pnichols wrote:
Vulcan Rider wrote:
And I am telling you that you can get a "multi-stage" charger without temp. compensation but not the other way around, as far as I know.
Please open and study the documents in the links that I provided above related to the 4400 and 5400 Parallax charger lines. Both series of chargers are in fact two-stage chargers, with both their lower voltage float range and their higher voltage boost range adjusted over wide variations in voltage - depending upon temperature - but with each of the ranges falling within two bands differing from each other depending what stage the battery is ready for.
As I said earlier, the 5400 series even adds power factor correction to their design.
I like the temperature monitoring of those series and their ability to adjust the charge voltage to the optimum value for hot or cold temperature. What I don't like is the seeming lack of current monitoring in boost mode. The converter stays in boost mode for a fixed 4 hours when powered on, even if the batteries are already fully charged.
It is a typical scenario if you are driving to a plug-in site. You may leave home fully charged, the alternator keeps the batteries fully charged en route, or recharging if not fully charged. Then you arrive and plug in and the converter immediate goes to boost mode for 4 hours, where float mode is what is needed.
With generator recharging during dry camping it will do the right thing.
There is another issue shown in the documentation for the higher powered models, such as the 5400 series 65 amp unit: the cooling fan runs continuously, no matter what the load is.
