Buddha.
Finally in expo white.
$442 seems a little steep when It only serves one purpose.
Critique my solar charger/battery monitor setup?
- Thread starter Buddha.
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Buddha.
Finally in expo white.
The inverter in the back of the truck has a display that shows DC and AC voltages but I didn't verify with a volt meter. I also wasn't watching it when the converter started to get noisy. I'll check it.
luthj
Engineer In Residence
A true sine wave won't cause trouble, but if the inverter produces a significant harmonic distortion, you will have some noise at the charger.
Some noise is okay though, I would monitor the charger to make sure its not getting crazy hot, but it should still work fine even with some harmonic distortion.
Some noise is okay though, I would monitor the charger to make sure its not getting crazy hot, but it should still work fine even with some harmonic distortion.
Go back through this thread and add up how much time and money has been spent on this already that now has to be thrown away...
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Buddha.
Finally in expo white.
Are you talking about my 12v-36v converter I was going to use? That was like 35$.
Plus that $250 inverter, $20 extension cord, and now none of it works.
There is a lot to be said for not reinventing the wheel and there are much cheaper DC-DC chargers than that Redarc. I just like that one because it is sealed and watertight.
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Ok. It works if you want to risk burning up the Progressive Dynamics charger. Carry on...
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Buddha.
Finally in expo white.
Alloy
Well-known member
Buddha.
Finally in expo white.
I already shipped it back and got my refund from Amazon.
I have been using a 12 - 24V DC-DC converter into a Victron 100/20 MPPT for months and it works swimmingly - I would go back to that option. If you already have the MPPT controller, for about $30 you get a fully configurable and monitorable battery-to-battery charger. It also works seamlessly with solar, as long as your boosted voltage is somewhat near the Voc of your panels you can leave both connected and when you stop the MPPT will just draw from the solar panels.
Here is a diagram of how to do this that I posted some time ago:
Here is a diagram of how to do this that I posted some time ago:
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If you have your panels in series to output 72V, you probably shouldn't use a 12-24v boost converter. This is more of an issue for the boost converter than for the panels, the output electronics of the converter are likely only rated for a bit over the boost voltage. I can't say specifically without seeing a spec sheet.
Buddha.
Finally in expo white.
Now that going to Alaska for the summer is out of the question this project was put on the back burner. I finally got around to testing my Renogy 40amp DC-DC setup. I let the batteries discharge for a while so I could test the re-charge. I meant to let the batteries go down to about 50% but I got down to 28%. Also I had set my 712 battery monitor to my total AH and not my usable AH. It was saying I had something like 70% capacity at 11.8v. So I told the monitor what my usable AH was instead.
Note: The truck was sending power back through the factory trailer wiring in addition to the 2awg I installed. Hence the more than 40amps.
I let the batteries charge soley off the truck for a while to get an idea how that would go. Note the times in the top of the images.
Note: The truck was sending power back through the factory trailer wiring in addition to the 2awg I installed. Hence the more than 40amps.
I let the batteries charge soley off the truck for a while to get an idea how that would go. Note the times in the top of the images.
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