I talked with Magnum technical support yesterday trying to answer some looming concerns and check the settings. After stating my ignorance and conerns, they had me reset the MS4448PAE by pressing and holding in on the internal power button for 15 seconds until the charging./inverting LED indicator next to the button blinked quickly. We let the unit set for about a minute then powered it back on through the internal power button.
Apparently the CHG LED on the ME-ARC will not light up with the PT100 connected and charging off the PV array. It does turn on and show Charging instead of just Inverting when I run my generator to charge the batteries. While this doesn't make a lot of sense to me at this point, I'll take it. The batteries are definitely getting power from the panels since the voltage will rise during the charging cycles. The PT100 will only go into Bulk and Absorb, it never goes into Float.
We did change the battery type from CC/CV to Custom, and adjusted all the voltages and times accordingly. The EQ time was set to lowest setting of 0.1 hours, all voltages were set for 51.2V except for Float which was set for 50.0 volts. We adjusted the DIP switches inside of the PT100 turning on #3 and also #8 and #9. This hard sets the battery voltage to 48V (3 on, 4 off (default) and also hard sets the absorption time to 2 hours (7 off (default), 8 & 9 on) Final Charge State is Silent
My LCBO setting of 43V was correct so we left that.
In regards to my concerns that the SOC % reading is not correct, they suggested to remove the fuse to the ME-BMK (small black cylinder housing with red/black wires running to it) for 15 seconds, then allow the batteries a couple of days to begin reporting the correct SOC %. The main reason I want to get that accurate is that my wife, whom which we decided to go with a more "maintenance free" solution, isn't overly technical and not interested in learning all the technical details "Can't it just work?" They suggested to set the charge efficiency at 99% and set the Battery AH to 340
I haven't removed the fuse yet because I don't want to get shocked, since that fuse is neatly zip tied right near a large lug for the battery negative. Perhaps this evening after the sun goes down I'll disconnect the PV array and shut everything off and do it.
Anyway, the only real concern I have at this point was setting the float voltage to 50.0V. The spec sheet from bigbattery.com says to set ALL of the voltages to 51V and the low voltage is 40V (43V for longer cycles). They don't discuss how much current and for how long that the batteries need to be charged for.
I'm still learning and trying to tune this system as a newbie, I am grateful I was able to reach Magnum support yesterday (1.25hr hold wait and 30 min call).
AltE whom I purchased the equipment from has been of no help. No replies to email and no call back from voicemail. Bigbattery.com has answered 1 call (somewhat helpful) but not replied to emails or taken follow-up calls.
Most of my off grid neighbors use FLA batteries and can't help with LiFePo4 setups. Most are running magnums and midnite classic 150s. I'm blazing a new trail I guess. It will be nice to help these folks change over to LiFePo4 when the time arrives.
I really wish I hadn't bought the 14s banks since it's not as common. I had to return my dakota lithium 48v charger since it charges up to 57.6V
I hope this may help any other members with these batteries and a full magnum setup. If anyone here sees any problems with what's been done so far, please tell me.
I'd love to find a way to save all of these settings in the ME-ARC and print them out to share and review.
Thanks!
bigbattery.com
