Recent posts

#1

New Product Ideas and Discussion / Re: A CLASSIC PRODUCT ADDITION...

Last post by boB - Today at 01:32:11 AM

Do the Classic or Hawkesbay continually respond to WBjr uart input or do they have to request it? If so how often?

I asking about the BATTvolts and BATTcurrent. How often and how long does it take?

The WB Jr. is queried by the Classic or HB or Barcelona as often as it wants but maximum of 16 Hz I think.

Right now it is being sampled 10 times per second.   You only do things as fast as they are required otherwise it takes extra processor resources.

#2

Lead Acid (Sealed and flooded) / Re: Proposed Solar Charging Re...

Last post by Barry Fields - May 26, 2024, 05:21:03 PM

LA batteries need a timed absorb cycle every now and then.  At least like, once per week.

That is what this regimen does. The time for absorb is adjusted according to results (FLOAT current). Some days longer, some days shorter.

{added text to above} loop backs are fixed time NOT ENDAMPS

#3

Lead Acid (Sealed and flooded) / Re: Proposed Solar Charging Re...

Last post by boB - May 26, 2024, 05:06:58 PM

Ending amps can be fine BUT you can't do that every single day with lead acid batteries!

LA batteries need a timed absorb cycle every now and then.  At least like, once per week.

I don't really know what the ending amps should be ?  I think that the battery manufacturer should show that number.  But they still need to be absorbed.  If you do that, I don't think you need to equalize much, if at all.  Absorb and EQ are both to help reduce sulfation.

With an amp-hour system and LA, the system should really be able to let you know if the batteries have lost capacity.  I know that my LA batteries which happen to be pretty flat these days could be flagged with using the WB. Jr.

As for Float time, during the day when production is good, there is no reason why the solar (or whatever source) can't keep the batteries SOC% from being drawn down by keeping the float voltage just above the batteries resting voltage.  Then there should be more energy left there for the night time.

boB

boB

#4

New Product Ideas and Discussion / Re: A CLASSIC PRODUCT ADDITION...

Last post by Barry Fields - May 26, 2024, 05:03:37 PM

Do the Classic or Hawkesbay continually respond to WBjr uart input or do they have to request it? If so how often?

I asking about the BATTvolts and BATTcurrent. How often and how long does it take?

#5

New Product Ideas and Discussion / Re: A CLASSIC PRODUCT ADDITION...

Last post by boB - May 26, 2024, 04:54:52 PM

The Classic updates SOC 10 times per second.  That is internally though.  The SOC is most likely pulled from the Classic much less frequently, like once or twice per second max.

Internally the SOC is measured in amp-seconds or amp-milliseconds.

For what you want to do, 48 MHz is probably just fine.  I tend to go with faster clock speeds these days.

boB

#6

The "Classic" charge controller / Re: Replacing FETs on Classic ...

Last post by boB - May 26, 2024, 04:50:34 PM

Hockey, from your FET measurements, that is the way to tell !

I tend to measure from gate to source but of drain to source is shorted, which is what normally happens when they blow, you would see similar maeasurements.

0.1 Ohms is definitely shorted.

20 Ohms would mean that FET is possibly good and each FET would have 10 Ohms to Gate which would be why you would see twice 10 Ohms there.

10K Ohms is the gate to source pull-down resistor value so that FET is probably good.

Either way, the insides of the FET have turned to slag basically, as one old wise engineer used to call it.

#7

The "Classic" charge controller / Re: Anyone mounted a Classic t...

Last post by ClassicCrazy - May 26, 2024, 01:22:39 PM

do you have a photo ?
I am not familiar with how the Outback was mounted .
Larry

#8

The "Classic" charge controller / Anyone mounted a Classic to a ...

Last post by LostInTheBog - May 26, 2024, 12:54:53 PM

Replacing my old MX60. Would like to hang the Classic in the same place, right side of PS2DC load centre. This required an optional bracket set for the MX60. Can't imagine I'll be lucky enough to reuse that... or even to find somebody who knows!

#9

New Product Ideas and Discussion / Re: A CLASSIC PRODUCT ADDITION...

Last post by ClassicCrazy - May 26, 2024, 12:45:28 PM

Just trying to get a grip on rough timing issues.

Do the Classic or Hawkesbay continually respond to WBjr uart input or do they have to request it? If so how often?

How long would it take for a STM32F030 to check 9 ADC inputs (4 bank currents and bank voltage), add the 4 bank currents together, store that data in historical memory and output that data over uart?

What is a reasonable update time for SOC calculations in the Classic and Hawkesbay?

You could take a look at the code Graham wrote to see how he does it .
I was trying to find the timings in there but I am not good enough with code.
https://github.com/ClassicDIY/ClassicMQTT/blob/master/code/Python/support/classic_modbusdecoder.py
Larry

#10

The "Classic" charge controller / Re: Replacing FETs on Classic ...

Last post by ClassicCrazy - May 26, 2024, 12:30:02 PM

Did you look at this post on Classic repairs ?
https://midniteftp.com/forum/index.php?topic=5987.0
Jim had suggested to check the drivers that may be blown too.  Bob said you need to use a very large soldering iron at least 200 watts since there is so much heat sink on the copper board.
Larry