Critique my solar charger/battery monitor setup?

[john61ct]

What is your method of verifying 100%?

You know every model battery has its own mfg definition?

Are you under the impression that the charge source knows SoC accurately?

99% of the time sources are dropping to Float way too early, drastically shortening bank longevity.

Most owners don't know, some don't care about these details, just replace as needed more frequently.

And that's fine for cheap banks, but best to at least know the proper practices and choose to not follow them

rather than failing to get good value out of ignorance.

 

[Bayou Boy]

What is your method of verifying 100%?

You know every model battery has its own mfg definition?

Are you under the impression that the charge source knows SoC accurately?

99% of the time sources are dropping to Float way too early, drastically shortening bank longevity.

Most owners don't know, some don't care about these details, just replace as needed more frequently.

And that's fine for cheap banks, but best to at least know the proper practices and choose to not follow them

rather than failing to get good value out of ignorance.

I use a shunt based monitor. I’m not going to base my recommendations on people that aren’t setting up their solar controller properly.

That’s ridiculous. You guys just want to argue.

Seriously, you are arguing that I am wrong because people don’t set their stuff up correctly. That’s just dumb. This could also all fail because the panels fly off going down the road. Are we considering that as well?


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[john61ct]

That's great, good job.

Less than 1% do.

And less than 1% of those actually go to Float automatically based on reaching endAmps.

So it is worth spreading the word, not something to criticize.

 

[Bayou Boy]

That's great, good job.

Less than 1% do.

And less than 1% of those actually go to Float automatically based on reaching endAmps.

So it is worth spreading the word, not something to criticize.

Thanks. I just think the people that are here asking for help are the ones that have done a little research and are going to do it right. The other guys are over on irv2 forum asking why their Gopower setup they bought at camping world won’t charge their single Grp 27. Haha.


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[Bayou Boy]

As an aside, if you are contemplating any of this, your first purchase should be a shunt based monitor. Install that and then go on a couple of trips to make some observations. You will probably be way under or over on your estimation of the size battery bank and charging setup you actually need unless you’ve done this a few times.


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[shade]

AHT

?

 

[john61ct]

Absorb Hold Time

How long does it take to hold CV before getting to endAmps-defined 100% Full?

terminating the charge cycle, often by dropping to Float V

 

[shade]

Absorb Hold Time

How long does it take to hold CV before getting to endAmps-defined 100% Full?

terminating the charge cycle, often by dropping to Float V

Thanks. I don't recall seeing that TLA before.

 

[Buddha.]

I let the furnace run for about five hours, unplugged from shore power, no solar. It took an hour to heat it from 30 to 60° but after that it stayed warm for a while before the furnace would kick back on. Looks like the furnace pulls about 7 amps when it’s running and the TV and radio pull about another two. I took the cover off the furnace got the specs for that looks like 30,000 btu and a little over 7 amps for the fan. There’s a nice wasp nest in there that I cleaned out, was a bit of a fire hazard.
Bank got down to 89% capacity. I plugged everything back in and only took about a half hour to charge back up I was pulling about 9amps for a few seconds and it went down to about 5 after a couple minutes.

Second picture shows total draw. Third picture is about a minute after I plugged back in to shore power.

 

[luthj]

Rough estimate of 30% duty cycle is ~2.2AH per hour. Plus another 2 for radio/TV. Thats 12*4.2=50AH. Assuming you have no other significant loads, thats a reasonable amount to makeup with driving and solar charging.

 

[Bayou Boy]

You’ll be impressed with what that progressive converter puts out when the bank is drained enough for it to go into bulk mode. I’m actually thinking hard about selling my Honda 2000i and buying a 1000i to carry with me on trips in the winter.


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[Buddha.]

Rough estimate of 30% duty cycle is ~2.2AH per hour. Plus another 2 for radio/TV. Thats 12*4.2=50AH. Assuming you have no other significant loads, thats a reasonable amount to makeup with driving and solar charging.

I don't expect to have any other major loads, should just be little led lights. The fridge is propane and the inverter is in the truck.

 

[Buddha.]

You’ll be impressed with what that progressive converter puts out when the bank is drained enough for it to go into bulk mode. I’m actually thinking hard about selling my Honda 2000i and buying a 1000i to carry with me on trips in the winter.


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I'm a little skeptical about how much of a charge is actually gonna get through to the batteries since they're 25' away and 6awg wire. From the factory there's a 30 amp self resetting breaker on the line. The converter is 60 amp. Are they expecting the size of the wires to limit the charge to under 30 amps? This is confusing to me. Not sure if the batteries would take that many amps anyway but what if I go to 4 golf cart batteries? I assume I'd have to upgrade those 6 awg wires.

 

[Bayou Boy]

I'm a little skeptical about how much of a charge is actually gonna get through to the batteries since they're 25' away and 6awg wire. From the factory there's a 30 amp self resetting breaker on the line. The converter is 60 amp. Are they expecting the size of the wires to limit the charge to under 30 amps? This is confusing to me. Not sure if the batteries would take that many amps anyway but what if I go to 4 golf cart batteries? I assume I'd have to upgrade those 6 awg wires.

I have 6awg from my converter to the batteries from the factory and I have seen 50 amps. It’s 20-25 feet one way.

I’d swap that breaker for a 60 amp. It will still protect a short but allow the converter max.

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[Buddha.]

I've been subscribed to this guy for a while. This is a new video from him, relevant to this thread.