SOLAR & STECA PR2020
Submitted: Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007 at 20:16
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HI Everyone,
Finally this XMAS putting a Solar System into the camper for our longer stays away. Have purchased 2x 80W Solar Panels and a little extra
battery power etc. (360ah of Gel Batteries)
Anyhow the question is for anyone, If you have a STECA PR2020 is there any setting/config changes that anyone recommends? I am not using the Load feature as i have a XANTREX
battery monitor/controller so it does all the stuff. But there are some config options in the Solar Regulator that maybe i need to change?
It seems to work very
well without any changes (had it putting 8.9ah into the
battery just out of the box?)
Cheers
Justin
Reply By: Mainey (wa) - Thursday, Dec 27, 2007 at 05:21
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007 at 05:21
Justin,
Welcome to the fantastic world of
Solar power !!
Just change the
battery setting to 'GEL' if it's not already done, that's the only setting you will need to change, as the gel will then charge at a higher 14.1 Volts where the wetcel
battery spec is only 13.9 Volt.
The LCD which shows the accurate state of charge (SOC) in percent and as
battery gauge symbol, but only works via the Solar panel voltage input - NOT registering any voltage input from the Alternator, so only use it when camped for long periods, or it will cut the fridge off when you don't expect it to.
Features
• PWM shunt
battery charging
• state of charge (SOC)
battery regulation
• built in Amp Hour counter
• FLOAT charging
• BOOST charging
• EQUALISING charge
• automatic load disconnect and reconnection
• manual load connect and disconnect switch
• temperature compensation
• positive grounding (or) negative grounding on one terminal
• field adjustable parameters by the two red buttons
The Steca will only charge the
battery when the
battery NEEDS charging, obviously the
battery was low SoC (not volts) for the Steca to put 8.9 Amps into it from a total available of ~9.9 Amps maximum.
You will now understand the pics and statements on my rig page.
Mainey...
AnswerID:
278562
Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Kath - Thursday, Dec 27, 2007 at 07:56
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007 at 07:56
Mainey, think it is in Gel when you buy it. My 2020 says so in the manual anyway, should probably have checked that. I like what is built into it, but it duplicates what comes in the standard system on the Karavan to some extent. I need another 80w panel now as I only hvae one to learn on.
FollowupID:
542589
Reply By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Thursday, Dec 27, 2007 at 09:49
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007 at 09:49
I suggest you
check the factory default settings as
mine was not set in the default despite what the book stated
cheers
AnswerID:
278584
Follow Up By: Mainey (wa) - Friday, Dec 28, 2007 at 10:52
Friday, Dec 28, 2007 at 10:52
Yes, that's fairly common, hence my change the
battery setting to Gel, if it's not already done.
The Gel
battery will love the extra voltage delivered to it.
Mainey...
FollowupID:
542767
Follow Up By: Axel [ the real one ] - Friday, Dec 28, 2007 at 11:33
Friday, Dec 28, 2007 at 11:33
Ditto ,,
mine out of the box was set to liq rather than gel even though the book states gel is the factory setting.
FollowupID:
542770