Running a Clayton LPS2 from the panel

What this gets you

Two things a panel normally cannot do on its own.

Mains switching without mains work. Switching a 230V circuit from the screen usually needs a solid state relay and somebody qualified to wire it. Here the LPS2 already switches its own inverter, so the panel only has to ask it. Nothing of yours goes near 230V.

The whole system on one page. State of charge, time to full or empty, what the battery is taking or giving, and what each part of the LPS2 is doing - its solar charger, its mains charger, its DC-DC charger and its inverter - so you can see the inverter pulling from the battery, or the chargers pushing back in.

Before you start

• Update the panel to software 2.5.1 or later. Earlier software cannot find an LPS2 at all. Instructions are in the SavvyVan3 user guide.
• Stand where you can see the LPS2’s screen. It pairs with a PIN rather than opening up to anything nearby, which is the right way round, and the PIN appears on the LPS2’s own screen when the panel asks for it. It does not last long.

Pairing it

1. On the panel, open Installer Settings, enter the passcode, and go to the device pairing screen - the one with Scan on the right.
2. Tap Scan and give it a few seconds.
3. Look for a name beginning CP-, followed by two pairs of characters - something like CP-8E:58. That is your LPS2. It does not advertise itself as “Clayton”, which catches people out. Tap the green + beside it.
4. A card opens and the panel starts pairing - Starting pairing…, Looking for your Clayton…, Pairing with device….
5. When it asks for the PIN - Enter the PIN shown on the Clayton. - read it off the LPS2’s screen and type it in. It goes as soon as the sixth digit is in.
6. The card says Checking PIN… and Saving connection…, then closes, and the panel says Clayton paired. Tap the home button.

If it cannot finish, the card says Pairing failed and why, with Retry and Close. That PIN wasn’t accepted means a typing slip or a PIN that has already run out: tap Retry and use the new one the LPS2 shows.

After a restart the panel reconnects to it on its own - there is no pairing to do again.

Switching the inverter

Once paired, the LPS2 is your battery, so the battery on the main screen shows its charge. Tap it for the battery page. The right-hand card, AC CHARGING, has the inverter on it, and the button underneath reads TURN ON or TURN OFF - it always says what a tap will do. It reads SWITCHING… while the LPS2 answers, and UNAVAILABLE if the panel has lost touch with it.

An inverter left switched on draws current to sit there doing nothing, which is why most people turn it off and then forget to turn it back on before the kettle. Having it on the panel makes that a tap rather than a trip to the locker. Switch it at the unit instead and the panel follows.

What it reads back

On a van with an LPS2 the battery page has three cards side by side:

• SOLAR, with the Clayton logo - what the LPS2’s own solar charger is putting in: VOLTAGE, CURRENT, AMPS CHARGED today, and its STATE.
• CLAYTON POWER - the state of charge on the dial, and beside it the POWER going in or out and how long is left: TIME TO FULL while it charges, TIME TO EMPTY while it is being used, or TIME LEFT when hardly anything is flowing.
• AC CHARGING - CHARGING, what your hook-up is putting in, or Not connected; INVERTER, on or off; and OUTPUT, what the inverter is supplying - with the TURN ON / TURN OFF button underneath.

Under the solar card, a DC/DC POWER strip shows what the charger running from the vehicle is doing. Anything the LPS2 is not reporting at that moment is simply left off. Battery Data, at the bottom, lists the rest of what it sends - its temperature among them - and Usage Graph shows the history.

Together those answer the question people actually ask, which is not “how many watts” but “can I run this for as long as I want to”. Its solar shows on the battery page rather than as a separate dial on the main screen.

It replaces, rather than adds

The LPS2 is your battery, charger and inverter in one box, so it does not sit alongside the other ways of reading your power - it takes their place, and the panel enforces that rather than leaving you to work it out:

If you have	What happens
A SavvyShunt	Not used. The LPS2 already counts what is going in and out
A battery we read directly - Fogstar, Roamer and the rest	Not used. The LPS2 is the battery
A Victron SmartSolar link	Not used. The LPS2 reports its own solar

An LPS2 van needs less from us, not more. No shunt to buy, nothing to wire onto the battery negative, no key to copy out of an app. If you are pricing up a build around one, tell us what you have and we will tell you what you need - which for power is usually nothing.

Troubleshooting

• No CP- name when you scan? Check the software version first: before 2.5.1 the panel cannot see an LPS2 at all. Then get closer - pair from beside the unit rather than from the other end of the van.
• The PIN is refused. It has usually run out. Tap Retry and type the new one straight away.
• Could not connect after several attempts - make sure the LPS2 is switched on and nearby, and try again.
• Connected but the Clayton wouldn’t start sending data - switch the LPS2 off and on again, then Retry.

Still nothing? Tell us what you are seeing, and send us the logs from the passcode screen - Get Help, then Send Logs.