First time to 50% SOC
DW and I pigged out on amp hours on our last trip to the beach a week ago. According to the Victron, we used 364 Ah in 3 days. Oddly, the Iota did not go right to 14.8V like it did when I first connec...
Forum Discussion
I really think too many people get confused by not seeing the 14.4+ volts right off the bat.
What maters is the amp output. If 55 amps is the output for your charger, and you were getting that from your 1/2 discharged batteries everything is fine at that time.
The voltage reading is usually taken across the battery-terminals. That means at start of charge the voltage would have been about 12.1 volts and climbing to around 13.2 to 13.6 volts. If your are seeing about 55 amps during this period, there is no need for the charger to up the voltage to 14.4+ volts to "force feed" the battery-bank.
If your current output dropped back to the 15 amp range, without the charger going into "bulk" charging (14.4+) volts then you could have a problem.
As long as the amps are near full rated output (55 amps) on the way to around 80%soc, the charging system is working as advertised. After that voltage of 14.4+ and tapering amps for "absorption" charging, or "equalization" at about 95%soc.
If your batteries get charged to "full", per your charger, in the expected number of hours for your battery-back capacity, nothing to get excited about.
Mark B.
What maters is the amp output. If 55 amps is the output for your charger, and you were getting that from your 1/2 discharged batteries everything is fine at that time.
The voltage reading is usually taken across the battery-terminals. That means at start of charge the voltage would have been about 12.1 volts and climbing to around 13.2 to 13.6 volts. If your are seeing about 55 amps during this period, there is no need for the charger to up the voltage to 14.4+ volts to "force feed" the battery-bank.
If your current output dropped back to the 15 amp range, without the charger going into "bulk" charging (14.4+) volts then you could have a problem.
As long as the amps are near full rated output (55 amps) on the way to around 80%soc, the charging system is working as advertised. After that voltage of 14.4+ and tapering amps for "absorption" charging, or "equalization" at about 95%soc.
If your batteries get charged to "full", per your charger, in the expected number of hours for your battery-back capacity, nothing to get excited about.
Mark B.
