Second question today...
I have 2 Classic 150's with the master/slave cable. Is there any documentation on what is sync'd between the two controllers? Or any way to confirm the communication is working? I haven't seen any of the settings (battery voltages, clock, etc) that I would assume would be in sync, be in sync.
Thanks!
-Rob T.
At this time the Classics do not Sync or share any info. Engineering is knee deep in Networking now and we hope to have a beta release of Parallel communications in another week and a half to play with. Keep an eye on the forum and the website. We also have an idea on the network connection issues and hope to roll out a Beta release first of the weak to resolve that.
Ryan
Thanks for the quick reply! At least I feel better...I thought it was installed wrong. ::)
Hi , i have 2 200 Classiscs ,when i need to equalize the batteries , both of them should work at the same time ? or how to configure them ? the same with float? and bulk ?
At this time the Classics do not Sync or share any info. Engineering is knee deep in Networking now and we hope to have a beta release any day that will sync stages such as Float, EQ, Bulk etc
Hi HC Ryan,
Will EA also work with the initial version of Networked Classics? Thanks, Vic
Quote from: Vic on October 09, 2012, 12:58:25 PM
Hi HC Ryan,
Will EA also work with the initial version of Networked Classics? Thanks, Vic
If you mean, will the other Classics on the network respond to the forced bulk change
in the Classic that had the EA that was forced to bulk, yes. That's the plan. It should.
It's close.
boB
Hi boB, Thanks for the reply,
Well, am currently, or is it presently(?) using EA on a single Classis -- one of two.
Had wondered when Networking was implemented, if there would be some way of setting EA such that each CC would go into Float at the same time, based on the TOTAL charge current out of each Classic.
I have not been able to spend the necessary time at the remote site that uses two Classics to get them to share the current for most of Absorb, and transition to Float in a predictable fashion, as the loads Do vary considreably from day to day. Know that this should be possible to do without Networking, but do not have it doing so right now. So, am using both PV arrays into one Classic with EA ending Absrb. Since the battery is not cycled too deeply on the normal day, the bulk current is well below the max rating for one Cl 150 ... and so on ... my EA question could have been more clearly constructed ...
Thanks! Vic
I was wondering how you could do EA with 2 controllers. I EA'd my batteries once but shut down the second controller because I wasn't sure how to handle it! ;-)
I'm looking forward to the master/slave working....and would be happy to beta test it if you're looking for guinea pigs! (providing you don't destroy my batteries!)
Quote from: Web4Deb on October 09, 2012, 02:17:08 PM
I was wondering how you could do EA with 2 controllers. I EA'd my batteries once but shut down the second controller because I wasn't sure how to handle it! ;-)
I'm looking forward to the master/slave working....and would be happy to beta test it if you're looking for guinea pigs! (providing you don't destroy my batteries!)
Ahh ! Great question ! The amps for two controllers will have to be combined from the two controllers in order for that to work correctly.
The original EA menu screen had a "source" selection (gone for now) that told it where to get this EA information from. The best way
will of course be from the main battery shunt and its monitor so that address would be selected when it is available.
Otherwise, the EA source is from the classic that the MNGP is talking to or in Vic's future case, multiple (2 or more) Classics.
boB
(head spinning) I think I'll manually trigger the EA and shut off the other controller. ;)
Quote from: Web4Deb on October 05, 2012, 10:15:26 AM
Second question today...
I have 2 Classic 150's with the master/slave cable. Is there any documentation on what is sync'd between the two controllers? Or any way to confirm the communication is working? I haven't seen any of the settings (battery voltages, clock, etc) that I would assume would be in sync, be in sync.
Thanks!
-Rob T.
I also have two 150 and thought that they would sync settings such as battery voltage. Each has tweaks to get the same voltages as my DVM but each 150 cant keep its voltmeter consistent and over the 24 to 29 volt range will differ by 0.3v at 28v and be equal at 23.9v
This is a pain whenl trying to get float/absorb to work between two charge sources..
dgd
Quote from: dgd on October 09, 2012, 07:12:42 PM
Quote from: Web4Deb on October 05, 2012, 10:15:26 AM
Second question today...
I have 2 Classic 150's with the master/slave cable. Is there any documentation on what is sync'd between the two controllers? Or any way to confirm the communication is working? I haven't seen any of the settings (battery voltages, clock, etc) that I would assume would be in sync, be in sync.
Thanks!
-Rob T.
I also have two 150 and thought that they would sync settings such as battery voltage. Each has tweaks to get the same voltages as my DVM but each 150 cant keep its voltmeter consistent and over the 24 to 29 volt range will differ by 0.3v at 28v and be equal at 23.9v
This is a pain whenl trying to get float/absorb to work between two charge sources..
dgd
Coming real soon is charge stage coordination between Classics which will fix the Absorb/Float discrepancy.
Does the Classic with the higher voltage reading do this at higher output currents ?? Might be partly due to
voltage drop in the wire.
If not, then the battery voltage "gain" may need to be adjusted slightly which may help more than just the offset
adjustment tweak. Will try to show how to do this either as a document or by video soon.
boB
Quote from: boB on October 10, 2012, 04:13:12 AM
Coming real soon is charge stage coordination between Classics which will fix the Absorb/Float discrepancy.
Does the Classic with the higher voltage reading do this at higher output currents ?? Might be partly due to
voltage drop in the wire.
If not, then the battery voltage "gain" may need to be adjusted slightly which may help more than just the offset
adjustment tweak. Will try to show how to do this either as a document or by video soon.
boB
Sunny day yesterday and some wind so 150-1 was about 200 watts from wind and 150-2 was near 2kw from PVs. I noticed voltmeters on both 150s and sw3024e all agreed at 26v while 150 on PVs was below 400watts. When PV output increased over 1700watts the voltage on SW and wind 150 showed 27.6 but on 150 connected to PVs it was at 28.5 !!! DVM was 27.6
I rechecked all cables and connectors, cables are largest I can get into the classic and all cable runs are pretty short.
Your suggestion about gain adjustment may be what I need so I look forward to this info being available. thanks again for your help...
Dgd
Quote from: dgd on October 14, 2012, 07:53:41 PM
Quote from: boB on October 10, 2012, 04:13:12 AM
Coming real soon is charge stage coordination between Classics which will fix the Absorb/Float discrepancy.
Does the Classic with the higher voltage reading do this at higher output currents ?? Might be partly due to
voltage drop in the wire.
If not, then the battery voltage "gain" may need to be adjusted slightly which may help more than just the offset
adjustment tweak. Will try to show how to do this either as a document or by video soon.
boB
Sunny day yesterday and some wind so 150-1 was about 200 watts from wind and 150-2 was near 2kw from PVs. I noticed voltmeters on both 150s and sw3024e all agreed at 26v while 150 on PVs was below 400watts. When PV output increased over 1700watts the voltage on SW and wind 150 showed 27.6 but on 150 connected to PVs it was at 28.5 !!! DVM was 27.6
I rechecked all cables and connectors, cables are largest I can get into the classic and all cable runs are pretty short.
Your suggestion about gain adjustment may be what I need so I look forward to this info being available. thanks again for your help...
Dgd
I will just describe to you what to do...
On the control board, the top circuit board that is exposed when the cover is off, there are two yellow semi-large square cut outs on that
PCB exposing those 2 inductors... Just below the bottom yellow inductor and above the horizontal connector sticking up is
a blue or gray trimmer pot. This is the battery voltage adjust. It is the only adjustment of this kind on the control board.
I suggest to first go to the TWEAKS menu and make sure that the battery voltage offset is set for 0.0 volts (no offset).
Then with your accurate DVM (Fluke meter with good batteries), adjust that trim-pot so that they match. Do this with
the PV off or the MPPT MODE set to OFF so there is no current being drawn through the battery cables, just in case.
If you can't quite get there, but can get close, the rest of the adjustment can be taken care of with the TWEAKS
offset adjustment. I would think that you can adjust it to match close enough with the trim-pot.
Remember that the terminal block screws do not 100% always conduct perfectly so you may want to
also stick the meter probes into the terminal block where the wires are connecting to just to verify.
Let us know if that helps.
boB
that is good to know about that pot. my question is why would the meter on the classic need to be adjusted aka why is it so far off? i don't recall exactly how far off mine was, but it was off according to several meters i have by at least .2v. i'll have to recheck how far i took it to be sure, but even .2v is significant when addressing the tighter tolerances agm batteries present. i can see currents being a bit off the mark, but accurate voltages should be a cakewalk.
Quote from: niel on October 15, 2012, 12:15:24 AM
that is good to know about that pot. my question is why would the meter on the classic need to be adjusted aka why is it so far off? i don't recall exactly how far off mine was, but it was off according to several meters i have by at least .2v. i'll have to recheck how far i took it to be sure, but even .2v is significant when addressing the tighter tolerances agm batteries present. i can see currents being a bit off the mark, but accurate voltages should be a cakewalk.
There is also an internal non-adustable offset that is probably not right. The battery voltage pot is
adjusted at a non-24V voltage is probably why it was off for a 24V battery.
This voltage accuracy thing is a combination of gain and offset adjustment.
You know how when you adjust a radio IF strip and turn 2 (two) independent adjustments you have a
very hard time getting it correct again ? This is kind of that way.
The current adjustment only has one adjustment. Its offset if not adjustable but is extremely stable
right off the bat.
You have many different possible error sources. The A/D is of course one of them, the reference voltage,
gain, offset... The most important one and hardest nut to crack are errors due to temperature drift.
boB
Thanks boB, that adjustment brought the voltmeters closer, just 0.1v divergence when over 28 volts, otherwise equal.
I suppose when master/slave settings are implemented this adjustment will not be necessary
dgd
Any updates on the master/slave feature?
My two controllers never seem to agree on whether they should be in MPPT, float, or absorb. I always feel like I'm wasting some of my charging potential when they're doing this. ::)
Thanks!
Quote from: Web4Deb on November 15, 2012, 09:50:55 AM
Any updates on the master/slave feature?
My two controllers never seem to agree on whether they should be in MPPT, float, or absorb. I always feel like I'm wasting some of my charging potential when they're doing this. ::)
Thanks!
Almost ready to release that code... Standby just another day or two.
boB
sweet! I'll keep an eye out for it!