magnum hybrid and solar

Hi GordonThree,

No, I'm urbandocking in front of a friends home. I just believe it is responsible to use as much solar power as I can garner. Even a few hundred watts does make a difference. After all the friend is paying, even if I am not.

I believe that, if there are no other loads, the Magnum could operate at a 125 amp charge rate on a 15 amp 120 volt supply. The most I have seen was 57 amps.

Is your 15 amp shore power connection metered, so you are paying for every watt-hour you use?

If it's a flat-rate for the shore power, 15 amps into the Magnum is going to provide like 80+ amps of DC charging current, like you said in absorb mode. who cares about the solar output at that point. once you're back to 95% SOC and in float mode, the solar would start contributing. I think I'm missing something, doesn't sound like a problem to me???

Now, if your shore power connection is metered, use the ARC remote to switch the Magnum's charge control mode to SOC % or Time of Day ... this way the charger will only kick in if you're getting too low, or when it's dark out. That way you can maximize your use of free energy from the Sun.

Hi smk,

I'm running between about 1400 and 1500 watts. Voltage inside the RV is 114.

With a 75 watt load, voltage is 120.

I would be a bit wary of running the breaker at max rating.
NEC says continuous load (3+ hours) s/b 80% of breaker rating.
I would be down at 12 amps.

Hi GordonThree,

Yes it is possible to turn off the Charger. The Magnum does have a transfer switch built in.

Both the Magnum and the Blue Sky have temperature compensation.

However, then I'd not want to use load support as the battery bank would only be being charged by the solar. The bank would slowly slip into discharge.

GordonThree wrote:
On your ARC remote, what does the CHARGER button do for the hybrid inverter? Can you turn off the charger on the hybrid, while it is powering loads is what I'm wondering?

Hi Mex,

Thanks for the reply.

I've found out the answer "by inspection".

I'm plugged into 15 amp shore power. I've "dialed in" a maximum draw of 15 amps on the Magnum. After shore power initialized (there are built in transfer switches with a time delay), I turned on the inverter.

Then I deliberately over loaded by about 2 amps. Load support provided the extra power seamlessly. Then I over loaded by about 12 amps. Again load support "did its thing".

On the solar side, when the Magnum is in float mode it plays well with the Blue Sky. However when the Magnum goes to absorb mode (it did after the 2nd deliberate over load) it does NOT. I found a work around by deliberately triggering an equalization on the Blue Sky.

I have 15 amp power for the next 48 hours--a good thing as it is going to dip to -1 C Thursday night. I am connected via 50 feet of #10 cord. I may run a second shore power cable to get a little more heat going. Forecast high is 9 C and it is currently 7.5 C.

Magnum is at 4 amps 14.9 volts, Blue Sky is at 4.5 amps 15.1 volts.

Doesn't sound like anything is wrong here. Batteries are being charged by the highest current source, which is your generator by way of the Magnum. If it was raining, there's not much solar radiation, your panels won't be doing anything but a trickle charge anyway.

Obviously, the magnum detected the battery temperature was low and adjusted the charging voltage to compensate for that. The BlueSky doesn't have temperature compensation? Seems like a must-have feature for any large or outdoor battery bank.

On your ARC remote, what does the CHARGER button do for the hybrid inverter? Can you turn off the charger on the hybrid, while it is powering loads is what I'm wondering?

Hmmm kemosabe...

Me no speak Magnumeeze.

Hybrid Assist maybe rain god, or ticket taker to happy hunting ground?


Don, this may be best answered from the mouth of the horse. From what I understand, Magnum still has a few relic engineers from TRACE. I have a hunch a simple phone call will give you a wheelbarrow full of information to chew on.