Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rating: Thread Rating: 7 votes, 5.00 average. Display Modes
Old 05-02-2011, 15:08   #91
Registered User

Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Bellingham
Boat: Outbound 44
Posts: 9,319
Quote:
Originally Posted by billyehh View Post
... The difference being what you are consuming at the moment. ...
On my Link 10 the difference would be what you are consuming less the charge inefficiency. So if there is no consumption going on, the solar might show 10amps and the Link 9amps, due to the loss going back into the battery.
__________________
Paul
Paul L is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 15:23   #92
Registered User
 
Mark Johnson's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: New Bern NC
Boat: Searunner 34 Trimaran
Posts: 1,660
Exactly! And likewise, if your panels are producing 10A, while the boat is using about 5A, your link 10 might read 5A. Or what ever is the actual net charge going into the batteries. These are amazing little buggers! M.
Attached Images
 
Mark Johnson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 15:46   #93
Registered User
 
Lancerbye's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Cormorant Island, BC, Canada
Boat: Lancer 44 Motorsailer
Posts: 1,877
Images: 38
I also have the Link 2000 but solar is still on my wish list. You will notice that the negative Ah will always become more negative as the charge and discharge cycles happen because of the effieciency is less than 100%. So one has to reset the Ah when the number becomes meaningless. I am still using a generator and shore power for recharging. As the solar panel price continues to go down they are gaining priority level on my wish list.
__________________
The basis of accomplishment is in never quitting
Mengzi Meng-tse
Lancerbye is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 15:51   #94
Registered User

Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Bellingham
Boat: Outbound 44
Posts: 9,319
Actually the Link resets automatically when the battery is fully charged.
__________________
Paul
Paul L is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 18:02   #95
Registered User
 
Uncle Bob's Avatar

Join Date: May 2010
Location: Sydney Australia
Boat: Fisher pilothouse sloop 32'
Posts: 3,416
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feral Cement View Post
I'll say. I'd be vibrating at about 930 Hz, a tinny B flat.

John
Does that mean you will be able to repel all marine growth on your hull??
A new form of antifouling perhaps???

__________________
Rob aka Uncle Bob Sydney Australia.

Life is 10% the cards you are dealt, 90% how you play em
Uncle Bob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 21:30   #96
Registered User
 
BudgieSmuggler's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: broken bay
Boat: Adams 24 - Budgie Smuggler
Posts: 35
Images: 7
seaking...those aurinco panels look super duper. they are new technology and i have no experience with them. i have, in the past used the cannon flexible/walk on panels and found them to be rather low in output compared to "normal" panels...especially when actually using them as a walk on panel. they used to scuff up a little which reduced there output even more over a few years..... the cannon ones had a lifespan of about 7 to 10 years which was a little dissapointing.... but the aurinco panels are only slightly flexible and possibly much more high tech......still would`nt walk on them though. anyone out there used them?
BudgieSmuggler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 21:42   #97
Registered User
 
BudgieSmuggler's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: broken bay
Boat: Adams 24 - Budgie Smuggler
Posts: 35
Images: 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Bob View Post
Does that mean you will be able to repel all marine growth on your hull??
A new form of antifouling perhaps???

very good uncle bob... but on 10 cups i`m only B flat........... but.....i`ve read somewhere in the ultra sonic garb......if i can get it vibrating at F sharp (167.3 esspressos a day) then i might just be able to get off the weed!!!!........
BudgieSmuggler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 21:55   #98
Registered User
 
Feral Cement's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: North Carolina, USA
Boat: Tartan 34C
Posts: 584
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Bob View Post
Does that mean you will be able to repel all marine growth on your hull??
A new form of antifouling perhaps???
I suspect I would repell ALL living creatures in that state!

John
Feral Cement is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2011, 22:14   #99
Moderator
 
noelex 77's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
Quote:
Originally Posted by billyehh View Post
My solar regulator shows volts and amps, not amphours. That is a job for my battery monitor ( a Link 2000). It displays the amphours used since the battery was last charged usually late afternoon when my solar panels quit for the day. In the morning it displays how many amphours I have used overnight a negative number.
Traditionally people have fitted a solar regulator and battery monitor.
As the solar regulators have become more sophisticated many will now display all the information making the battery monitor, if you have one, redundant.
If you plan on fitting solar in the future its cheaper to save the cost of a battery monitor and put it towards a good solar regulator.
noelex 77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2011, 08:48   #100
Registered User

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Back in St. Lucia
Boat: Voyage 38 Catamaran
Posts: 203
Noelex: That would be correct if the only method of charging is by solar. My Blue Sky solar controller shows only what is being produced by the panels, both volts and amps. It does not show consumption from the battery in the formof amps being used or the state of the battery, amp hours that have been used (the gas tank ).

Besides showing what is going into the battery by solar it also shows what goes in from the house alternator and on the rareoccasion that I use it, the battery charger.

Besides this, it also controls the battery charger and monitors the three stages of output. Lastly it also controls the invertor as well as monitors its usage.
__________________
Billyehh
billyehh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2011, 08:57   #101
Registered User
 
Mark Johnson's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: New Bern NC
Boat: Searunner 34 Trimaran
Posts: 1,660
One needs both a solar charge controller AND a battery monitor. The batteries will self discharge and without the Link 10, (or similar) counting the amps in and amps out of the batteries, you never really know where your battery's charge is. M.
Mark Johnson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2011, 11:17   #102
Moderator
 
noelex 77's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
Quote:
Originally Posted by billyehh View Post
Noelex: That would be correct if the only method of charging is by solar..
Not true. My regulator will show AHr in form all sources and Ahrs out (It also remembers the results for the last 30 days)

Quote:
Originally Posted by billyehh View Post
It does not show consumption from the battery in the formof amps being used or the state of the battery, amp hours that have been used (the gas tank ).

.
My solar regulator does

Quote:
Originally Posted by billyehh View Post
Besides showing what is going into the battery by solar it also shows what goes in from the house alternator and on the rareoccasion that I use it, the battery charger.

.
Yes all displayed by my regulator

Quote:
Originally Posted by billyehh View Post
.

Besides this, it also controls the battery charger and monitors the three stages of output. Lastly it also controls the invertor as well as monitors its usage.
Yes my regulator will do all of that.

It depends on the regulator (some are very simple) and how its wired, but mine certainly displays all the information a battery monitor does making the later superfluous.
noelex 77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2011, 11:38   #103
Moderator
 
noelex 77's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Johnson View Post
One needs both a solar charge controller AND a battery monitor. The batteries will self discharge and without the Link 10, (or similar) counting the amps in and amps out of the batteries, you never really know where your battery's charge is. M.
You need to count the AHr in and out, but as I point out above at least some solar regulators will do that. This means the battery monitor provides no extra information.
Battery monitors (or solar regulators) cannot count the batteries self discharge. Self discharge is a process that’s internal to the battery and occurs without a circuit
Some can be set up to count slightly more discharge than is really present. This is how I have set up my solar regulator. It counts a permanent -0.1A discharge. Unfortunately I don’t believe this is possible with the Link battery monitor, so I think you will find your battery monitor does not allow anything for self discharge (although I haven’t set one up for a few years, so I could be wrong)
noelex 77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2011, 12:50   #104
Registered User
 
SeaKing's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Shady Side, MD
Boat: Voyage 470 "SeaPaws II"
Posts: 513
Quote:
Originally Posted by budgie smuggler View Post
seaking...those aurinco panels look super duper. they are new technology and i have no experience with them. i have, in the past used the cannon flexible/walk on panels and found them to be rather low in output compared to "normal" panels...especially when actually using them as a walk on panel. they used to scuff up a little which reduced there output even more over a few years..... the cannon ones had a lifespan of about 7 to 10 years which was a little dissapointing.... but the aurinco panels are only slightly flexible and possibly much more high tech......still would`nt walk on them though. anyone out there used them?

No intention of them being walked on, like the smooth flush to the deck look. Noting to snag anything on, especially a toe.
SeaKing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2011, 13:58   #105
Registered User
 
Mark Johnson's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: New Bern NC
Boat: Searunner 34 Trimaran
Posts: 1,660
Nolex,

Valid point about actually measuring the "self discharge" portion of the amps out. I may have spoken incorrectly about that. (Perhaps however it would calculate it?) I have no idea.

Since I keep my batteries under float @ 100% charged when dockside, and for the many years that we spent anchored out, brought them from about 40 or 50 ah down, up to 100% charged, with a three stage process, daily, it was a moot point for us.

Our separate solar regulator has adjustments as well, for each stage of the regulator, to be set exactly where the Trojan Batteries rep. suggested we set them.

The Link 10 works on the basis of Pukets Exponent or some such mumbo jumbo. It is basically a computer. It gets its information from a shunt in the negative wire, has numerous other small wires, and even the order of connecting or disconnecting the fused wires is critical, to avoid a meltdown.

When we down sized from a 380 ah to a 340 ah, house battery, using an equation in "the book", we had to reconfigure the link 10 so it gets to "know" the battery. In addition it counts the amps in or out of the battery. As I said before if 10a are going in, while simultaneously 5a are going out, it will see + 5a going in, more or less. When discharging... It will also tell you how many hours it will continue to deliver X amount of amps, (if X never changed), which is unlikely.

About "self discharge", this never comes into play for us, as the amount in a 24 hour period, which is the longest we go between charges, is not worth mentioning. I think what keeps it from getting a running error over time, is that each time we complete a three stage top off, = "daily", then the sun goes down and we start discharging, the link 10 re-zeros itself and starts over. (If the batteries were totally full by noon, by the end of the day the ah function readout might erroneously say + 5ah). This of coarse can't be, as a full battery should read "0" ah. As soon as any power at all is used, the meeter goes back to "0" ah. (then -.1ah, -.2ah, etc.) In our application it is pretty damn smart!

The book is quite technical, and "reconfiguring" takes patience, and two people. One reads, while the other pushes buttons multiple times, and in perfect timing. The book also book includes a technical help phone number, with the admonition that IF you call for technical help, and they can show that the answer was already in the book, they will charge you $100.00! NO SH-T! It REALLY makes you go over the book.

I believe you... If you have some of multi purpose regulator that does everything. I just never heard of it... They come up with higher tech. electronics every day. The Link 10 was the tops in its day, and works great. Ours is 15 years old.

We all have our philosophies about electronics. Mine, is to avoid, as much as possible, interfacing instruments, or multi purpose electronics.

My st 50 wind, speed, & depth meters on a daisy chain, are not worrisome, because if one goes down, the others do not. (unless it was the power wire), and I can bypass that.

I have my GPS feeding info to the computer for the Capt Program too. Also, the SSB interfaces with the computer for "weather FAX". Other than that, My Link 10 stands alone, I have the radar stand alone, the autopilot stands alone, the inverter is manually switched on and only if needed, and the dockside charger is separate from the inverter. This goes on and on. IF it is convenient to do so, I try to keep from loosing two or three things, just because one went bad.

I do loose a lot of automation, convenience, and information sharing "smarts", from this practice, but I feel that this "separation of function", along with detailed schematics that I draw up after installing each system, give me the best shot of figuring out what is wrong, or how to do without XYZ, and allows ABC to still work.

I would never say that this is the right way to go... just what I do, and what I suggest to my clients who are going cruising with WAY more complicated a systems than they could ever diagnose, much less repair. I guess I am behind the times... I don't even "tweet"!

Regards, Mark
Mark Johnson is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
solar

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Solar Power johnar Electrical: Batteries, Generators & Solar 12 26-12-2009 19:54
Liveaboard solar power columbia Electrical: Batteries, Generators & Solar 6 13-10-2007 21:57
Solar Power CaptainK Construction, Maintenance & Refit 1 02-10-2005 10:10
solar power kingfish Electrical: Batteries, Generators & Solar 10 26-08-2004 09:32

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:13.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.