Equalizing

System

The folks who put in our system say that the system will self equalize the battery bank with solar/wind power every 30 days. My neighbor says he equalizes his system (which is about 40% smaller than ours, otherwise identical) about once a week with his generator. What is the basic driver for an equalizing schedule, and is there a scientific way that is not too complex to determine a need? We have 16 - 130 w PV, 16 T-105's . Xantrex/Outback and a Whisper 100.

mike95490

Equalizing

Sakamochi wrote: »

The folks who put in our system say that the system will self equalize the battery bank with solar/wind power every 30 days. My neighbor says he equalizes his system (which is about 40% smaller than ours, otherwise identical) about once a week with his generator. What is the basic driver for an equalizing schedule, and is there a scientific way that is not too complex to determine a need? We have 16 - 130 w PV, 16 T-105's . Xantrex/Outback and a Whisper 100.

What is being used as your "Charge Controller" ? That is the gadget the handles the Equalize Cycle, and many of them are factory programmed to equalize every 30 days. If you know you will have bad weather, and be low on charging when it is due to run, you should be able to manually initiate a Equalize Cycle whenever you want.
Don't forget to check water levels afterwards, as it gently boils the cells for a couple of hours, and you can end up a bit low.

mike95490

(note editing a post does not work anymore)

- continued:

A Equalize Cycle should have been initiated when the system was installed, to make sure all cells were balanced, so it wouldn't hurt to run one. Best to have battery bank fully charged before you start, maybe do a bulk charge with an auxiliary charger, so you can finish the Equalize Cycle before the sun goes down. (it's voltage and time driven, 2 hours at 15V as a crude example)

System2

I have a SW Plus 5500 - in a 48 volt configuration.

Vic

Hi Saka...

Couple of things. Many systems default to 30 day EQ interval. You should be able to EQ from PV via the MX-60, and from the 5548 (using a generator or line input).

To me, once per week is excessive. Normally, the eq interval is driven by the number of dishharge cycles, the depth of discharge, age of batteries, and also perhaps if one is trying to correct some imbalance observed in one cell to another.

Check the water level BEFORE EQing.

Some say that L16's need more frequent EQing, as they are tall for their volume, and the electrolyte tends to stratify more. EQing mixes the electrolyte and attempts to fully charge all cells completly, so the water that you may have added prior to EQ will get well mixed in the process.

The best friend one has with flooded cells is the hygrometer, which will tell you the real state-of-charge of each cell, and allows you to compare and plot trends/divergences.

Just my personal opinions ... others will chime in am sure. Good Luck. VIc

crewzer

Sounds to me like your OutBack MX60 charge controller was programmed to automatically initiate an equalization charge very thirty days. This is a typical "general purpose" interval. However, if you are rough on your batteries (regular deep discharges, infrequent and/or incomplete recharges), you may need to equalize more often.

Here's a link to Trojan's online maintenance guide: http://www.trojanbattery.com/Tech-Support/BatteryMaintenance.aspx

HTH,
Jim / crewzer