Battery Voltage Sense

jhilley
jhilley Registered Users Posts: 2
On a Tristar 45 controller what is the advantage of the battery voltage sense connection and what size cable should be used?

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: Battery Voltage Sense

    Unless you are going a very long distance--Any small gauge wire will be fine (there is very little current flow into a voltage detection circuit). You can use some Cat 2 or Cat 5 computer network or even telephone cable--Choose a twisted pair for the +/- leads for best electrical noise resistance.

    You should have a very small fuse (0.5 amp or as small as fuse as you can find) on the positive lead connection to the battery bank to prevent fire from a short circuit in the voltage sense leads--especially if they run any distance.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: Battery Voltage Sense

    The advantage is that the battery sense wires do not get their Voltage reading through the charge cables which can be carrying a large amount of current. Thus the reading is more accurate of the battery Voltage because there is no significant V-drop through the sense wires.