CA Traveler wrote:
Maybe I should check the manual after several years...
One aspect of the Magnum I like is that it detects battery charge vs house loads and changes amps but not voltage with house loads. Likely very hard for a solar controller to do this since the panel power is constantly changing.
Well, I believe that is not unique to Magnum. When your Magnum is regulating Voltage, it will increase/decrease Amps to maintain the set Voltage. It doesn't matter if it is the charge or float voltage. Timers are used to switch between charge, float, and standby. I believe this is how most decent chargers work. Does the Magnum adjust the times due to variances in draws?
I use the programming feature of my solar controller to automatically adjust these timings longer/shorter as needed. Each morning when the controller starts up, the overnight low Voltage is read and the length of time is set for charge(Absorption). If the Voltage is low enough then float is cancelled that day. This helps ensure that the charge cycle will catch up even if it takes more days.
I keep the solar connected year round.
P.S. Nice Alaska trip report. My bucket list includes spending the
night inside the Arctic Circle on June 21st.
HTH;
John
