Olegna
New Member
Hi! This is my first post on any board ever believe it or not. I am also brand new of this year to off grid. Thanks for patience in advance for my ignorance.
I have a cabin. Solar:4- 460w Jinko, Renogy 100A CC, Cotek 12V 2000w Inverter/Charger
Batteries: 8- 6V 230 ah Carbon Lead Acid AGM in 12V configuration to produce a total capacity of 920ah. All equipment less than a year old.
I am in Canada and to make things worse I am in the forest so this time of year, solar is extremely limited. I am relying on generator charging via inverter. I try to bulk charge in the morning and hope solar can top up during the day.
This has been unsuccessful due to a faulty inverter that was recently replaced. The new inverter works better but has trouble determining state of charge and never ever seems to run long enough at high amperage to actually charge the bank fully.
To illustrate, the battery voltage at 12.2 in morning after everything turned off for the night tells me I am somewhat low. I turn the generator on and the inverter starts charging. It charges at 100amps for about 10 mins, then in about half hour is below 40amps. Seeing as I have 920 ah capacity, it should charge at high amperage for much longer to replenish the capacity lost. By nightfall, I have to run the generator again, but I can't seem to get the voltage to read above 12.4 by morning.
My only real load is the inverter itself, 35w and Starlink which I turn off at night.
If I was starting again, I would probably get a Victron CerboGX, Smartshunt, and victron cc and inverter to solve this and may do so in future when I can afford to.
I have researched battery monitors and the Smart Guage seems to be the winner for SoC for batteries that may have lost capacity over time.
My main question is how can I not just monitor but actually CONTROL charging of this bank. I would like to purchase a Smart Guage but I am not sure how to get my charge controller and inverter charger to work with it.
As a second question, I am wondering if configuring the batteries the way I have is creating small variances in voltage due to resistance in wiring. I have the leads for charging at either end of the battery bank (Positive at one end and negative at the other), both for inverter and charge controller.
Thank you for any help
I have a cabin. Solar:4- 460w Jinko, Renogy 100A CC, Cotek 12V 2000w Inverter/Charger
Batteries: 8- 6V 230 ah Carbon Lead Acid AGM in 12V configuration to produce a total capacity of 920ah. All equipment less than a year old.
I am in Canada and to make things worse I am in the forest so this time of year, solar is extremely limited. I am relying on generator charging via inverter. I try to bulk charge in the morning and hope solar can top up during the day.
This has been unsuccessful due to a faulty inverter that was recently replaced. The new inverter works better but has trouble determining state of charge and never ever seems to run long enough at high amperage to actually charge the bank fully.
To illustrate, the battery voltage at 12.2 in morning after everything turned off for the night tells me I am somewhat low. I turn the generator on and the inverter starts charging. It charges at 100amps for about 10 mins, then in about half hour is below 40amps. Seeing as I have 920 ah capacity, it should charge at high amperage for much longer to replenish the capacity lost. By nightfall, I have to run the generator again, but I can't seem to get the voltage to read above 12.4 by morning.
My only real load is the inverter itself, 35w and Starlink which I turn off at night.
If I was starting again, I would probably get a Victron CerboGX, Smartshunt, and victron cc and inverter to solve this and may do so in future when I can afford to.
I have researched battery monitors and the Smart Guage seems to be the winner for SoC for batteries that may have lost capacity over time.
My main question is how can I not just monitor but actually CONTROL charging of this bank. I would like to purchase a Smart Guage but I am not sure how to get my charge controller and inverter charger to work with it.
As a second question, I am wondering if configuring the batteries the way I have is creating small variances in voltage due to resistance in wiring. I have the leads for charging at either end of the battery bank (Positive at one end and negative at the other), both for inverter and charge controller.
Thank you for any help