AC Coupled - SMA SunnyBoy, Sunny Island and NiFe Batteries

midijeep

Does anyone have any information on the settings needed to use NiFe batteries with a AC Coupled - SMA SunnyBoy 3000TL-US-22, Sunny Island 6048 system?
I looked through the forum and found some incomplete information with attachments missing.
I would be using 48v @ 200 Ah NiFe battery bank.  The Sunny Island has presets for FLA, VRLA & NiCd.  I am thinking that I'll need to customize one of these presets.  I'm hoping someone has went through the best settings needed on the SI to use with NiFe battery bank.  I contacted SMA America Support and they were no help.  They referred me to page 105 in the Sunny Island manual (no info for NiFe Battery Bank).  Any help would be greatly appreciated.!!
Thanks

midijeep

I found some information:
This was on a posting here at this forum---

"At this point, we change the configuration of the battery to run with 38 cells instead of 40 cells.
1.2 x 38 cells = 45.6 Volt nominal capacity. The SMA Sunny Island inverters actually default to this nominal voltage when you select Nickel-type battery in the setup menu."

I found additional information confirming above from a different site:

You can also do a 24V bank with 18 cells and 48V bank with 36 cells if your using equipment that will not charge to the higher voltages.

If using NiFe with a Sunny Island, you would use 38 cells, so the equalisation would be 62.7V as the max for the sunny island is 63V.

According to Edison's original manual from 1914, it is best to completely discharge the batteries from time to time before applying the equalisation charge.   Edison also recommends a 1.7 volt equalisation charge and he recommends changing the electrolyte every 5-10 years.

mike95490

The ni-cad setting should be pretty close.   Depending if you can cram a full charge into them in 1 day, you may need to tweak it some.

midijeep

I also found this.  I am not sure if it is correct but like you said, I'll have to tweak.

Solar Charger Settings
For solar charge controller settings for NiFe batteries, we recommend the following:
 
        cell      1.2V           12V       24V       48V
Equalise      1.65v         16.5v     33v       66v
Boost          1.55v          15.5v     31v       62v
Float           1.45v          14.5v     29v       58v