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Post by netnutmike on Oct 31, 2014 11:39:10 GMT -8
I recently purchased a PWM30CC for a bee hive monitor that is too far from power. I have a solar panel connected as well as a battery. The green light for the solar panel is on but the battery led is always red. The manual says the battery is over discharged when it is red. Can someone explain what that means and what needs to be done for the battery to charge.
Also, is it better to power the remote gear from the battery directly or use the output out of the charge controller? The charge controller seems to want to control the output automatically by daylight. It is in a weatherproof box with the CPU so it is always dark in there. I do not want the small CPU to turn on and off, I want it on all the time.
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Post by jsb2000 on Oct 31, 2014 16:35:09 GMT -8
The manual says the battery is over discharged when it is red. Can someone explain what that means and what needs to be done for the battery to charge. Actually, according to my PWM30CC manual, a red battery light indicates Load cut-off (meaning that there's an overload or short circuit). An orange light would indicate a low battery. If your battery light is red, it could mean a bad battery or a short in the cables to the battery. Also, is it better to power the remote gear from the battery directly or use the output out of the charge controller? The charge controller seems to want to control the output automatically by daylight. It is in a weatherproof box with the CPU so it is always dark in there. I do not want the small CPU to turn on and off, I want it on all the time. If you want the remote gear to be controlled based on sunrise and sunset, use the DC load terminals. If you want the remote gear to always receive power, connect it directly to the battery. The controller uses the solar panels to determine sunrise and sunset. Therefore, it doesn't matter whether the controller is in a dark box or not. Also, you have to determine how much power your remote gear uses, how much capacity your battery can supply, and if your solar panel can "keep up" with the power demands of both the remote gear and the battery. If your solar panel can't keep up, then you're going to deep discharge your batteries and kill them. Even deep cycle batteries shouldn't be discharged too many times below the 50% level. |
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