Tracer goes to float without charging to full - setting review?
- Thread starter RaVaeL
- Start date
Just seeing this, may be too late, if not I mean honestly, just see the differential between the battery state (Voltage) and the charge controller, assume that the charge controller is going to be off and set voltage target to be higher if you want the SOC to go 'further' before cutting itself down to float after doing the bulk charge, I have some pretty long 4 AWG wires (10ft?) connected to my MS 1012 LV (I'm planning on trimming them when I get my second 100AH battery to use the cable to series the two, anyways I digress here). I notice with the 10ft wires and the bluetooth BMS comms that there is generally a discrepancy of about .2V between what the charger "THINKS" the battery is at, and what the battery "KNOWS" it's at.... looking at it right now, battery says it's at 13.44V @86% SOC (SOK 100AH Battery), MPP box says 13.69-13.73, which tells me that there is a difference minimum of .2V across the situation happening here, since we know voltage drops on these longer runs, we could theoretically compensate for this drop by setting the voltage of the unit higher.... see my settings below: 720W series x3 panels @ 55-75V W/10A max.
Shutdown battery voltage
11.0 V
To grid battery voltage
12.5 V
Back to battery voltage
13.0 V
Battery float charge voltage
13.9 V [sometimes I bump to 14V to compensate for this if I see SOC is below 85-100% and LV thinks we're already there]; I'd stay as low as possible given things are really where they should be to minimize wear on battery.
Battery bulk charge voltage
14.6 V
Max charge current
60 A
Ultimately it's my thought that these pieces of equipment are not made by same manufacturers, they will all be off by a few tenths of a volt and figuring out what "actually" corresponds with a 100% SOC, 70%~~30% SOC and 0-20% SOC are going to be things that I would say you have to discharge the battery and flow through those corresponding data points several times to determine (based on what loads are provided to or from the battery) what is the RANGE for a certain state of charge as far as voltage goes (Charging or Discharging) and then set your parameters based on that self-dictated research.
Keep reading up on this stuff, see what problems others have, and I wish you luck in figuring this out, I hope it helps....no one setting is perfect for a system unless it's all completely determined by manufacturer and you are 100% certain with verification that there are no alternative explanations/compensations that need to be done e.g. the voltage drop correction due to long cables described above. Hopefully this helps you out! GOOD LUCK! Let us know how it goes.
Shutdown battery voltage
11.0 V
To grid battery voltage
12.5 V
Back to battery voltage
13.0 V
Battery float charge voltage
13.9 V [sometimes I bump to 14V to compensate for this if I see SOC is below 85-100% and LV thinks we're already there]; I'd stay as low as possible given things are really where they should be to minimize wear on battery.
Battery bulk charge voltage
14.6 V
Max charge current
60 A
Ultimately it's my thought that these pieces of equipment are not made by same manufacturers, they will all be off by a few tenths of a volt and figuring out what "actually" corresponds with a 100% SOC, 70%~~30% SOC and 0-20% SOC are going to be things that I would say you have to discharge the battery and flow through those corresponding data points several times to determine (based on what loads are provided to or from the battery) what is the RANGE for a certain state of charge as far as voltage goes (Charging or Discharging) and then set your parameters based on that self-dictated research.
Keep reading up on this stuff, see what problems others have, and I wish you luck in figuring this out, I hope it helps....no one setting is perfect for a system unless it's all completely determined by manufacturer and you are 100% certain with verification that there are no alternative explanations/compensations that need to be done e.g. the voltage drop correction due to long cables described above. Hopefully this helps you out! GOOD LUCK! Let us know how it goes.
RaVaeL
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2022
- Messages
- 12
Hi,
I tried your approach, but that wasn't it either.
In my case it helped:
- replacing the regulator with a 100A (was 60A)
- changing the cables to 25mm (was 16mm)
- and finally replacing the fuse - it turned out to be strangely faulty and didn't let more than 52A through (the fuse was 63A). Now it's a Hager Polo LR701 100A and it's finally working as it should. Even setting the boost to 14V it can be over 60A of current.
And when I set the boost charge to 14.4-14.6 volts, the controller is able to draw 100% of its power from the photovoltaic cells (1110W out of the 1100W declared by the manufacturer).
I tried your approach, but that wasn't it either.
In my case it helped:
- replacing the regulator with a 100A (was 60A)
- changing the cables to 25mm (was 16mm)
- and finally replacing the fuse - it turned out to be strangely faulty and didn't let more than 52A through (the fuse was 63A). Now it's a Hager Polo LR701 100A and it's finally working as it should. Even setting the boost to 14V it can be over 60A of current.
And when I set the boost charge to 14.4-14.6 volts, the controller is able to draw 100% of its power from the photovoltaic cells (1110W out of the 1100W declared by the manufacturer).
