Battery s

Gregaba

Last 2 days the system went into equalization.

May be it will work a little normal now.

Battery's showing in float 13.73 volts and soc at 83%.

I have learned not to pay any attention to the SOC on this app.

Greg

Marc Kurth

What do you mean by equalization - ie what voltage and for how long?

Gregaba

The app said equaliberian  [SP?] and it was charging at about 13.7 14.4V  at about which I assumed meant equalize phase.

I hope this makes some sense as I am not familiar with all the meaning's of this system [Epever] yet. It has 2 200AH battery's.

Greg

BB.

Sometimes you just need a DMM (digital multi-meter) to go and measure the voltages... For example, just measure the battery voltage every 15-30 minutes while charging.... You want to see Absorb Voltage (around 14.4 to 14.7) volts "held" for 2-4+ hours).

If you have a DC current clamp meter, you can clip onto the battery cable and see 14.x volts and charging current... When it falls below 0.5% or 1.0% (i.e., 200 AH battery * 0.05 = 1.0 amps), then you "know" the battery is getting fully charged. (especially with AGM/sealed batteries where you cannot measure specific gravity of the electrolyte).

EQ charging is a bit more "loose" in how it is defined and used... Different charger vendors have different voltages/current/times. And different batteries have different EQ requirements....

It goes back to measuring current and time for each "mode" of charging... And a DC current clamp meter is handy too.

Lastly, a damaged battery can give confusing results too... A sulfated battery has lost AH capacity--It may simply charge and discharge faster and you really cannot "fix" the battery (in general).

A shorted cell, the battery never gets up to full charging voltage (or overheats, high charging currents).

An open cell--Battery voltage may look OK, but as soon as you try to discharge or charge, the voltages go low (discharging) or high (charging).

-Bill

Gregaba

I have a good DMM and used it to check the reported voltage from the app with the actual volt's. That is how I found that the app was giving the wrong info.

I ordered a Klien CL 600 last week and have used it to check the amp's in the system.

I will make some more measurement's over the next week to see where I stand.

I hope the battery's are Ok as they are only 1 month old but I guess that would explain why I am having some trouble.

I really don't understand this system yet but will soon with the help on this forum.

Greg

JRHill

SOC can make for so much confusion. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how important it is to reset the SOC to 100% at the point the batteries  are FULLY charged: Absorb voltage reached and tail current to maintain that voltage (and no higher) drops to the battery's C20 or whatever is recommended by the mfgr. Then immediately cease charging and float charge if you can or let them rest. Using the manufacturer's recommended float voltage, if you successfully FULLY charged the batteries and reset the SOC, when the battery's settle back to float voltage you should see very little if any change in the 100% SOC reading.

If the SOC is not reset you will be using erroneous data each charge cycle while adding to the 'drift' that is inherent with battery monitors. If your battery charger is not a true Bulk/Absorb/Float with the ability to adjust the Absorb and float voltages to Mfgr's specifications, correctly charging the batteries to 100% - consistently and safely is about impossible. Consequently, measuring your battery's performance between charge cycles will yield varying results. And drive you nuts.

Just my opinion. Hope its useful.

Gregaba

Thanks

I will reread the manual that came with the CC and see if it tells my how to reset the SOC. I went into the amp just now and didn't see any way to do this.

Just been into solar for 2 month's so am learning.

Greg

JRHill

Gregaba said:

Thanks

I went into the amp just now and didn't see any way to do this.

I trust you meant the SOC application? I'm not sure what the device/app is that you are using. Is there a shunt between the batteries and the inverter? 

Gregaba

No shunt. I was using an epever 10415an and their  app.

 I also have a Renogy 40 amp CC that came with their 400 watt kit.

 I just switched from the epever to the renogy.

Would like to run two pv sets and use both CC in the future.

There seems to be no difference between the 2 CC's report's. The renogy is reporting a battery voltage of 12.77 and 81% SOC.

The battery voltage on both apps are accurate as I have been checking them often to compare as I don't want to destroy my battery's.

Did contact renogy today to see what they have to say..

Greg