Goboatingnow
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2022
- Messages
- 1,325
In general you can happily parallel charge sources assuming each charger has settings appropriate to the battery being charged.
Have you considered, using some of your vehicles alternators current to charge? (assuming it is not electric)How can I charge my Lithium battery using the cigarette charger in my vehicle?
I have an MPP Solar all in one unit with 600 watts of solar panels and a 24v lithium battery....but often when traveling on cloudy days my battery is not fully charged when I arrive at my destination 10 hours later and the sun is already down for the night.
Good day please, are there charge controllers that charge with generator/public utility power supply?Growatts are goofy. The bulk/absorption are for the solar charger only.
They don't have a bulk/absorption/float phases when charging from grid/genny - basically just terminates at the target voltage.
Utility/Generator Charger tips:
The generator charger is a different beast to the solar charger. (Does not utilize the Bulk and Float Charge settings)
It works on a float valve type principle. (triggers when battery voltage drops below that on setting 12 – set the voltage higher than current battery voltage to start charging right away)
Stops charging from Generator when setting 13′ s voltage is reached
Will not start charging the battery again until it drops below battery voltage – in setting 12.
Setting 01 set to SBU to activate setting 12 and 13.
Setting 02, is the Max charging current from Solar + Utility/Generator
Setting 11, is the Maximum Generator/Utility charging current @ your battery voltage (not at 120V)
Setting 14, make sure this setting includes the option to charge from utility/generator (see manual)
Note, setting Setting 11 too high for your generator may cause your generator to falter at startup, and cause the Inverter Charger to lose synchronization with the Generator (58 to 63Hz), if in doubt start small, and work your way up.
So you'll need to check setting 1, 2, 11, and 14. Set Setting 12 to whatever you want your minimum voltage to be - 24V for LFP or 24.2 for FLA/AGM/GEL. Setting 13 should probably be about 28V or whatever your battery's absorption voltage is. With LFP, that will get you to a very high state of charge, but with FLA/AGM/GEL, you'll only get to about 80% SoC.
DC to DC charger direct to the battery . or if the voltage enable is low enough, you can plug the cig lighter into the second MPPT port directly.. or a DC Boost power supply. A cig lighter is good only for 100 to 200 watts though without blowing. I have read where some people use a DC to Boost 12 to 24 or 48v and plugged that into the solar input of their Delta Pro for example..How can I charge my Lithium battery using the cigarette charger in my vehicle?
I have an MPP Solar all in one unit with 600 watts of solar panels and a 24v lithium battery....but often when traveling on cloudy days my battery is not fully charged when I arrive at my destination 10 hours later and the sun is already down for the night.
Good day please, are there charge controllers that charge with generator/public utility power supply?
Battery chargers. Most are meant for temporary use recharging automotive or forklift batteries, so difficult to get the right voltage and regulation.
There are inverter/chargers. Some stop inverting and pass through grid to loads while also charging battery (common mobile units for RV). Some are grid interactive, synchronize inverter to grid and draw just some power from grid. Some have built in battery chargers powered from grid, and output is always from inverter.
It may be possible to feed utility grid into "PV" input of some charge controllers. That would be an electrical design project - probably isolation transformer, rectifier, and need to limit inrush current charging capacitors.
A better way to do that could be an AC to DC power supply (or 48V battery charger) connected to the input of a charge controller which has suitable profile. Probably not "PV" input, but one that has "turbine" input settings. Outback and Midnight have such SCC.
thanks for the response. though my post was in error as I meant the normal battery charger as you indicated the first paragraph of the response. However, I will need some guidance on the possibility of equalizing a 12v 220ah flooded tubular battery with a 600w array and a 60amp charge controller.Battery chargers. Most are meant for temporary use recharging automotive or forklift batteries, so difficult to get the right voltage and regulation.
There are inverter/chargers. Some stop inverting and pass through grid to loads while also charging battery (common mobile units for RV). Some are grid interactive, synchronize inverter to grid and draw just some power from grid. Some have built in battery chargers powered from grid, and output is always from inverter.
It may be possible to feed utility grid into "PV" input of some charge controllers. That would be an electrical design project - probably isolation transformer, rectifier, and need to limit inrush current charging capacitors.
A better way to do that could be an AC to DC power supply (or 48V battery charger) connected to the input of a charge controller which has suitable profile. Probably not "PV" input, but one that has "turbine" input settings. Outback and Midnight have such SCC.
Having them set at different voltages doesn’t do anything bad. It just means that one charger will eventually be sat there doing nothing whilst the other charger finishes charging.So this thread is great, thanks. My question is what happens if/when you have multiple chargers that are set for different battery types or profiles? One of the chargers I have the manual for has two "AGM" battery settings, "AGM1" is 14.1/13.4v, and "AGM2" is 14.6/13.7v.
If I were to wire up two of these chargers with different settings to the same battery (or the same group of parallel batteries...) what would actually happen? (and to be clear I realize it's dumb, I'm trying to understand how it works...)
I read above where the chargers can't act as a current sink, which (sort of) makes sense to me, but I'm also looking at my picture here and what I see is a pair of battery chargers wired together to each other, which seems kinda like a bad idea?
Assuming these chargers basically "ignore each other" -- I **think** that what will happen here is just a function of the four different voltages, right?
or... maybe not?View attachment 127019
- less than 13.4v, behavior 1
- between 13.4 and 13.7v, behavior 2
- from 13.7 to 14.1v, behavior 3
- from 14.1 - 14.6v, behavior 4
- above 14.6 behavior 5 (I'm pretty sure I know this one: nothing happens!)
Good day, please I need help. I have a 30amp. Pwm Charger (not charge controller). How can i bypass the pwm mode to enable me equalize my lead acid batteries?One can have as many independent charging sources running concurrently as they like provided they are programmed properly for the voltage of one's battery bank.
Examples (some or all at once, even multiples of a single type, different brands, etc.):
This is true for any battery chemistry.
- Solar PV via MPPT
- Solar PV via PWM
- AC-DC input via MPPT (using a AC to DC power supply feeding an MPPT solar controller with voltage/current consistent with a solar panel)
- Wind with suitable controller
- Grid/Generator AC via inverter/charger
- Grid/Generator AC via RV AC-DC converter
- Hydro with suitable controller
- Anything else someone might use to charge an off-grid energy storage system.
Again, important that all chargers are appropriately configured to handle the battery bank with suitable absorption and float voltages.
Also very important that the sum of all charge currents do not exceed the recommended max charge current of the battery bank.
Note:
Multiple chargers only offer benefit when the battery is below the absorption voltage. Once the absorption voltage is hit, it is now a voltage limited charge and thus current will be lower than the sum of all sources. The battery bank will only accept as much current as it needs to maintain the absorption voltage. As the battery bank fills, current is reduced and chargers can no longer deliver current at the absorption voltage. They will drop out and go to float. Typically, the highest current charging source will always be the last source charging while all others are at 0A and likely in float mode.
Comments and corrections are welcome.
If the unit doesn't have a pre-programmed equalization program, there's no way to do it. A PWM charger can still equalize, it just needs to know how to do it in the firmware.Good day, please I need help. I have a 30amp. Pwm Charger (not charge controller). How can i bypass the pwm mode to enable me equalize my lead acid batteries?
Sorry to inform you, but @snoobler is no longer on this forum. Thank youGood day, please I need help. I have a 30amp. Pwm Charger (not charge controller). How can i bypass the pwm mode to enable me equalize my lead acid batteries?
If using Victron system, it has a setting in DVCC that would share voltage, temperature, manage battery charge voltage, set max charge current, etc. It will control the battery but allow any extra current to be used by other loads, like ac. Work great. I would think there are other system, but I am not aware of any at this time. ( I never looked, lock on to Victron right away). I am using LifePo4 which has bms, so more options. I would think AGM would all be the same setup required.
One can have as many independent charging sources running concurrently as they like provided they are programmed properly for the voltage of one's battery bank.
Examples (some or all at once, even multiples of a single type, different brands, etc.):
This is true for any battery chemistry.
- Solar PV via MPPT
- Solar PV via PWM
- AC-DC input via MPPT (using a AC to DC power supply feeding an MPPT solar controller with voltage/current consistent with a solar panel)
- Wind with suitable controller
- Grid/Generator AC via inverter/charger
- Grid/Generator AC via RV AC-DC converter
- Hydro with suitable controller
- Anything else someone might use to charge an off-grid energy storage system.
Again, important that all chargers are appropriately configured to handle the battery bank with suitable absorption and float voltages.
Also very important that the sum of all charge currents do not exceed the recommended max charge current of the battery bank.
Note:
Multiple chargers only offer benefit when the battery is below the absorption voltage. Once the absorption voltage is hit, it is now a voltage limited charge and thus current will be lower than the sum of all sources. The battery bank will only accept as much current as it needs to maintain the absorption voltage. As the battery bank fills, current is reduced and chargers can no longer deliver current at the absorption voltage. They will drop out and go to float. Typically, the highest current charging source will always be the last source charging while all others are at 0A and likely in float mode.
Comments and corrections are welcome.
So this thread is great, thanks. My question is what happens if/when you have multiple chargers that are set for different battery types or profiles? One of the chargers I have the manual for has two "AGM" battery settings, "AGM1" is 14.1/13.4v, and "AGM2" is 14.6/13.7v.
If I were to wire up two of these chargers with different settings to the same battery (or the same group of parallel batteries...) what would actually happen? (and to be clear I realize it's dumb, I'm trying to understand how it works...)
I read above where the chargers can't act as a current sink, which (sort of) makes sense to me, but I'm also looking at my picture here and what I see is a pair of battery chargers wired together to each other, which seems kinda like a bad idea?
Assuming these chargers basically "ignore each other" -- I **think** that what will happen here is just a function of the four different voltages, right?
or... maybe not?View attachment 127019
- less than 13.4v, behavior 1
- between 13.4 and 13.7v, behavior 2
- from 13.7 to 14.1v, behavior 3
- from 14.1 - 14.6v, behavior 4
- above 14.6 behavior 5 (I'm pretty sure I know this one: nothing happens!)