Quote:
Originally Posted by smac999
what do you mean by relay? is this an ACR / VSR? or just a normal relay? (actavated by what?)
if you only have thin cable, the echocharger is one option. this limits the charge to 15a.
with just a relay, the amount of current from either depends on a bunch of things. it could be half. 80, 90%. but those wires must be fused at both ends. for that wire size. if you have small wires and small fuses. they may blow while using windless.
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Hi!
First, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude that you are willing to discuss this subject. Thank You very much!
I feel I need to expand on my target setup.
Will
purchase the Sterling
Alternator to Battery
charger up to 130 A:
Alternator to Battery Chargers up to 130A | Sterling Power Products
The house bank output will connect to my GEL bank 300 Ah (bank 1).
The start output, I will connect it to two battery banks:
1 x START battery (bank 2). 1.5 m distance from Sterling one-way. Normal (not Gel).
1 x WINDLASS battery (bank 3). 10 m distance from Sterling one-way. Normal (not Gel).
I need to put a battery bank separating device after the START output of the Sterling.
I don't know much about those devices. I was thinking to put a
cheap relay. I am by nature sceptical to the benefits of having high end VSR etc (but not sure what that is!).
The charging, especially of the WINDLASS battery, will suffer from the voltage drop of the 10 m cable.
This will be remedied by the fact that cranking the engine and running the windlass will not deplete those
batteries much.
So, I will also have +500 W of
solar panels and a
wind generator. They will be connected to two high end
MPPT regulators, to all battery banks. How to accomplish that? Sterling recommends you connect
solar panels to
MPPT regulators, not to the Sterling. The MPPT regulators will have temperature and, more important, voltage drop compensation
cables.
But should I put the temp and voltage compensation at the START or the WINDLASS battery? START I suppose, but I want the WINDLASS battery to be fully charged as well, which it won't if it doesn't get enough Volts.
I have to figure out a way to make all MPPT regulators, will have 2 with high Amps, to all three battery banks. Similar to this:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ks-112160.html
I will buy two identical MPPT regulators and set them to the exact same rating as I will set Sterling to, determined by the Gel house bank, i.e. 14.4 V max.
If the Gel house bank breaks while cruising I will buy normal
batteries to replace it, 300 Ah - 500 Ah or so.
I just read from the Sterling site:
Quote:
What other uses for this product?
This product could be used on any other product which has a current limit on it. For example, if you have an old fashioned constant voltage transformer based battery charger (or a constant current with low preset voltage controls and poor timer performance) which does not work very well, then simply attach this to the output of the old battery charger, and you will have the latest digital controlled 4 step charger, with all the programs, remote control and split output of the latest chargers on the market. Plus, at least a performance increase of about 500% (charger must not exceed the current rating of the device purchased).
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This is great news! I can keep my old charger rated at 30 Amps! Another day I noticed the current at the house bank was +14.6 V which is not so good for the Gel house bank. This was when connected to
shore power. The current battery charger does not have a setting for Gel. I was going to replace it but now I can just connect it to the Sterling!
Hail them!
What happens though if I have
shore power connected = battery charger charging + crank the engine so the
alternator starts producing? Will I break something or will Sterling handle the dual charge? Suspect the latter.
My alternator rates max 50 A so that would yield a theoretical max of 80 A into the Sterling which seems ok, as it's rated to 130 A.
At last, over to the last subtopic:
Quote:
with just a relay, the amount of current from either depends on a bunch of things. it could be half. 80, 90%. but those wires must be fused at both ends. for that wire size. if you have small wires and small fuses. they may blow while using windless.
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Once mounted, I could measure current in the wires, but I need to know before
purchasing.
I could make an
experiment using small batteries and a cheap relay.
What I want:
Engine running when using windlass.
16 mm2 cables from charging source to WINDLASS battery should charge max what cable is rated for (will check out echo charger, thanks!).
Windlass should take all current it needs from WINDLASS battery.
Or.
Windlass should take all the charging power (= go to windlass rather than charging WINDLASS battery) from thin cable AND the rest from the battery.
No fuses should be blown.
Is this possible, does
electronics exist to make this happen, please?
Easiest option is to put cheap welding cables and accept <1 V of voltage drop between house bank and windlass. I.e. no WINDLASS battery, just two banks.
Less
electronics, in favour of cables sounds more KISS to me.
WINDLASS battery is cheaper (depends on what more aux electronic
equipment I need) than extremely fat cables.
Cheers