Capacity Testing and 20 HR Rating
I'm thinking about doing a capacity test on my four GC2's. They have a 20hr rating of 215Ah. One thing I'm curious about is how the 20hr rating would have been determined. Being 6v, would they h...
Forum Discussion
The Trimetric is very useful if you use it right.
You need to zero the AH when the batts are at full baseline SG and then let its AH counter run.
I think that means don't set any bank AH amount so it zeros itself early. Use it as it comes right out of the box, and it will show v,a,and AH, but not % full. You can do % full in your head when you know your capacity and the minus AH showing
(The capacity keeps changing with the ambient temp anyway by a wide swing Feb to July so IMO that whole % full thing is bogus)
I recently equalized the batts on shore power with the VEC1093DBD to baseline SG. Now back on solar off grid on a normal day, just before supper and some battery use, the Trimetric is showing batteries accepting 1.8 amps, but an hydrometer check shows them at full SG, and the AH counter is at + 15.3 and climbing.
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EDIT, didn't use the microwave, amps stayed at 1.7 to the battery and the AH got to plus 18.0, (of about 458AH) but SG the same at baseline, just checked. Reset the AH counter to zero before taking the dog for a walk before dark.
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That will soon take a hit when I use the microwave to make part of supper! But I will zero the Tri before that.
My solar controller is in Float but I have set that to a high amount of 14.5v. So if we always got days like today, I should ease back on the Float voltage setting, but the weatherman is not to be trusted around here!
So all I do is later, I will reset the Trimetric AH counter from say, 16 over to zero and let it run. Many days when cloudy, it never gets back to zero. that is why you still need to do an equalize every so often.
The Tri is a useful guide especially for comparing your morning "resting" voltage with the AH count vs your estimated capacity to validate your likely SOC. (You have to take that morning voltage before the solar can start cranking it up. It helps if you keep farmer's hours :) )
BTW when on solar, be sure to go into the program #3 to stop the AH counter from automatic zeroing or it will return to zero as soon as it gets dark and there is no more positive amps on the ammeter. This will drive you crazy until you fix it! :(
You need to zero the AH when the batts are at full baseline SG and then let its AH counter run.
I think that means don't set any bank AH amount so it zeros itself early. Use it as it comes right out of the box, and it will show v,a,and AH, but not % full. You can do % full in your head when you know your capacity and the minus AH showing
(The capacity keeps changing with the ambient temp anyway by a wide swing Feb to July so IMO that whole % full thing is bogus)
I recently equalized the batts on shore power with the VEC1093DBD to baseline SG. Now back on solar off grid on a normal day, just before supper and some battery use, the Trimetric is showing batteries accepting 1.8 amps, but an hydrometer check shows them at full SG, and the AH counter is at + 15.3 and climbing.
---------------
EDIT, didn't use the microwave, amps stayed at 1.7 to the battery and the AH got to plus 18.0, (of about 458AH) but SG the same at baseline, just checked. Reset the AH counter to zero before taking the dog for a walk before dark.
--------------
That will soon take a hit when I use the microwave to make part of supper! But I will zero the Tri before that.
My solar controller is in Float but I have set that to a high amount of 14.5v. So if we always got days like today, I should ease back on the Float voltage setting, but the weatherman is not to be trusted around here!
So all I do is later, I will reset the Trimetric AH counter from say, 16 over to zero and let it run. Many days when cloudy, it never gets back to zero. that is why you still need to do an equalize every so often.
The Tri is a useful guide especially for comparing your morning "resting" voltage with the AH count vs your estimated capacity to validate your likely SOC. (You have to take that morning voltage before the solar can start cranking it up. It helps if you keep farmer's hours :) )
BTW when on solar, be sure to go into the program #3 to stop the AH counter from automatic zeroing or it will return to zero as soon as it gets dark and there is no more positive amps on the ammeter. This will drive you crazy until you fix it! :(
