Thanks Rednecktek! I only see Renogy 20A and 30A ANL fuses on amazon, so maybe the 30A on my 20A MPPT and a 20A on my 10A PMW, or nothing on that one?
Adding mis-matched panels in series?
- Thread starter Woodpens
- Start date
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
What size wire are you using? Probably a 30a on that guy and don't bother with the 10a PWM fuse unless you're using really, REALLY skinny wire. The fuse is there to melt BEFORE the wire does.
I only see Renogy 20A and 30A ANL fuses on Amazon, so maybe the 30A for the 20A MPPT and 20A for the 10A PMW, or nothing at all on that one?
Thanks Rednecktec! I am using the 10 gauge wire that came with my original Renogy kit. I will order just the 30A fuse for my MPPT controller, thank you!
All done! I added the fuse, installed my new AmpereTime 100A Lithium battery and wow!! What a big difference from my two old deep cycle lead acid batteries. With a low to medium load the voltage stays over 13 for a long time even with the panels turned off. With my (3) 100watt panels in series I am putting out around 68v and charging the battery at 15 amps. I also added a AiLi Qwork battery capacity meter to a custom battery box I installed inside my workshop. With the panels on and sun shining I can run my 8,000 BTU Midea window a/c with very little drop of voltage and charge level. I have a question on Lithium battery health. Unless I am in the shop running the a/c, the daily draw on the battery will be be very small. Should I turn off the panels after it reaches 100% charge and let it draw down to say 20% capacity over several days before recharging, or just leave the panels on full time so every day it maintains full charge? Which is better for Lithium longevity? Thanks!
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12VoltInstalls
life passes by too quickly to not live in freedom
Leave it on.
Maybe lower “full” voltage to a tad under? Some say lighter cycles stretch LiFePo lifespan while others say that’s barnyard pudding.
Thanks! That’s what I hoped to hear
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
The question is what to set your float value to. After a full charge, see where your cells/battery settles to in a few hours or maybe a day. Set your float value just below that to keep from micro cycling (charge, settle, charge, settle...).
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Do you know what these are? Particularly boost/bulk and float?
Its pretty common to take most of the standard lithium settings and enter them into a "user defined" preset with changes to bulk and float. A lot of folks here use less aggressive settings for various reasons: battery longevity, safer float for storage, work around misbehaving cells ...
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Mfgr is best to follow.
What is the float? Does it change when you change boost?
FWIW, 13.8V is what I charge to for my prismatic cell batteries.
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
I am a little surprised that there isn’t a “user” battery profile that can be fully customized.
But it sounds like you have at least a good boost voltage to match your battery makers recommendations.
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