Long Question on how Converters Sense Battery Voltage.
Hi:
My normal 2 weeks per year of dry camping will be more like 2 months this year I expect so I am investing in a better 'off grid' setup and the single output voltage converter has to go. For reference 220 AHs of AGM will be the battery. Hence two, one rather detailed, questions.
Questions 1:
Researching converters there seem to be several good multi-stage models on the market, but there is one thing that is bugging the EE in me. There seem to be two major classes. One class have an internal transfer relay, and when on AC the battery is charged by a separate circuit board thru an isolated circuit. The issue is these all seem to be far low amperage for my setup as I really want no more than say 2 hours per day charging (75 AHs is what I guess I need per average day).
The models that have the 75-100 Amps I want all seem to have a single 12 volt output and this is shown in the manuals as going to both battery and the 12 volt accessories, so this leads to question 1. With some of the load being the battery and some being lights or whatever (and variable) how does the charger know when to scale back the voltage when fully charged? If it just guesses on current draw I can see it never coming off 14.4 volts. Is there something I missed that allows them to accurately know where the battery charge level is at to lower the voltage when charged or _______? If the AGMs can handle sustained 14.4 volts, my motorcycle which puts out 16 volts leads me to believe they may be able to but the manufacturers seem to say no, then maybe I would get almost the same result (its only 55 amps, a waste with all that battery capacity and a 2.2 kw generator)by just cranking the voltage on the existing converter?
Question 2)
I have not seen any units that have remote voltage sensing, only temperature. Do you know of any out there that sense the voltage at the battery?
John
My normal 2 weeks per year of dry camping will be more like 2 months this year I expect so I am investing in a better 'off grid' setup and the single output voltage converter has to go. For reference 220 AHs of AGM will be the battery. Hence two, one rather detailed, questions.
Questions 1:
Researching converters there seem to be several good multi-stage models on the market, but there is one thing that is bugging the EE in me. There seem to be two major classes. One class have an internal transfer relay, and when on AC the battery is charged by a separate circuit board thru an isolated circuit. The issue is these all seem to be far low amperage for my setup as I really want no more than say 2 hours per day charging (75 AHs is what I guess I need per average day).
The models that have the 75-100 Amps I want all seem to have a single 12 volt output and this is shown in the manuals as going to both battery and the 12 volt accessories, so this leads to question 1. With some of the load being the battery and some being lights or whatever (and variable) how does the charger know when to scale back the voltage when fully charged? If it just guesses on current draw I can see it never coming off 14.4 volts. Is there something I missed that allows them to accurately know where the battery charge level is at to lower the voltage when charged or _______? If the AGMs can handle sustained 14.4 volts, my motorcycle which puts out 16 volts leads me to believe they may be able to but the manufacturers seem to say no, then maybe I would get almost the same result (its only 55 amps, a waste with all that battery capacity and a 2.2 kw generator)by just cranking the voltage on the existing converter?
Question 2)
I have not seen any units that have remote voltage sensing, only temperature. Do you know of any out there that sense the voltage at the battery?
John
