At 15:30 -0600 24/4/11, Allan Sindelar wrote:
The Solar Boost products actually used an external shunt option,
tying to the Kelvin terminals on the shunt to measure current and
allow compensatory current; a dip switch controlled
internal/external sensing. Modern digital controllers apparently
rely solely on voltage variations.
Thanks Allan,
So most modern controllers cannot sense the battery current and
therefore cannot use this as a cue to switch to floating the battery.
I confess that I had never heard of the Solar Boost external shunt
but since most of my systems have an element of wind and/or hydro
this would not be an option for me. Without this external shunt, a
controller is not going to know the charging current (since part of
the current will be going to the load). Without knowing the current,
how can you do a proper job of switching to float and avoiding drying
out the battery?
I don't understand how people can use sealed batteries successfully
on RE systems. I avoid them when I can and I usually set the
absorption voltage too low, for safety, if I do have to. But I am
keen to learn about a successful approach that does charge the
battery properly without drying it out.
--
Hugh Piggott
Scoraig
http://www.scoraigwind.co.uk
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