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