s/v Ninaa Ootakii - Winter woes.

[Stone]

Came back to the boat, tried to warm up some soup in the microwave, got a low voltage alarm from my samlex 24 volt 3000 watt inverter.

21.4 volts seems incredibly low for that setting. :/

Checked the wizbang and it says 0% state of charge.

My panels are covered in snow, and incredibly high winds + extreme cold, have my wind turbines locked with the brakes on to keep from breaking anything.

... It's 20⁰ F outside.
Maybe 32 in the power room.

(Eight) L16 floor sweeper batteries configured in series parallel, roughly 960 amp hours at 24 volts.

For the past 2 years, there's been some power draw directly from the bank (bilge pumps, call it 13a startup surge, 6a draw for 30 seconds, 4-5 times an hour)

Everything else is through the shunt.
(I know, it should go through the shunt, will change shortly)

I have a 24 volt 40 amp noco charger ( https://no.co/gx2440 ) that's pretty smart.

Powered it up, and it's been charging steadily at around 18 amps for the past 14 hours, wizbang says I'm at 47% state of charge.

Currently only load on system is the inverter, a fridge and freezer (likely not running at all due to space temp being below their thermostat threshold) and the two heating pads in my bunk.

Attached image is what the wizbang is showing with the charger running.

So, questions:

1) I feel like, since the inverter and the classic 150 didn't shut off, (and was perfectly with to power the microwave anyway) the batteries, while stupid low, weren't zeroed. (Turned off the microwave the second I heard the alarm)

The noco charger is smarter than me, and I'm assuming it's going slow on the recharge because it's cold out.

I'm also making the (big) assumption that the wizbang is doing weird math due to draws outside it's sphere of knowledge.

Thoughts on the above?

2) How can I reset the wizbang so it is accurate? (If it isn't currently)

3) assuming that I've clearly gone through a low voltage battery event, what, is the best way forward from here?

(unplugging all draws and letting the classic handle it is feasible)

Thanks!

[ClassicCrazy]

The whizbang is accurate. The SOC will reset to 100% when it goes to float.
Do you have the temperature sensor on your batteries and temp compensation set up ? That would be for the solar.
If you charger doesn't have temperature compensation  it may never fill the batteries all the way up when they are cold because the absorb charge voltage is higher when batteries are cold.
You put 252 amp in with your charger. You are half way if your batteries were at 50% and even longer time if they were lower than that .
Check the electrolyte for specific gravity of each cell in each battery so you can see their status , and check again when they are full to see if you need to equalize - which they probably need .
Larry

[Stone]

Temp sensor and compensation are set up I believe. (Going to double check in a few hours)

Bank is at 97% at the moment.

I don't know if my solar is going to do much in this short of days, but in the next couple hours I'm going to power down everything and we'll see what happens.

[Wizbandit]

If you power down the Classic you will loose your SOC calibration until the Solar makes the Classic do a complete charge to FLOAT... FYI.

[FNG]

I didnt see anyone mention it but

1- Get EVERY load and source on the proper side of the WBjr until then its useless
2- Program the WBjr correctly for the lead acid batteries capacity, Efficiency (I suggest 85%)
3- Make sure the Classic has a Battery Temp Sensor plugged in.
4- When the Classic transition to float check your specific gravity and verify the classic is filling the batteries

You dont say what settings you have in the classic for Absorb voltage, Absorb time, Float, EQ Voltage and EQ Time. Personally if I had a low voltage event on a flooded battery I would check all cells for specific gravity and EQ if needed but if not I would do a couple good absorb charges

[Stone]

All loads are on the proper side of the shunt.
Temperature compensation is on.

Bank is 8 L16 floor sweeper batteries in series parallel

24 volts.

Settings:

EQ: 32.3 volts
Absorb 29.6 volts
Float 27.0 volts

It appears the system recovered okay.

I must say that I'm rather shocked at how low the inverter alarm and shutoff are set at.

Does the classic 150 allow fancy logic, and if so is there a post or a link to a layman's document on it?

It would be incredibly useful to me if I could:

flip a relay on when the sun comes up.
flip same relay off when the sun goes down.

flip a relay if the voltage/state of charge is below a certain point.

(Examples:
Turn off the 24v to 12v charger for the 12v bank when the sun is down.

Turn on a low voltage alarm at a reasonable set point, start generator that has big 24v charger on it if it's dark out and the bank is at 60% or below.

Switch wind turbines to dump loads if state of charge/voltage is over 95% (so when solar goes to equalize, the turbines don't try to dump the entire array... it went poorly)

I'm currently hauled out (finally!) so now is the time to redo it.

Thanks

[boB]

Hey Stone !  Great to see you are still going strong.  Now I am the one in the water.  Just coming back to Fort Lauderdale after a 10 day cruise through the Caribbean...

As for the relay, you can use Aux 1 and set it for Night Light (or Nite Lite ?) and it will flip the relay just as well as a light.  I think there is an active LOW version of that in the aux 1 menu that will put out voltage during the day and turn it off during the night.

That uses up both Aux outputs though including the Whizbang Junior hooked up to Aux 2.

Can't remember if you have two Classics on your boat ?

Say hi to the wife.

boB

[Stone]

... I do have 2 classic 150's.

System is currently running on one.
(Bought 2 expecting 12v. Changed to 24v in build out)

I'm considering upgrading my 8 265w panels to 400's, which will put the second one in follow me.

I'm currently building a hydronic heating hot holding "tank" that will get, among other things, 24v heating elements. (dump loads for my wind turbines, among other things)

I'm pretty sure that I toasted one of my Chinook dump load controllers... It appears that the controller tried to dump the entire system when it tried to equalize.

I'm not sure how to solve that.

[boB]

... I do have 2 classic 150's.


I'm pretty sure that I toasted one of my Chinook dump load controllers... It appears that the controller tried to dump the entire system when it tried to equalize.

I'm not sure how to solve that.

Is that dump load like, always dumping/loading ?  If so, then the transistor may be bad.

If it is not dumping at all, then maybe the dump load resistor is open ?   Have you tried measuring that one big resistor Ohms to see if it is somewhere near the correct value ?  Should be just a few Ohms.  Can't remember exactly.

Are there any black spots ?  Charred ?  Does it smell funny ? 

boB

[Stone]

So the forward machine shop has 2 Midnite Chinooks dump loads in it.

They tie into a 4.guage cable that runs to the battery bank.

I walked in the room, and it was way warmer than it should be, and one controller was no longer lit and the other was radiating a lot of heat.

No wind, so best guess is the classic 150 went into equalize and the turbine dump loads tried to dissipate anything over their set voltage.

I put the brakes on on the turbines, powered down the dump loads, and called it a day.

[boB]

So the forward machine shop has 2 Midnite Chinooks dump loads in it.

They tie into a 4.guage cable that runs to the battery bank.

I walked in the room, and it was way warmer than it should be, and one controller was no longer lit and the other was radiating a lot of heat.

No wind, so best guess is the classic 150 went into equalize and the turbine dump loads tried to dissipate anything over their set voltage.

I put the brakes on on the turbines, powered down the dump loads, and called it a day.

Oh NO !!   Not sure what the heating was there ?

Did you try to re-power the Classic(s)  after this ?

The Chinook turbines have a diode bridge in them so maybe they were not
acting as a load.

Lettuce know if you find any other telltale signs, Stone.  Check the PV input terminals with Chinook disconnected and make sure that input is not shorted.