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Post by texrnmedic on Dec 12, 2015 15:58:07 GMT -8
On the Adventurer Charge Controller how is the SOC% calculated and is there a way to reset or re-calibrate it? Just installed it and ran on solar charge only for 2 days. When my battery is fully charged off the AC powered charger the Adventurer stated a charge in the 50-60% range. Running on solar only with no loads other than CO and propane detector on, battery SOC% was down to 17%. Based off of voltmeter and a secondary charge measurement the battery has a much better charge than the Adventurer notes. The battery is relatively new and in excellent condition. Obviously I want the charge controller measurement to more accurately reflect what is going on with the battery. I have set the battery type correctly to flooded.
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Post by Admin on Dec 15, 2015 16:29:06 GMT -8
Hello Sir,
The SOC% is calculated using the charging voltage and battery voltage. The controller will read 100% when it is outputting 13.6-13.8 volts which would be the float voltage. At night when the controller is no longer charging so you will see a much lower SOC% and even if your battery is fully charged (12.8-12.9 volts) the controller will not read 100% because it is programmed to only read 13.6-13.8 volts as 100%. In order to read the actual SOC% I would recommend using a battery monitor.
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Post by Nathan Hager on Jul 4, 2016 11:11:43 GMT -8
This would have been good to know prior to ordering the components for my system. I feel like the information available on the Renogy site makes it look like the kits are more "plug and play" than they actually are. It seems like Renogy could add that educational piece to the "Learn" tab in an effort to prepare a customer for a total cost of ownership rather than a price tag that represents roughly 1/3 of that total cost. Can you recommend a battery monitor? The options I see online vary wildly in terms of price and quality. As for now, I'll be heading out to boondock for a week in hopes that my theoretical amp/hour calculations will keep my battery at or above 80% in order to prolong it's life. The Adventurer manual basically just tells me that the SOC% means next to nothing to me in terms of functional use.
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Post by spiderbob on Jul 11, 2016 6:35:53 GMT -8
Nathan, I'm not part of Renogy, but I do believe one must learn all they can before they step into buying solar, it is complicated and takes a bit of math to figure out what is really needed. I can't begin to tell you how much I have read about Solar as I was getting into it. I talked to so many people and although my system is not the best, it does all I need it to do. That is up to the individual to figure out.
That being said, texrnmedic, there are more loads than you really suspect, they are called parasitic loads, they run computer components that run other items, that also can run a battery down. that being said, get a real "battery monitor" if you really what to watch your system. I use a TriMetric Monitor System, it is programmable, and gives much info. Go to their site and just download the user manual (Bogart Engineering). Another monitor is made by Xantrex, I believe it is called LinkLite or LinkPro. These monitors are not cheap, but if your really into Solar, they are a must. I have 600w of solar and I can stay in the desert (boon docking) for weeks. Not enough room here to explain how, but it includes the panels, controller, monitor, BATTERIES (so important to be the right ones)
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Post by elkoholic on Jul 31, 2016 2:16:19 GMT -8
Nathan, I'm not part of Renogy, but I do believe one must learn all they can before they step into buying solar, it is complicated and takes a bit of math to figure out what is really needed. I can't begin to tell you how much I have read about Solar as I was getting into it. I talked to so many people and although my system is not the best, it does all I need it to do. That is up to the individual to figure out. That being said, texrnmedic, there are more loads than you really suspect, they are called parasitic loads, they run computer components that run other items, that also can run a battery down. that being said, get a real "battery monitor" if you really what to watch your system. I use a TriMetric Monitor System, it is programmable, and gives much info. Go to their site and just download the user manual (Bogart Engineering). Another monitor is made by Xantrex, I believe it is called LinkLite or LinkPro. These monitors are not cheap, but if your really into Solar, they are a must. I have 600w of solar and I can stay in the desert (boon docking) for weeks. Not enough room here to explain how, but it includes the panels, controller, monitor, BATTERIES (so important to be the right ones) Spiderbob, what you state in your answer here is absolutely correct “us newbies” need to read and research all we can before stepping into the solar world. However Nathan Hager’s comment is a very valid one. I recently purchased a 100 W suitcase with the Adventurer 30 Amp controller. In talking with one of the salesmen at Renogy I indicated that I was thinking about installing a Battery monitoring meter so I could keep track of just what my batteries are doing. His answer to that was I wouldn’t need one since the Adventurer 30 Amp CC would monitor the same thing. Now I read this thread and am being told “No it won’t”! The stumbling block to researching and learning is there are so many people out there that are giving advice that you don’t know who to trust. That’s why I got the 100W Suitcase setup and now I can do my own testing and learning before I jump into any additional solar expenses. This stuff is too expensive to just buy a lot of parts and hope it all fits what you need and want! Yes it's up to the individual to figure out. But it would help if this information was included in the manuals and relayed to the person when talking to the people that "Should Know"! To do what I wanted and expected the Adventurer 30 Amp controller to do per the salesman, I’m looking at maybe (2) GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer Battery Consumption Performance Monitors one between batteries and load (trailer) and another between controller and batteries. Does that sound right? That should tell me what comes out of the batteries and what goes into them correct? |
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Post by spiderbob on Aug 1, 2016 4:13:25 GMT -8
Yes it would but will it give you amp hours based on your batteries also going being replaced by the controller and being used by battery consumption? Will it also keep a history and most importantly equalize you battery based on the battery manufactures recommendations and not the controller manufacturer recommendation. They are completely different. Please just for additional reading go to Bogart Engineering site and download the manual for their Trimetric Battery Monitor. You don't have to buy it to find out a lot of info. To me they have among the best info.
I wrote this from my iPad and the print is small I'll look for mistakes tonight 😕
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bg
New Member
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Post by bg on Aug 22, 2016 16:37:58 GMT -8
I also just bought the two 100 watt panels and the adventurer 30 amp controller for my RV. It seemed to work ok with my fully charged 12 volt battery, showed 81% and 20 + volts coming from the panels. I swapped in two deep cycle 6 volt batteries and the battery state of charge was 61% when hooked up and within 15 minutes it had dropped to 45% and the panel voltage was only 13 volts and 5 amps on a partly cloudy day. After the panels were shaded they were putting out 13 volts still but only .2 amps and only 41% battery charge showing on the controller. Is this normal and will the panel voltage rise as the batteries charge? It has me worried that the panels are draining my batteries but the 4 light dummy panel in the rv shows they are fully charged.  ? |
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Post by rex on Aug 23, 2016 5:49:50 GMT -8
panel voltage should match charging voltage or battery voltage. It should rise as the batt charges.
Once PWM kicks in (after the charging voltage has reached its set pt, say 14.4v) the controller turns on and off very fast to keep charging voltage @ 14.4v, the off time increases as the batt charges and less amps are required to maintain 14.4v. During this time a volt meter on the panel will read an average of batt voltage and panel Voc.
at 50% on time and 50% off time (14.4v + Voc)/2 = ?. At some time later the off time will be say 90% and this average will increase since Voc ~21v.
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