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Just a guess but when a battery is nearly empty and you put it on charge does it accept the charge from any source quickly, then when it is nearly fully charged from 13.8 on wards it takes any more charge above this very slowly and is not cramming the power back in?..
Or is the charge linear all through the cycle?..
Ah the mysteries of batteries, I just let my120 watt solar panel get on with it, I would suspect it struggles to keep up the charge in UK weather, now if someone invented a water turbine utilising the rain coming off the m/h roof, there might be an over charging problem..
______________________________________________________________ Damn you Autocorrect. DAMN YOU TO HE’LL.
You should NEVER disconnect the regulator from the battery while the panels are still connected to the regulator.
So any fuse / switch should be between the panels and the regulator.
Sorry, don't understand that, surely the power coming from the regulator just would not have anywhere to go and as long as there is not a short what would the problem be. The instructions for the Steca Solsom regulator I have are perfectly clear that a fuse must go between the regulator and the battery. Obviously if the fuse blew or was removed the regulator would, in effect, be disconnected from the battery. There is no mention of a fuse between the regulator and the pennel and the regulator had it's own electronic protection anyway. Are you saying that a further fuse is required, as well as the one Steca say should be between the regulator and the battery?
My solar panel regulator information states that it has battery open circuit protection ( which is the same as disconnecting the battery!)
It states that when the battery is disconnected the output voltage from the controller will exceed 14.4 volts and the controller will cut off the load.
The fuse in the battery cable near the battery is to protect the wiring in case of a short circuit.
I have often had by battery disconnected and have had no problems.
My controller is a CQ series 10 amp
My solar panel regulator information states that it has battery open circuit protection ( which is the same as disconnecting the battery!)
It states that when the battery is disconnected the output voltage from the controller will exceed 14.4 volts and the controller will cut off the load.
The fuse in the battery cable near the battery is to protect the wiring in case of a short circuit.
I have often had by battery disconnected and have had no problems.
My controller is a CQ series 10 amp
I think the fuse should be between regulator and battery.
There is no need to fuse the panels before the regulator, but in my opinion a switch could be handy to isolate the panels when you don't want them connected, for instance you may have a 5 or more stage charger and you don't want a conflict during charging.
We are in the process of buying a static van on a site at Suffolk which does not supply mains electrics and we are having solar panals fitted to the van feeding 3 large batteries. These will run lights, central heating programming and things like a tv and radio. Don't know yet how much jungle juice will be generated, but one of the things I will now be asking during the handover next month, is whether it is possible to overcook the batteries.
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