any one heard of Charge Max ?

westbranch

Just got a Charge Max listing show up in an Ebay search, some pretty hefty claims for a very cheap CC.. Comments anyone? what is European Digital Charging Technology (EDCT) ??

Eric

quote

This auction listing is for a Charge-Max 5000-12/24. (32 and 48 volt models available -- e-mail for pricing.) The Charge-Max 5000 is a Diverting Digital Charge Controller that operates at 10 to 2500 watts in a 12VDC system, or 10 to 5000 watts in a 24VDC system (12 / 24 volt switch selectable at 150 Amps charging & 150 Amps diverting max). This unit is designed to be used in your AE / RE / RV / MARINE systems. The Charge-Max(tm) uses the latest battery charging methodology called European Digital Charging Technology (EDCT) to rapidly charge your batteries as fast as possible and as fully as possible, while ensuring that you are maximizing your system's charging potential. While most existing charge controllers on the market use the older PWM, MPPT, variable profile, Constant Current/Constant Voltage circuitry, that can waste a lot of your system's battery charging potential, the Charge-Max 5000 instead "pulse-charges" your batteries until they are fully charged, and then "Automatically Diverts" to an auxilliary load, or to charge a second set of batteries, if you so desire. Not only is the Charge-Max 5000 a true Load Diverting charger (which means that if your batteries are fully charged then the excess power can be directed/diverted to a second set of batteries or to an external load like a pump, fan motor, or bank of load resistors, for example, to provide space heat - this approach allows you to use every bit of the energy from your system), it also is expandable to 750 amps/ 24000 watts. Each Charge-Max 5000 is designed to be used with its own AE/RE Generator (Solar Panels, Wind Generator, Hydro Generator, Steam-Electric Generator) up to 5000 watts in a 24 volt system or 2500 watts for a 12 volt system. Then, as your system grows, you simply add additional Charge-Max 3000 units that connect together in parallel to provide an expandable (scalable) charging system. Although the Charge-Max 5000 was specifically designed to operate with our complete line of AE / RE / RV / MARINE Generators (Sun-Max 180, Wind-Max 1500/3000, Hydro-Max 1500/3000 & Wood-Max 1500/3000), you may use the unit with virtually any other brand of AE/RE Generators or solar panels over an input voltage range of 7 to 72 volts. (See eBay for listings of our other products at "View Seller's Other Auctions" for today's offerings.) The Charge-Max 5000 is particularly well suited for use with our Extractor-Max 5000 Charge Booster unit which will boost low DC voltages from as low as 7 volts DC (low light level solar panels, low wind, low head/flow, low steam-electric pressure, etc.) up to the necessary voltage to charge your battery(s); see our other auctions for details.

BB.

Re: any one heard of Charge Max ?

Sounds like a lot of hyped marketing terms...

European digital charging seems to usually point to toll and tax collection systems... A quick search did not seem to yield any useful solar technology links.

MaxCharge seems to be a credit card charging plug-in for Quick Books...

Of course, there are lots of other languages/countries to search in...

Diversion charging and charge controllers are nothing new or special--many of the major brands have that mode already available (Outback, Morning Star are a couple that I remember)...

Digital Pulse charging for lead acid batteries has been sold for years as a cure for sulphate problems... Lots of people say they like it--I have not seen any testing that shows it to work...

Searching around and I found this thread that refers to them selling on E-Bay from 2005, with an entry in 2007 talking about a DOA and failure to respond/fix... (they are supposedly a Contract Manufacturer who sells their weekly over-runs on EBay at way under dealer costs--"sounds wonderful to me" /sarcasm off)...

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I asked the manufacturer a question (how much power it consumes and what EDCT is) about their controller and here is the response I got back. Thier web site is currently down (being moved to another ISP they say) but does resolve by name and IP's to the old host. I may pick one up to test it as it interests me too.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The email reply I recieved is below:[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]"suns10,[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Thank you for your questions regarding the Charge-Max digital charge controller. The quiescent current (standby, waiting for AE/RE generator input from solar panels, wind/hydro turbine) is approximately 25 to 30 milliamps (.03 amps), or in a 12 volt system, about 1/3 watt. This represents the amount of power to turn the Green "Battery Active" LED indicator on and operate the internal CMOS timekeeping and watchdog circuits. The amount of power consumed by the unit is the same if the AE/RE input generator (solar panels, wind or hydro turbine, etc.) is active, other than to "light" the "Input Active" LED and the Charging/Diverting LEDs (about 20 additional milliamps). We use state-of-the-art semiconductor power devices for 97% throughput efficiency and special Schottky Barrier Diodes in the output sections for extremely high efficiencies in all of our digital products.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Regarding the EDCT charging methodology, we have a white-paper on the Web site, but it is down while they move to a different ISP. (www.boston-mountain.com) It should be back up in a week or two for you to look at. However, I can give you the "short version" as follows: The technology we use was originally developed by the Germans (really in the Netherlands), for rapidly charging industrial battery sets from wind generators. Most of the AE/RE PWM-type chargers you see on the market today are derived from old-time "grid-based" chargers (variable profile Constant Voltage, Constant Current). Although using microprocessors to controll the process, most try to "second-guess" the battery's condition over time. The assumption is that the input voltage will be fairly constant and that the charging current can be controlled as you would with a grid-based "battery charger". This approach doesn't optimize the energy created by your solar panels or wind/hydro generators, in that, the conditions are usually quite dynamic and you have to be able to fully utilize the energy available in real-time as efficiently as practicable.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The EDCT, on the other hand, uses a DSP approach that optimizes the rate-of-charge based on the amount of available voltage and current, in real-time. This is a process that uses fuzzy-logic in conjunction with the Charge-Booster that you see listed on the schematic that I sent you. So, rather than second guessing the battery's charge profile, the DSP module actually integrates the various input conditions, along with temperature measurements at the battery and in the unit's enclosure, and puts the battery(s) through a Charge Cycle, followed by a Rest & Test phase. The rate of discharge (settling time) is measured and recorded, and the charge is again applied until the DSP is satisfied that the battery(s) is fully charged (depends upon the Set Point adjustment). Then, after the batteries have been "topped off", the Charge-Max will automatically apply a periodic "pulsed trickle" to reduce sulphation. (Equalization Charges are done manually by rotating the Set Point control fully clockwise every 30 days, or as otherwise specified by the battery manufacturer.)[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I hope that will help you better understand the process. I like the units in that they will operate with batteries as small as 200 AH, but can also drive banks up to 5000 AH. (Also, multiple units can be connected in parallel and share data with each other using the Sync Cable.) To take full advantange of the charging system, however, you would really need the Charge-Booster unit as well. It will optimize the charging process when your solar panels or wind/hydro generators are operating in less than ideal conditions. We offer the Charge-Boosters and Charge-Max controllers in 1500, 3000 & 6000 watt models for 12, 24, 32, 36, 48 & 120 VDC systems.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]We are a contract manufacturer for the AE/RE/RV & Marine industry and put our weekly production overruns on eBay so you can get the extra units at well below Dealer Cost. We should have some more items to list tomorrow evening, but please let me know if you need anything else.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Thanks![/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Kindest regards,
John
BMM Tech Dept."[/FONT]
[/FONT]

-Bill

westbranch

Re: any one heard of Charge Max ?

thanks Bill, I too found that 2005 missive and not much else. Suspected that the 'pulse ' comment was for a desulphator. Ebay price sounded like an average charger price, not a true CC.

Eric

Windsun

Re: any one heard of Charge Max ?

This is the key phrase " Diverting Digital Charge Controller...".

Which means that it basically lets the panels run wide open with no control until the batteries reach certain voltage and then divert it to something like a dummy load.

In the past diversion control has not shown to be all that great for the batteries.

As far as "european digital control", I guess euro computers use different 1's and 0's than american ones do. In other words, hype.

BB.

Re: any one heard of Charge Max ?

Then there is are a couple "Asian" computers that used Ternary (or Trinary) states (+1, 0, -1)...

Read about the 1958 "Setun" and "Setun 70" at Moscow State University Russian computers here...

-Bill

---OK, has virtually nothing to do with the thread, but I have always enjoyed reading about off main stream projects (which USSR/Russia seemed to have over the years). -BB