Solar and Lifeline
Hi y’all First thanks to all who have tried to help with this project I finally got my Renogy system up and running. 4 -100 watt panels on the roof. 30amp mppt controller, 2000w pure sine wave inve...
Forum Discussion
When I did not know better and had a simple one stage solar controller, I typically had undercharged batteries. I thought the batteries were charged if the controller reached the 13.6v set point. The batteries survived 7 years of that abuse including about half that time in actual daily use and half that time in storage. After 7 years, I replaced the batteries but probably could have just done an equalization.
Now that I have a multistage controller, I am more confused than ever. Recently I traveled alone and rarely used more than about 20 AH overnight. A couple of hours of solar early in the morning should be sufficient. Instead the charging remains at 14.4v and the amperage slowly, slowly drops down. After 4 or more hours of additional charging the amperage is typically still at 3-4 amps instead of 1.5 amps for full charge of my 300 AH battery bank. If I had interruptions such as driving under trees or passing clouds, the charging amps jump upwards and take a long time to drop back to where the amperage was before the interruption. By the time I finally reach a full charge, if ever, I should have had enough solar to replace what I used several times over. I contacted Lifeline but never received a good explanation of what is happening or what is ideal. I was told if I reached 3 amps, I should feel confident that the batteries were essentially fully charged.
Now that I have a multistage controller, I am more confused than ever. Recently I traveled alone and rarely used more than about 20 AH overnight. A couple of hours of solar early in the morning should be sufficient. Instead the charging remains at 14.4v and the amperage slowly, slowly drops down. After 4 or more hours of additional charging the amperage is typically still at 3-4 amps instead of 1.5 amps for full charge of my 300 AH battery bank. If I had interruptions such as driving under trees or passing clouds, the charging amps jump upwards and take a long time to drop back to where the amperage was before the interruption. By the time I finally reach a full charge, if ever, I should have had enough solar to replace what I used several times over. I contacted Lifeline but never received a good explanation of what is happening or what is ideal. I was told if I reached 3 amps, I should feel confident that the batteries were essentially fully charged.
