Yep.  The two products are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to 
charging current.  I actually ran into a problem one time because I didn’t size 
the AC breaker big enough.  When the BCM was powering loads plus charging the 
batteries after a several hour outage, it would trip the AC breaker, I think it 
was a 5A breaker and I upped it to 10A.  I figured 600 watts of AC was enough 
given it was a 360 watt power supply, but it would trip the breaker after about 
half a minute.

 

 

From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Josh Baird
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2020 12:57 PM
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Smaller DC PSU/Charger combo

 

The charging current on the BCMU360 is significantly lower than that of the 
BCM48A/B.

 

On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 1:55 PM Adam Moffett <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:

I had a number of sites with the TSP-600 + BCM48A.  If I recall correctly from 
the docs, it would use any surplus wattage to charge the battery.  

So 600W - LoadW = chargingW.

With a 200W load that could take 4x100ah batteries from dead to full in 12 
hours.  I didn't think that was unreasonable charging time.  

I never had the 360W units.

 

On 1/24/2020 1:14 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote:

Sorry, I got the acronyms wrong.  I think I meant that at larger sites we’re 
using the BCM, or TSP-BCM, or whatever it’s called.  The one that controls the 
power supply and powers the loads at the battery voltage.

 

From: AF  <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]> On Behalf 
Of Ken Hohhof
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2020 12:06 PM
To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'  <mailto:[email protected]> 
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Smaller DC PSU/Charger combo

 

I don’t think so.  Or keeping mind that the BCMU is also providing a DC-DC 
converter function when it is running on battery, you could look for a 12V 
system and then a smallish 12-48 converter.

 

Actually I would not run a 200 watt site off a BCMU or, for that matter, a 
single 12V battery unless it’s a really big battery.  The runtime off a single 
battery won’t be very long, and the recharge time off the BCMU will be even 
longer.  I only use the BCMU at small sites like you describe because the 
battery charging current is so low, it could take days to recharge the 
batteries.  If I need > 100 watts, I’m using the BMU.

 

What size battery are you using, something like 100 Ah?  One thought would be 
to use 4 smaller batteries.  I have a lot of sites with 4 x 22 Ah batteries.  
They fit in the bottom of our 24x30x10 NEMA boxes, and I prefer to series 
batteries rather than parallel.  4 x 22 Ah is roughly comparable to 1 x 100 Ah. 
 If you can’t fit 4 x 22 Ah, maybe 4 x 9 Ah.  I think I have at least one site 
with a BCMU and just a single 9 Ah battery, but I think that site also has a 
whole farm generator and the battery backup is mainly to cover the time for the 
generator to come online.

 

 

From: AF <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf 
Of Josh Baird
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2020 11:51 AM
To: AFMUG <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: [AFMUG] Smaller DC PSU/Charger combo

 

For micropops, we typically use some a Traco TSP-BCMU360 paired with a Meanwell 
SDR-240-48.  This is great, but it's a bit overkill for some very small 
micropops (1-2 AP, BH) that we are looking at deploying.  I really don't need 
~220-240W that this configuration supplies.  

 

The challenge is that I don't want to use something like an AD-155C which would 
require me to use 4 batteries 12V to get 48V.  I like that the BCMU360 can 
supply a 48V load with just a single 12V battery.

 

So - do I have any options for a smaller (physical footprint and output power) 
solution that requires just a single 12V battery that can supply a 48V load?

 

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