controller
Submitted: Saturday, Dec 02, 2006 at 16:27
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Member - Ron O (VIC)
Hi all just purchased a solar panel with morningstar sunsaver6 controller. Not knowing anything about either controller says remove jumper for flooded battery.Does that mean for standard fluid battery and leave it in for sealed batterys just wondering before l bugger the battery.Thanks all
Reply By: joc45 - Saturday, Dec 02, 2006 at 17:26
Saturday, Dec 02, 2006 at 17:26
The flooded battery they refer to is as you correctly assumed; it's a standard "wet" battery with liquid electrolyte. These can be more freely gassed than can the SLAs, so the max charge voltage is probably a bit higher on your controller. The gassing stirs up the electrolyte to prevent stratification and improve charge equalisation between cells. You can't do this on SLAs without deteriorating the battery.
Gerry
AnswerID:
208183
Reply By: Grungle - Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 09:47
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 09:47
What brand / model battery do you have?
Flooded setting will be for all wet cell / flooded batteries including sealed maintenance free types.
Gel setting will be for AGM and Gel types.
Flooded setting has higher charging voltages than Gel setting so getting it right will maximise your battery life.
Regards
AnswerID:
208288
Follow Up By: Member - Ron O (VIC) - Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 16:15
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 16:15
Hl Grungle battery is fullriver 100ah hgl. Never used solar before so looking for any info that will help .Solar panel shows 21 volts across controller terminals but zero across battery terminals untill battery is connected is this right. Thanks for info.
FollowupID:
468281
Follow Up By: Alloy c/t - Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 16:23
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 16:23
Ron ,1 slight mistake from Grungle , the gel setting is only for Gel type batteries ,NOT an AGM , abbsorbed glass mat is not a Gel battery , your fullriver AGM HGL is not a Gel battery.
FollowupID:
468283
Follow Up By: Grungle - Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 21:30
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 21:30
Hi Alloy c/t,
Both my solar regulator and my 240v 3 stage charger each have 2 settings. One for flooded and the other for Gel/AGM so I am just going off what each of my setups list. Others may have 3 different settings such as flooded , gel and AGM but you will probably find that Gel and AGM are both one setting on most chargers and flooded as the other setting.
Regards
David
FollowupID:
468358
Follow Up By: Grungle - Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 21:40
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 21:40
Hi Ron O,
In most cases the setting for any charger will be to Gel / AGM for an AGM battery as they require lower charge voltages than flooded batteries.
You are correct in that the regulator will show 0V at the battery and 21V at the regulator without a battery connected as a regulator will only charge a battery if it can tell what its state of charge is and this is done checking the batteries voltage. No battery and the regulator will just sit idle. As soon as you connect a battery it will read its voltage and apply current from the solar panel to the battery depending on what it thinks its state of charge is.
Regards
David
FollowupID:
468366
Follow Up By: Alloy c/t - Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 22:10
Sunday, Dec 03, 2006 at 22:10
Steca regulator ,manual specifically states that an AGM is NOT to be hooked up under the Gel setting
FollowupID:
468379
Follow Up By: Grungle - Monday, Dec 04, 2006 at 08:47
Monday, Dec 04, 2006 at 08:47
Hi Alloy c/t,
What type of Steca regulator do you have? I have a PR3030 that I am trying to find time to install on the Patrol (maybe over Christmas if the wife lets me) and I think they are a good bit of kit.
I went to the Steca website for a look as I can't fine my manual but at the moment, however the online manual says in section 6.3 page 10 that 'If you use a Gel or AGM battery, you have to change the battery type to GEL'.
Regards
David
FollowupID:
468428