A KID between a Big battery and a Small battery

[onanparts]

Since my PV array is a month or two away I really wanted to do some kind of beta testing on my KID. Could I use my 48V battery bank on the KID PV input and charge a 12V battery on the output? I asked boB if this would work? Would it fry the KID?

He suggested I put a BIG resistor between the 48V battery and the KID input to help avoid any bad results. boB was kind enough to hand me a .8 Ohm 600W resistor of the type they use in some of their clippers for this experiment.

Thanks boB! 

Wired it up last night and flipped the input breaker between the 48V battery and the KID.....The magic smoke stayed inside.  I did set the output battery limit to 20 amps just to keep it on the safe side. Hydro and solar modes went right up to 20 amps/280watts as I thought they would. Wind tracking mode topped out at 90 watts or so but I only tried that for a minute or two.

It was a long day and too tired for extended testing etc. Will have more time later this week for longer testing observation. Have not tried using the load output yet. Will wait for answers from MS about that before trying this unusual type of input.

The 12V battery is a deep cycle marine type discharged down to about 50-60% SOC for this experiment.

Pics and updates as they happen. 

[Mario]

Onan,
Do not use wind or hydro. since they are not real modes yet they will do something but might do something unexpected.... like blow up in some exclusive scenarios.
Mario

[Halfcrazy]

Yes you will want to use Solar2. It seems to be working very well here 

[onanparts]

Onan,
Do not use wind or hydro. since they are not real modes yet they will do something but might do something unexpected.... like blow up in some exclusive scenarios.
Mario

Just using Solar mode now only. Here are some display shots after 30 minutes.

[Halfcrazy]

Is this with or without the resistor?

[onanparts]

Is this with or without the resistor?

With. Getting a 5 Volt drop from the resistor and it's running very cool at around 33C/91F. And yes I do have a metal box to mount it in. What you see is very temporary...

[ClassicCrazy]

Glad to hear it works - I had asked about doing this and was told it was a big no no.  Do you think the resistor is really necessary ? 

[Halfcrazy]

Well I am doing it here without a resistor using Solar2 mode. OnanParts should try it without now and see what he gets for results.

Ryan

[Highflyer]

Ryan, what FW are you using?  Is Solar 2 available in 1722?  What are the advantages built into solar 2?

Thanks.

[ClassicCrazy]

Well I am doing it here without a resistor using Solar2 mode. OnanParts should try it without now and see what he gets for results.

Ryan

What voltages in and out are you running on yours Ryan ? And do you have it set to maximum current on output ? I  won't be able to try mine until the weekend but was just scrounging up some big resistors just in case .
Larry

[Halfcrazy]

I am running 1722 and I have a 48v input and a 12v output.

Solar2 is slower tacking so it gives the current limit time to work

[williaty]

Would this also work by feeding the input to the Kid with a DC power supply? I've been toying with the idea of using a Kid to as a "agnostic" charge controller that could be fed from solar when available (basically summer) or transferred over (both physically and I'm assuming some setting changes) to run off a DC power supply connected to my generator  when the sun doesn't shine (most of winter).

[Vic]

Hi willaty,

Yes,  using a DC Power Supply,  with Solar O&P mode does work well with the Kid -- have used it here,  in lieu of PVs  when necessary.

With some DC PSes,  it might be necessary to use a series resistor at the PV input to the CC,  to keep the PS happy  when the CC sweeps.

FWIW,   Vic

[ClassicCrazy]

I have my Kid setup 24v in and 12v out to batteries. There is a constant 1.5 amp load on the 12v batteries ( some older AGM) .

Everything seems to be working just fine - I think I load limited the output to 5 amps or so. I am just using the regular Solar mode.

Question I have is once the Kid does the initial absorb cycle and goes to float - it will just hold the batteries at float stage . Would it be better for the batteries to force it through absorb once in awhile - or an Equalize with absorb type setpoints ?

Larry