charge settings

Re: charge settings

Peter.

Start with the settings from this bulletin:
http://www.altestore.com/mmsolar/Others/Charging_and_Discharging_BU-RS-614.pdf

Here is a link to some of the Surrette Bulletins:
http://www.rollsbattery.com/content/marine-battery-technical-bulletins

There is also a Battery Manual that needs to be requested by sending an e-mail to Surrette -- Here is the request form:
http://www.rollsbattery.com/content/battery-user-manual

Surrette has said that they are moving away from the Bulletins. The Battery Manual was intended to replace the bulletins. Altho, IMHO, the manual lacks detail, and is ambigious in places.

Monitor the Specific Gravity of the bank, and adjust the settings as needed.

Good Luck with your new (?) bank. Vic

Re: charge settings

A couple more things ..

First, It may be a bit misleading, but, Surrette rates these batteries at the 100-hour rate -- the S-600 is 599 AH @ 100 hours. The 20-hour spec is 450 AH. The 20-hour rate is the most common in the industry.

The 10-hour rate is 383 AH, so for the two strings , c/10 is about 77 Amps, just to nit pick.

Link to the S-600 Data Sheet:
http://www.dcbattery.com/rollssurrette_s600.pdf

As noted by Photowhit, a genset is very good to have available. The generator plus a charger that can deliver 50 or more charge amps (plus the avail PV current during the day) can help recharge the bank fairly quickly and give the bank some high charge current, which is good for battery health.

The End Amps vaue should 1-2% 20-hour rate. This assumes that there are NO other loads. This End Amp function works for me. I use 1.5% of the 20-hour rate, which works fine. The exact setting for your system depends on how you use your power system. You will need t fine tune the Asorb Voltage and time, or if not time, then End Amps.

You will need a quality Hydrometer. I like the Freas glass, float style Hydrometer. Others may like another type. It is important to RECORD the Specific Gravity readings for every cell, when the bank is fully charged. This should be compensated for temperature (this is the ideal). Save these recorded values in a notebook, with other notes on Eqing the bank, water use, changes to the system etc. It is NOT tedious, just part of the process of learning.

Search this site for more info .. out of time. Good Luck Vic

Re: charge settings

peter
Vic has you on the right track. Set the fm80's absorb to either end at 1% of the amphour capacity of the battery bank, or set a time. You can determine the time by monitoring a charge cycle and seeing how long it takes for the fm80 to reach 1% and set it to float after that much time has elapsed. I use the time method, because the CC can be fooled by clouds and can prematurly go to float when using the min amps method.

I recently did a chest freezer to fridge conversion and it works great. Uses around 200 watts in 24 hours and keeps all my drinks 35F/2C. Could not be happier with it. Really easy to do.
Good luck with yours.
Larry

Re: charge settings

Bill
I bought a 5cf chest freezer off craigs list, then I bought a Johnson controls external thermstat switch, and finally an extension cord from Home depot. There are no alterations to the freezer what so ever. You take the thermostat switch and wire it using the extension cord. Cut the extension cord and make the connections inside the thermstat control, set the temp on the control that you want the freezer/now refer to stay at and plug it into an AC outlet. You're done. My freezer/refer only runs a few minutes an hour and holds 35 to 40 temp. Perfect for my favorite beverage.
Larry