Morningstar Tristar Solar Charge Controller manual6.0 Diversion Charge Control
The TriStar’s third mode of operation is diversion load battery charge control. As the battery becomes fully charged, the TriStar will divert excess current from the battery to a dedicated diversion load. This diversion load must be large enough to absorb all the excess energy, but not too large to cause a controller overload condition.
6.1 Diversion Charge Control
In the diversion mode, the TriStar will use PWM charging regulation to divert excess current to an external load. As the battery becomes fully charged, the FET switches are closed for longer periods of time to direct more current to the diversion load. As the battery charges, the diversion duty cycle will increase. When fully charged, all the source energy will flow into the diversion load if there are no other loads. The generating source is typically a wind or hydro generator. Some solar systems also use diversion to heat water rather than open the solar array and lose the energy.
