upgrading power converter
My power converter has apparently bit the dust, lights flickering for past couple of years now no charge to batteries... Anyhoo, we do a lot of dry camping, where we need to daily boost the batteries...
Forum Discussion
To clarify, yes you raise converter voltage to get battery to accept more current but that is more for the Absorption stage when amps are tapering--you still want more amps even though they are tapering.
During Bulk, you want a high acceptance rate but also your charger has to be "big" enough to supply that. As a practical limit there is not much advantage in going above a 33% charging rate (100a on 300AH bank) or there is no constant amps stage at all--it just tapers.
There is no actual limit on amps acceptance on the left side of the graph till battery reaches 14.8 but if you hit the battery with huge amps, the time it takes to get to 14.8 is very short--voltage "spikes" and you don't get much done compared with just doing it at 33%. Besides, there is a limit on the amps "size" of the chargers you can buy.
Also their prices jump the higher you go in amps. You look at what an 80 amper costs compared with a 60 amper and decide if that is worth saving ten minutes of gen time on a two battery bank.
It is diminishing returns to go higher and higher in charging rate, but all you get for having a lower more "gentle" rate, is longer generator time.
During Bulk, you want a high acceptance rate but also your charger has to be "big" enough to supply that. As a practical limit there is not much advantage in going above a 33% charging rate (100a on 300AH bank) or there is no constant amps stage at all--it just tapers.
There is no actual limit on amps acceptance on the left side of the graph till battery reaches 14.8 but if you hit the battery with huge amps, the time it takes to get to 14.8 is very short--voltage "spikes" and you don't get much done compared with just doing it at 33%. Besides, there is a limit on the amps "size" of the chargers you can buy.
Also their prices jump the higher you go in amps. You look at what an 80 amper costs compared with a 60 amper and decide if that is worth saving ten minutes of gen time on a two battery bank.
It is diminishing returns to go higher and higher in charging rate, but all you get for having a lower more "gentle" rate, is longer generator time.
