A way To Save Charging Time

[a64pilot]

I'd say for the health of the generator it needs to run 30 min at a time minimum. You want it to run long enough to get to full operating temps and the moisture cook off in the oil. Otherwise it's like driving a car on only short trips, which obviously isn't good for the car engine and you need to shorten oil change intervals. I'd extend the morning run ideally until the chargers amps drop to very close to what the Solar can supply.
Your not going to get much charging in the afternoon, cause hopefully the batteries are so full by then your only trickling in the charge.

Yes you can get by of course with your current battery monitor, you just have to continuously keep recalibrating the thing, best part of a smart gauge is once set up, you never have to do anything, just leave it alone for best results

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I'd say for the health of the generator it needs to run 30 min at a time minimum. You want it to run long enough to get to full operating temps and the moisture cook off in the oil. Otherwise it's like driving a car on only short trips, which obviously isn't good for the car engine and you need to shorten oil change intervals. I'd extend the morning run ideally until the chargers amps drop to very close to what the Solar can supply.
Your not going to get much charging in the afternoon, cause hopefully the batteries are so full by then your only trickling in the charge.

Yes you can get by of course with your current battery monitor, you just have to continuously keep recalibrating the thing, best part of a smart gauge is once set up, you never have to do anything, just leave it alone for best results

All excellent points. I'll plan on going long in the morning and just telling my wife she needs to shower in the morning if she expects hot water, although that issue might also be solved by the new, larger hot water tank being installed which will enable her to continue doing her thing in the evening.

I purchased a new Smartgauge for short money, so I'll probably end up setting up both. But I do plan on fussing with my old Magnatronic this evening since a couple of members were nice enough to forward the English version operating manual which looks like Chinese when it comes to the electrical stuff... but I'll give it a try. The Smartgauge can always be returned for a refund if I don't use it or I'll sell it on ebay for a profit.

[mitiempo]

Conventional battery monitors need owner input to remain close to accurate. The state of charge they give can be very inaccurate. One thing they do accurately is inform you of the AH's in or out of the battery bank.

The Smartgauge does not count AH use in or out of the bank. What it does exceedingly well is tell you the state of charge. This gets more accurate with time.

There is a very good case for having both.

[Kenomac]

So far, setting up my existing battery monitor isn't going well... 'Looks like the operating manual was translated from German to Chinese.

[senormechanico]

Kenomac's post about tuning a piano for the symphony reminded me of a customer I once served while I repaired electronics for a living.
This very put together woman brought in her VCR for service (mid 1980's).
When she picked it up, she was rather quiet and reserved.
Just before opening the door, she stopped. Her shoulders dropped, and I could tell something was wrong.
She turned around with a look of desperation on her face.
She looked like she was almost ready to cry. Then she said,

"I'm a surgeon. I can take out your liver, but I can't program my VCR.
Would you please show me how?"

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

So far, setting up my existing battery monitor isn't going well... 'Looks like the operating manual was translated from German to Chinese.

You don't have to mess with the monitor. Use it for AH counting - both in and out of the bank. It requires no calibration for this.

Use the Smartgauge for battery bank state of charge. It doesn't require any calibration at all.

[Kenomac]

I've had some sucess setting up the battery monitor, but I need some help coming up with a couple of numbers to plug in. I need to determine the total Ah capacity of the bank according to the original Trojan battery specs.

Here's a description of the bank:

8 Trojan 6v batteries set up for 24v
Each one is rated for 225Ah @ 20hrs. And 185 @ 5hr

Can someone please calculate the original capacity of the bank? Presently the meter is set at 370Ah which then indicates a 100% charge. The charger has been registering "float status" for over 24hrs having been plugged into shore power.

One more question: Regarding The very first question in the setup manual "shunt". My monitor is presently set on type #3 (see pic of directions on prior post) How would I check to see if this is the correct setting?

Thanks

[Sailmonkey]

450 AH

Let's assume your shunt is accurate for the moment, chances are it was supplied with the display so the default will work.

Otherwise the shunt itself should have the type written on it.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

450 AH

Let's assume your shunt is accurate for the moment, chances are it was supplied with the display so the default will work.

Otherwise the shunt itself should have the type written on it.

Where is the shunt located? What does it look like?

Never mind, I figured it out. It's #3

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Where is the shunt located?

Somewhere between the battery negative post and the negative distribution buss. It'll look similar to this.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Somewhere between the battery negative post and the negative distribution buss. It'll look similar to this.

Attachment 147797

Make sure the shunt is the first connection after the battery negative post. If it isn't any connection that is getting around the shunt will not be counted.

[Kenomac]

Why would the battery monitor be reading 380Ah at 84.4% When I changed the capacity number to 450Ah?

The electrical guy in Spain had the max capacity set to 370Ah, I changed it up to 450.

The chargers are both registering float.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Why would the battery monitor be reading 380Ah at 84.4% When I changed the capacity number to 450Ah?



The electrical guy in Spain had the max capacity set to 370Ah, I changed it up to 450.



The chargers are both registering float.

Considering you've been on shore power for a few days we can consider the batteries fully charge. Go ahead and manually set the counter to 100% charged. Somewhere in the manual should be the key combo to do this.

Really the only thing left to do is set the peukerts number....however IMHO just knowing roughly how many AH out and in plus voltage will keep you well enough.

[Kenomac]

I found the shunt which appears to be the first connection off the neg battery lead.

[Kenomac]

Voltage reads 26.62v

The meter is now set to a maximum capacity of 380 and the percentage now reads 100%. Up from the previous setting of 370.

If I increase the capacity figure to 390 the percentage drops to 97.5%, so I think 380 is where it needs to be. It only adjusts by increments of 10.

So if I understand everything correctly, I have an availability of 190Amps to use daily. 380 divided by 2 = 190. With the addition of 450w of solar coming onboard in two weeks and my daily consumption being somewhere between 110-140Amps, it looks like everything is OK.

Am I understanding this correctly?