Hi all,
new Classic 200 user here, bit confused on the end amps and charge time settings,
I'm on 48v
So i would like to bulk to 57.6V, and end absorb at about 6amps. My loads are light and consistent during the day, so i'm happy to use end amps as i don't really need hours of absorb every day.
What should my end amps & charge time settings be?
I have experimented with various charge time settings , including minimum charge time 0mins , but the classic keeps charging at 57.6 even when amps have dropped below end amps level. It seems to charge at 2 hours, - my settings are min 0hours, max 6hours.
any help appreciated,
Dan
You have end amps set to 6 amps and it is falling below 6 and not switching to Float? I will have to try this function again to verify it is still working as intended. It sounds like you have things set correct?
Ryan
How are you measuring charge amps? Are you reading it off the classic, or are you using a battery monitor?
--vtMaps
OG,
Do you have a Shunt in the negative lead of the batteries which would allow you to read Net Current (into the batts)? This could help you find the ideal current setpoint.
I, too, have noticed that the battery current reading displayed on the Classic can be 10 or even perhaps 20% below the EA setting as dispalyed on the Classic, before the CC will go to Float. Some of this uncertainty may be due to jitter in the value. The CC must average the charge current that it measures over some time period (whatta I know).
I also believe (but do not know absolutely) that the EA value must be approached from a CC charge current in excess of the EA set value.
Yesterday, noticed that my Classic was charging at a value well below the 16 Amp EA setting. Turned on enough loads to force a re-Bulk for ten or so mins. Then when the loads were switched off, the CC went to Asorb at about 22 A. As the charge current went to about 13.5 A, the CC went to Float. This was with an EA of 16A. Believe in this case, the Asorb current during the first charge cycle never went above the 16 A EA setting for long enough (if at all) to trigger EA termination. This is all guessing on my part. These low Asorb initial currents can happen when a bank is cycled only lightly, which is the case of this bank at this time. Guessing over, Vic
The ending amps is controlled by the amps that the Classic sees and may not
be the current that the battery itself sees. So you will have to make sure there
are no or very little loads on the battery because some of the current the
Classic is supplying to the system is going to loads other than the battery.
This is why the Ending Amps is not always the way to go. With the battery monitor
on the network that is looking directly at the battery in and out current and nothing
else, then it should work flawlessly. Unfortunately, our battery monitor is not
yet a real product.
boB
thanks for the replies,
i have a trimetric battery monitor connected to a shunt on the negative, so can measure the amps going into and out of the battery,
So this morning, i had 1 amp of load, had the classic set to 6amp ending amps, and when the classic was seeing below 6 amps, (so below 5 amps going into battery) it didn't go into float,
I had min charge time set to 0, and max set to 1hr 30. Having looked at the timers at that point, it had 1hr 15min left on the absorb cycle. As my battery was only at 98% this morning, perhaps what vic is saying holds some truth.
But the bottom line is surely if end amps are set to 6amps, then when classic goes below what it sees as 6 amps it should go to float? At the moment that doesn't seem to be happening?
dan
Quote from: offgrid on May 01, 2012, 04:19:27 PM
thanks for the replies,
i have a trimetric battery monitor connected to a shunt on the negative, so can measure the amps going into and out of the battery,
So this morning, i had 1 amp of load, had the classic set to 6amp ending amps, and when the classic was seeing below 6 amps, (so below 5 amps going into battery) it didn't go into float,
I had min charge time set to 0, and max set to 1hr 30. Having looked at the timers at that point, it had 1hr 15min left on the absorb cycle. As my battery was only at 98% this morning, perhaps what vic is saying holds some truth.
But the bottom line is surely if end amps are set to 6amps, then when classic goes below what it sees as 6 amps it should go to float? At the moment that doesn't seem to be happening?
dan
OK, maybe there is a bug ??
It will also need to be below 6 amps for about 90 seconds I believe. If at any time the current as seen by
the Classic goes to or above that value for a moment, it will reset the 90 second timer and have to start
again.
Have you tried raising the End Amps setting to something like twice its output current to see
if it will go to float when the output current is WAY below the EA setting ??
Will look here too of course. You may have found a problem which I will definately fix soon.
Thanks for the input !!
boB
boB,
Have seen my system that uses Classic CCs transition from Aosrb to Float at about 13.5 A, when the EA had been set to 16 A. Have wonder aloud about jitter in the charge current as it is being read by the CC. It often rattles around a bit on the display. Had also wondered about some load on invereter that was a bit "peaky" (poor PF?) which might look like a higher current going to the batts, but not show on the CC display, because it is short duration.
Have been buried with work, and have had almost no time to watch the CC transition to Asorb and Float. Can induce these transitions, but it is not really the same thing as when the CC does the first charge cycle of the day.
Botton line, on my system (which now uses a single Classic), have seen the transition to Float at a current about 15% lower than the EA setting. Have only forced this situation once, so this is only one data point on my system. Thanks, Vic
Ok so today i had end amps set to 7 , and walked in to find classic giving 2 amps and still in absorb,
Tomorrow ill try setting both charge times to 0mins and ill raise up the end amps higher and see what happens
Does sound a bug though,a fix would be appreciated, thanks bob!
Yeah..... I just went and checked the unit here and guess what ??? You guys are CRAZY !
It is NOT a "bug" !! (OK, depending on how you look at it, maybe it is a bug)
What it ~IS~ is that the Ending Amps code was actually NEVER implemented !!!!!
The menu is there and it gets saved and recalled at turn-on but the value
is not used.
I DID implement the Re-Bulk a long long time ago, but in that same screen, the Ending Amps
was a feature that was originally going to be used with an external Battery Monitor sensor
and there was quite a bit of other stuff in there for that, BUT, knowing that EA certainly
would not be used soon and wasn't very useful without knowing the real battery
current, (how wrong I was !??!!), I left it for later.
OK, So it WILL be functional in the next version and is at least working on my bench
at the moment... Look for this update in the next few days with some other
good (but small-ish) stuff in there too.
boB
Sorry. My fault !
Thank you very much for pointing this out !
boB
like our old radio teck said, time and time again,..... It's electronics :'(....I don't want to see it till it is dead!
NOt sure if this counts as dead as it was never alive ::)... good find guys. ;)
Thankyou Bob, i look forward to the update!
Glad to have helped in the development of the classic :)
Hi Bob:
I see there is a new version of firmware available from 6/29. Does that version include the end amps logic? It wasn't listed in the notes.
Thanks!
-dp-
Hi David,
YES, the 6/29 FW does have the EA function implemented, and it works well for me.
Realize that I am NOT boB ... Vic
Quote from: Vic on July 29, 2012, 11:39:11 AM
Hi David,
YES, the 6/29 FW does have the EA function implemented, and it works well for me.
Realize that I am NOT boB ... Vic
Oooops ! I will update the notes next release.
Thanks !
boB