Could really use some help with my battery charging problem

Rngr275

Been awhile… hope all is good for all of you.

I will try to keep this from getting too convoluted.

Been a rough year, my 9-year-old battery bank went belly up (not too surprised), my Generator died, and I installed another set of panels but had to wait months for the parts to get in (finally installed last week).

Current system: New Kohler 12Res Generator (50A LP output), 16 New Crown RE Batteries (350AH C20) wired in series for 48V and parallel wired for 700AH. 2 Midnite classic 200’s; one CC has my old 16 255WP SolarWorld modules connected and the other CC has the new TRINA TSM-330 panels connected for a total of ~6.7Kw. I use an Outback VFX-3648 Inverter, FNDC and a MATE from2012. FYI, I just got the new panels installed last week and have had no sun since they were installed! Of course right!!

My problem is the batteries;  low SG after absorb with solar and generator and the FDNC not giving the  correct %SOC.

1.       Crown Absorb V is specified at 58.1 V and according to the Sales Engineer they like to be bulk charged at 90A (whish I knew this before). When I do a 4hr absorb at 58.1V my generator puts out just less than 50A to the batteries, and my old 16 255 SW panels put out~ 60-70A (I think). He suggested upping the V to 58.4 or 58.6 to help. It did some but still can’t get to 1.27 SG. Hence the reason to expand my system with additional panels and help in the winter in general.

2.       So, Issue 2… I do a full absorb using my Generator (4hrs at 58.4v) the SG was reading 1.245, Ugh! I decide to do an EQ to try and drive up the SG (not sure if this was correct but) SG comes up to ~ 1.255 or so after 3 hr EQ. I notice my Mate/FNDC now has a +54AH and +3.35KwH for the batteries. SO it thinks I have additional AH in the system even though the SG is low and the resting V is low (50.4 vs 50.8 for full). I have to stop the EQ for another problem (CO fumes from the generator) and I notice that during the course of the evening the AH and KwH go down (as does the Voltage) but the %SOC doesn’t until the AH/KwH reach zero, then everything continues to go down. This a.m. I measure SG @ 1.235-1.240, Battery V is at 49.3 and the %SOC is at 96%.

WTF! Almost 10 years and everything worked great and now these batteries are giving me fits.

Can you help with:

1.       I need to raise the SG asap!

2.       I need to re-zero the FNDC after the batteries have come up so it doesn’t think I have extra AH in the system and starts loss%SOC from the new charges zero.

3.       Can I jump to EQ voltage even though the SG is low?

I expect the additional panels will help give some more Amps to the batteries if the sun ever comes out but it’s upstate NY and that doesn’t happen a lot.

 

Appreciate any help someone might be able to give.

McD

wellbuilt

I’m Assuming you’re using outback system 
 you need to change all your setting in the mate to reflect your changes 
extra panels and battery amp hour 
 

 Then I would raise your voltage to 59 
 make sure your temp Compensation he’s working if it’s cold 
 I’m charging at 58.6 but see 61 ish volts Because it’s cold 
  Eq dose not have temp compensation so I adjust for temp . 

 Once you do all that and get the battery’s to full 
 run a to bring up low battery’s 
 you may have to do one string at a time 
 but adjust the amp hours in the mate 
 when you get the battery’s full reset the fmdc 
 and you should be good . 

 You could pull the plug to reset it in a pinch . 

 I don’t remember how to do it . 

 I check a few battery’s state of charge and adjust absorb voltage or time to keep the battery’s happy . 

 It like some one turned off the sun her 🤷🏻‍♂️ It real dark until the second week in January 
 but then I get hurried in snow ❄️ km

wellbuilt

 I’m in Andes New York the land of clouds and snow .👍

Rngr275

wellbuilt said:

 I’m in Andes New York the land of clouds and snow .👍

Appreciate your input... you are more or less confirming my direction. It feels like these Crown batteries have a pretty high resistance... like the old Rolls. BTW I'm Down in the Finger Lakes.

mike95490

Start the generator in the morning, before sunrise, charge the batteries for several hours, and time it so the solar can take over and complete the Absorb cycle.  May take a couple days of this to get the batteries truly full, then you can try an EQ

Dave Angelini

You should also be calling for replacement batteries and their availability !!!  Nine years on a bank that has not been properly designed for charge is pretty darn good. This is not a good year to be needing FLA batteries.

Half of my family was from Lake Skaneateles in the finger lakes. I would try Battery systems.

Do what Mike said and do a long EQ of 3 or 4 hours. Mark your pilot cells ! Two good and 2 bad ones. See what the EQ does to them. During the EQ, feel/measure the terminals for an outlier that is hot.

Post a picture if you are as brave as most Rangers I have met. Good Luck to you !!!!

Rngr275

Dave Angelini said:

You should also be calling for replacement batteries and their availability !!!  Nine years on a bank that has not been properly designed for charge is pretty darn good. This is not a good year to be needing FLA batteries.

Half of my family was from Lake Skaneateles in the finger lakes. I would try Battery systems.

Do what Mike said and do a long EQ of 3 or 4 hours. Mark your pilot cells ! Two good and 2 bad ones. See what the EQ does to them. During the EQ, feel/measure the terminals for an outlier that is hot.

Post a picture if you are as brave as most Rangers I have met. Good Luck to you !!!!

I replaced my 9 year old Trojan batteries with a new set of Crown batteries last spring/summer. Thanks for the terminal tip!

Rngr275

Thank you all for the advice. I am starting to get them into shape. I think they were a little sulphated and it is going to take a couple rounds of EQ'inf to get the squared away. Started with 1.245 after a full absorb cycle and now they are in the mid 1.265 SG level.  I think the biggest problem is that these new Crown batteries are like the older Roll's batteries where their internal resistance is quite high. Because of this they like/need high amperage to get a good charge (engineer recommends 90A). With my additional panel I'll be able to get that but only until the absorb voltage is reached then the Amps will drop, and I can't get that level of amperage out of my generator. Raising the absorb volts and lengthening the time should help. I'll just need to be more diligent. BTW, the FNDC is powered from the Hub (Cat5 wire) unplugging it resets the %SOC and corrects the Battery issue of chowing additional AH's.
Thanks 
McD

wellbuilt

The fndc will only be correct if you unplug the plug when your battery’s are 100% full . 

 What happens is the fndc resets itself every day when the CC gets to full . 

 If you are not getting to full every day your setting start to get walked down .
  I charge for a week then check my sg  and if I’m below 1.275 I’ll add a hour to my absorb time . 

 The next week if I’m at 1.275 I’ll drop the absorb time 30 min 
  Then the next week I’ll check and if I’m still at 1.275 I’ll drop 15 min 
   The thing is the sun changes  this time of year so I raise my voltage from 58. 5v to 59.5 volts because my charge time start  dropping off . 

 I have 2 cells that will read a little low 1.265/70 and these are the battery’s I’m always  looking at and I’m trying to push them up to the rest of my bank . 

 In the summer with long floating in the afternoon they read good .