Forum Discussion
jrnymn7
May 25, 2015Explorer
Another very important thing to consider is the way batteries charge up to full. When heavily discharged, they'll accept pretty much anything you can throw at them, amp wise. But as they become more full, their ability to accept amps diminishes greatly. This is where solar makes all the difference...
Imagine running a generator capable of powering a 60a charger, but the battery bank will only accept say 15a. That's a huge waste of fuel, not to mention unnecessary wear and tear on the generator. But solar is, by comparison, much lower in amps-to-the-bank, so it's a great fit for doing that last ~ 10-15% of charging. Using a generator powered charger, a 50-85% charge can be accomplished in as little as say 2 hrs, whereas the final 10% can take 4-6 hrs. The last two seasons, I was charging about 4 hrs, every other day, but that was all in the upper SOC (state of charge) range, and thus I was accomplishing very little, other than keeping the bank healthy. It was taking 4 hours to replace say 60Ah's. At a much lower SOC, when the bank can accept more amps, 60Ah's can be replaced in just over 1 hr, using a 60a charger, and in less than an hour using a 75a charger. So what many do is hit the bank with big amps in the morning, and get the SOC up to say 80-90%, and then let the solar quietly and efficiently bring the bank to full.
Imagine running a generator capable of powering a 60a charger, but the battery bank will only accept say 15a. That's a huge waste of fuel, not to mention unnecessary wear and tear on the generator. But solar is, by comparison, much lower in amps-to-the-bank, so it's a great fit for doing that last ~ 10-15% of charging. Using a generator powered charger, a 50-85% charge can be accomplished in as little as say 2 hrs, whereas the final 10% can take 4-6 hrs. The last two seasons, I was charging about 4 hrs, every other day, but that was all in the upper SOC (state of charge) range, and thus I was accomplishing very little, other than keeping the bank healthy. It was taking 4 hours to replace say 60Ah's. At a much lower SOC, when the bank can accept more amps, 60Ah's can be replaced in just over 1 hr, using a 60a charger, and in less than an hour using a 75a charger. So what many do is hit the bank with big amps in the morning, and get the SOC up to say 80-90%, and then let the solar quietly and efficiently bring the bank to full.
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