Beginner Solar

[sternwake]

Its working as it should.

The voltage without a full load on the panel will always be up in the 18+ range almost regardless of sun angle.

Do not pay attention to the battery % on the solar controller, its a partially educated guess, at best.

The best figure is battery voltage and Amperage . Panel voltage will be higher, and much higher once it is in float on a battery with no loads on it.

Red electrical tape is a wonderful thing.

Filling a battery should be done after the battery is known fully charged. Fill to 1/8" below those little arms hanging into the cells/ Filling to those arms or above will have it moist on top when charging.

The charge controller came with a temperature sensor. Use it in the future. I taped mine to the battery top away from the caps as it was not designed to be on the negative battery terminal like most other BTS's

TX2S lowered his to the Gel setting and got it to not weep so much acid. You do not want a new battery weeping electrolyte, as when it is refilled the max SG will be lower than when new. Also not the best for older batteries, but they have already provided some % of their life by then.

This cheapo charge controller is by no means perfect, it is good enough, especially for 23$, but you are not to believe it's percentage number, and you are not to believe that 2 hours in absorption was enough to fully charge the battery. It might be,. on shallow discharges, but do not count on it.

[Blacktank]

cool,i'll void the warranty tomorrow,also has a voltage sensor i'll hook up too

[rvpopeye]

Looks normal  , from here.
Void void void   ! , rig for cool running.

[Blacktank]

where i'm at

20ft cord with power poles


warranty voided

zip tied the wires to the frame so when i trip over the cord the power poles will disconnect and not pull the wires out of the magic box


even though i will use this as a primary system right now,i am going to set it up as aux portable with the controller mounted in the battery box

[Blacktank]

when i unplugged it last night it said battery 100%,when i plugged it in just now 80%,the water i added?
% rose quick over a couple minutes

heard some bubbling so turned it to gel

[sternwake]

Ignore %. It will say 0% at 12.2v morning battery voltage. Which is more like 50%.

Ignore skofff laugh mock. Trying to second guess its percentage reading will cause confusion and soon after. Insanity.

Stay ahead of.insanity. by ignoring it

[Blacktank]

how do i get a battery voltage reading during the day? when the sun is on the panel it's putting out 14.7v so that what it reads

right now 10;45pm 13.1v

[sternwake]

The battery voltage is then 14.7v.

This controller will seek 14.7v then try and hold the battery at 14.7v, on flooded or AGM setting, for 2 hours each day, then revert to float voltage. If the battery is not discharged then it will quickly rise to 14.7v

If you are not discharging this battery overnight, then 14.7v for 2 hours each day is overcharging the battery.

This controller is obviously not smart enough to determine if the battery is full and drop to float voltage. It is extremely basic.

If you are not going to discharge this battery overnight then 100 watts of solar for a few hours each day is very overkill, and will overcharge the battery, make it use a lot of water, and degrade the positive plates and can significantly shorten the life of the battery.

I wound not leave this controller on the an uncycled battery or a very shallowly cycled one. Or at least I would not leave the solar panel attached to it the whole time.

13.1v 6 hours after sundown is a significant surface charge with a flooded marine battery. New batteries tend to retain their surface charge longer, but there is a chance that you overcharged the battery today.

The controller display will display two voltages, one has a picture of a solar panel, the other has a picture of a battery.

Its fucking rocket science!

RTFM!

[Blacktank]

stupid magic box,unplugged it,have it on gel setting and didnt notice the bubbling sound as on flooded

i'll get my fridge temp wired up and suck some juice testing it out

so i just looked at the manual again and the only thing i can control is the 3 types of battery setting

thought something called a charge controller would control the charge and not cook the battery,my bad

stupid magic box

[MN C Van]

If you are not discharging this battery overnight, then 14.7v for 2 hours each day is overcharging the battery.

RTFM!

RTFM googled, first image returned in search:


LoL. Big commie propaganda first thing in the AM for us!

So, M= Manual.
The manual says it will do 'Absorb' for one hour even when AM voltage is in the fully charged range.
I suppose blasting a charged battery for only one hour is still overcharging, but overcharging less than two hours.

Default setting:
The maximum duration of the absorption period is determined by the battery voltage
measured just before the solar charger starts up in the morning:
Battery voltage Vb (@start-up) Maximum absorption time
Vb < 23,8V 6h
23,8V < Vb < 24,4V 4h
24,4V < Vb < 25,2V 2h
Vb > 25,2V 1h
(divide voltages by 2 for a 12V system)

The absorption period also ends when the output current of the solar charger drops to
less than 1Amp, not because of low solar array output but because the battery is fully
charged (tail current cut off).

This controller is, if we believe their claims, 'smarter' than Gary's, but, perhaps  like our communists, only in theory.
Perhaps golf carts' capacity makes them harder to overcharge?
It doesn't mention the 'Bulk' segment, that no one really talks about for some reason.

The log shows it's blasting the charged batteries day after day.

Min. battery voltage(V) 12.73
Max. battery voltage(V) 14.58
Time in bulk(m) 232
Time in absorption(m) 60
Time in float(m) 528

Can we set 'Bulk' to 13.1 when it's not being used? Then return to 14.7v when it's being used?
An hour of Absorb seems insignificant next to the four hours of 'Bulk' on a fully charged battery.
Batteries use next to no water.
Just so I'm not confused:

Bulk – is typically the first stage of charging. Bulk begins when the sun comes out or the generator turns on. This stage occurs when the batteries are at a lower state-of-charge, generally anything less than 80% full. The Bulk stage basically allows the solar panel or generator to put as much amperage into the batteries as possible. As the batteries collect electricity, the voltage will slowly rise over time.
Absorb – once the batteries reach the programmed “Absorb Voltage”, usually somewhere between 14.4 – 14.8 Volts for lead-acid batteries, the batteries will go into the Absorb stage. Typically, when a battery reaches this stage they are around 80-90% full depending on the charge rate. During this stage, the batteries are kept at the programmed voltage, and the amperage going into the batteries reduces as the batteries become more full. The Absorb stage ends after the programed time is reached or the number of amps going into the battery falls below a preset number.
Float – upon the completion of the Absorb stage, the charge controller will drop the voltage to a preset value and begin the Float stage. The batteries achieve float stage when they are at 100% charge. Remember it is very important to program your controller or charger correctly.

Or don't worry our pretty heads about it, and leave the thinking to the big boys?