Charge Efficiency

landyacht.318
landyacht.318 Solar Expert Posts: 82 ✭✭✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
BlueSky 2512i charge controller
IPN Pro Remote
KYC 130 tm panel
2 Crown group 27 FLA Deep Cycle batteries @ 115 a/h each

How does my charge controller, or the IPN Pro Remote determine the charge efficiency?

I have it set to auto adjust, and it goes up to 99%. If I set it at 80% and leave it in auto adjust, in a couple days it has climbed back up to 99%.

This surprises me, because I used 12 awg, and wish I had used 8 awg over the~ 18 foot one way distance from panel to battery.
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Comments

  • RWB
    RWB Solar Expert Posts: 168 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Charge Efficiency

    I think it factors it in the amount of amp hours taken in to the battery vs when the Charged Voltage and Amperage that is programmed into the IPN battery monitor.

    So the more amp hours it takes to bring your battery to the charged setpoint the lower the charging efficiency. The less amp hours it take to charge your battery the higher the efficiency.

    Its basically the a reading of how much current is wasted while charging your battery to bring it to a full charge.

    Some batteries may take 110 Amp hours to fill a 100 Amp hour battery. And some LFP Batteries may only take 100 Amp hours to recharge a 100 amp hour battery.
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  • landyacht.318
    landyacht.318 Solar Expert Posts: 82 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: Charge Efficiency

    Crown says to have an acceptance voltage of 14.5 volts, So I have that as my acceptance and float voltage setpoints when measured at the battery.

    I notice that as soon as the voltage rises up to this setpoint, the amp hour counter resets to 0 from full, even if it had read 6 a/h from full just before.

    I think the compressor fridge cycling has something to do with that.
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  • RWB
    RWB Solar Expert Posts: 168 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Charge Efficiency

    The Victron Battery monitor does the same thing. It resets the counters as soon as teh charged parameters are met because it considers the battery fully charged then. And if the battery is fully charged then you should have the full amp hour rating of the battery available at that point.
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  • tallgirl
    tallgirl Solar Expert Posts: 413 ✭✭
    #5
    Re: Charge Efficiency
    landyacht.318 wrote: »
    Crown says to have an acceptance voltage of 14.5 volts, So I have that as my acceptance and float voltage setpoints when measured at the battery.

    I notice that as soon as the voltage rises up to this setpoint, the amp hour counter resets to 0 from full, even if it had read 6 a/h from full just before.

    I think the compressor fridge cycling has something to do with that.

    Is there no amperage setting? Because a battery isn't fully charged until the voltage reaches the "Acceptance" / "Absorb" voltage and the current has dropped to a minimum value.
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  • landyacht.318
    landyacht.318 Solar Expert Posts: 82 ✭✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Charge Efficiency

    I cannot set the acceptance amperage, but I have set my float amperage higher than my panel could ever produce. When it first goes into acceptance/ float(same setpoint), the amperage is still the same it was in bulk, after a while it tapers down to about 3 amps. I can then parallel the engine starting battery and the amperage goes back up to maximum solar amps available for a while. The voltage briefly falls when I first parallel the batteries, but rises pretty fast back upto 14.5.

    These are new batteries, I am checking the water frequently with such a high float voltage. My previous 3 batteries were Everstart dual purposes. One shorted a cell in 13 months. One lasted to 32 months, one is now in my engine compartment.
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