Adding the Absorb time value to the list

[boB]

Joe, I love eastern Oregon !   Great country !

what kind of batteries do you have ??  If regular flooded, maybe you need to raise your Absorb voltage ?  Trojan, for instance, suggests 60+ volts for their L16s for Absorb.  You might check your battery specs closely anyway just in case.  You have to watch the water level though because it will go away a bit faster.  it's usually better to boil off some electrolyte and not undercharge to help avoid sulphation.

For logging, have you tried looking at the battery voltage in a graph ?  You might be able to more easily tell where it went to float.
Not too long now, the Local app will be looking at the classic's logs so should be easier to look at on the PC screen.


And Laszlo, you should be able to see amps out (or power) at any time, but the problem for most people (maybe not you) is that there may be other loads and the current from the controller may not all be going into the batteries.

boB

[Joe]

Bob

I have 16 S530. I use about 100 amp hr a night out of 800 available amps where I draw only  10% of my capacity a day from the batteries, do I need to cycle through an absorb stage every day? How is this affecting the longevity of my batteries.  I might add, that for a 12 month cycle I log 108 hrs on the generator.

I power a 1800sq foot home off grid and am so far very happy with my system. Even happier yet with the new Classic.

By the way, when does a person stop wanting more power and a larger system?

One last question, can the daily values be veiwed by the pc and also will these values be viewable on Mymidnite.com when it is up and running?

Joe

[plongson]

I've been following this thread because I have similar interests with absorb time, plus it sounds like my system is very much like the original poster. I'm still learning about my Midnite 250and don't want to hijack,  but have a question about the midnite operation.

If you set the absorb time way up to like 7 hours and it reaches the absorb volt setting in say 4 hours, does it go to float? Or does it just keep plowing away until the timer runs out?

I'm having an issue getting SG up and this is very interesting to me.

Thanks!
Paul

[niel]

you may be misunderstanding about absorb charging. in absorb the voltage is held constant and the current is allowed to diminish. some go by time and some go by a preset current that is hit before going to float. with the surrettes if you put in say 4hrs or 5hrs of bulk time to the batteries they may not see the full cycle in absorb as daylight time can be limited. maybe try to bring it up with a generator and charger early in the morning to allow solar to top it off or stay off your batteries all together with the generator being used for the ac loads to allow the batteries the chance to come up all of the way, whichever way shows the results you need.

[plongson]

Ok, Got it! Thanks for clearing that up for me niel. Like I said, still learning and appreciate all the help...
Paul

[boB]

Bob

One last question, can the daily values be veiwed by the pc and also will these values be viewable on Mymidnite.com when it is up and running?

Joe

The daily values will soon be viewable on the PC with the local app and I think that will be included on the Mymidnite because the
applications are very similar.  Then, USB at some point.

The only other way that may be done on a PC earlier than we get it done will be for someone to write their own PC modbus software.
I think I would just wait for now.

To give the batteries a long life, 2 things.  Don't let them boil dry and expose the plates and do not let them stay undercharged.

What are the charging specifications for those batteries ??   Remember too that the Surrettes and Rolls batteries (same thing) will
not usually have full spec'd capacity when brand new.  They have to be used for so many cycles first.  That's what I hear and Jamie Surrette
seems to agree on that point.

So, you need to get the absorb voltage up and leave them there long enough.  The question is, how high and how long ?

Some people never have enough battery or money.  It's probably different in every situation.
boB