and 750 W for 24 V system, considering
efficient solar utilization. The solar positive and negative wires are connected tightly, to the
corresponding terminals of the device.
Note: The solar panels made by the same manufacturer and with the same rating should be used
for paralleling.
4.3. Battery and inverter connection
iCON connects the PV to the existing inverter. Battery and the mains has to be disconnected
from the the inverter. Battery positive and negative wires are connected to the corresponding
battery connecting terminals of the iCON. The inverter wire which is supposed to be connected
to the battery, need to be connected to the positive and negative inverter connecting terminals of
iCON. Usually the battery wires of the inverter comes with ring type tag at the end, which has to
be cut and the end of the wire should be crimped for connecting it to inverter terminals of the
iCON.
The phase and neutral wires from the AC plug has to be connected to the AC phase in (9) and
AC neutral in (8) pins of the 4 pin MOLEX connector of iCON. The AC phase out (10) and AC
neutral out (7) pins of 4 pin MOLEX connector of iCON has to be connected to the inverter’s

mains in. Loads are supplied from mains out of the inverter just as in the normal inverter
connection.
Connect the phase in, phase out and neutrals as specified in the manual. Swapping
may lead to short circuit. The MOLEX pins are very close and hence solder the AC
wire tips so as to prevent short circuit due to stray strands.
The battery and inverter wires should be crimped and wire tags should be placed on
either side of wire. Pin type wire tag on iCON side and ring/pin type wire tag on the
other side depending upon the requirement of the inverter/battery.
5. LED and Buzzer Indication
The iCON’s present mode/state of operation and errors are indicated using LED.
●Device startup: The LED blinks RED→BLUE→GREEN with the music
Device State (Blinks in every 5 seconds)
LED Colours
Error / States
YELLOW
Waiting for full charge detection
GREEN
Solar charging - Mains Inhibition
Mains Inhibition**
MAGENTA
Battery force trip**
CYAN
Solar assisted force trip
BLUE
Normal Inverter mode
RED
Solar assisted power failure
OFF
Device OFF
Table 3. Device state LED indications
**Force trip: The utility power is disconnected from the load. This is usually done when the
solar is available and considering the battery voltage. This feature maximizes the solar
utilization.
**Mains inhibition: The utility is prevented from charging the battery. This feature increases the
overall savings when compared to all other charge controllers.
The LED indication along with the error description is mentioned in table 4. Contact the service
men to get it rectified.

Errors
LED Colour
Error / States
RED (Steady)
Cannot detect the memory
RED (Blinks in every 1 second)
Not Calibrated
MAGENTA (Blinks in every 1 second)
Not Configured
YELLOW (Blinks in every 1 second)
RTC not set
Table 4. Error indication
6. Initial power up and configuring iCON
Battery power ups the iCON and hence it is always better to keep any of the battery terminal
open until all the other connection is done.
●PV+ and PV- : Connect the PV+ and PV- to the corresponding terminal in the iCON tightly.
It is safe to keep the MCB (not mandatory for small power solar installation) for solar, as it
become easy to isolate the PV when required. Check the voltage across the solar+ and solar-
terminal in iCON, so that Voc will be shown (in the presence of sunlight).
●Inverter+ and Inverter- : The red (+) and black (-) wires of the inverter that are usually
connected to battery+ and battery- in normal inverter connection need to crimped properly
and tightened to inverter+ and inverter- terminals of the iCON.
●AC Mains connection : Three core wire with three pin plug on one side, is used to bring
phase in and neutral wire from the wall socket to the corresponding pins of the four pin
MOLEX. Three core cable is used to connect the phase out and neutral from the
corresponding pins of the four pin MOLEX to the mains in of the inverter. The earth wire
should be shorted externally. Do not turn on the AC mains before iCON gets powered from
the battery.
●Battery+ and Battery- : The battery connection can be closed once all other connections are
done. The battery wire which are crimped on either sides with appropriate wire tags are
connected to the battery+ and battery- terminal of the iCON. Connect the final battery
connection using resistor to prevent sparking. iCON gets powered and the LED blinks
RED→BLUE→GREEN with the music. Turn on AC mains only iCON is powered from
battery.
iCON has to be configured in order for the device to start running its advanced algorithm. If not
configured, magenta LED blinks in every 1 sec showing the error. Configuration has to be done
by the installation engineer using his laptop/PC with the iCON configuration utility V2.0
installed in it. The iCON configuration utility tool screen will look like Figure 3.

Fig 3. iCON configuration utility screen
Step wise procedure to configure iCON is as below
Step 1: Configuring inverter system specification

Step 2: Configuring network credentials
Step 3: Syncing time

Step 4: Testing connectivity with AP and server
7. Specification
iCON- 12/24 V
Battery system voltage
12 V
24 V
Power rating of the
recommended solar panel (W)
150/300/450
450/600/750
Max continuous output current
(A)
100
100
PV open circuit voltage (V)
< 25
< 40
MPP voltage range (V)
< 20
< 34
Input current from PV (A)
30
Ambient temperature range (℃)
-10 to 60
Advanced Features
●Force tripping to enhance the solar utilization
●Intelligent and adaptive algorithm that studies load
pattern and solar availability from the previous data to
optimize solar utilization
●Utility charge inhibition to prevent the unnecessary
charging of the battery from the utility grid

●Peak time battery charge inhibition for reducing the
stress on utility grid
●Web and mobile based UI for viewing user data
Ports
●Solar -, Solar +, Inverter-, Inverter+, Battery+, Battery-
●Four pin MOLEX for phase in, phase out, neutral
Product weight (gms)
610
8. Product dimension