Automatic gen startup - battery voltage value
Our genset has an autostart capability for low battery voltage. What is the recommended battery voltage value to set the startup at ? Thanks
Forum Discussion
The right voltage will vary depending on your batteries and your loads. It's also a trade off between gen. run time and battery life. The deeper you cycle your batteries the less time the gen. will run but the shorter their life will be. Batteries not cycled as deeply will provide a longer life but you'll need to run the gen. more to do it.
If you have only small loads (no microwave or toaster thru an inverter) I would let the batteries drop to 12.0. This is a fairly deep discharge but I would rather do that then burn the propane (or whatever your gen. runs on). If you want to treat your batteries very well you could choose 12.3 or 12.4. If you have very large loads that may cycle on and pull the voltage down I might even set it to 11.8 or so.
Also, does your gen. start logic include a time delay? That is, how long does the voltage have to meet the set point before it will start? A longer time delay would make me use a higher voltage.
If you have only small loads (no microwave or toaster thru an inverter) I would let the batteries drop to 12.0. This is a fairly deep discharge but I would rather do that then burn the propane (or whatever your gen. runs on). If you want to treat your batteries very well you could choose 12.3 or 12.4. If you have very large loads that may cycle on and pull the voltage down I might even set it to 11.8 or so.
Also, does your gen. start logic include a time delay? That is, how long does the voltage have to meet the set point before it will start? A longer time delay would make me use a higher voltage.
