What low voltage disconnect?

[shaymcquaid]

Hello and thanks for looking....
Will says on his website not to use the Victron battery low voltage disconnect.
What is an alternative?
Thanks in advance.?

 

[Justin Laureltec]

Hello and thanks for looking....
Will says on his website not to use the Victron battery low voltage disconnect.
What is an alternative?
Thanks in advance.?

Will is correct, for reasons which are long and technical and covered in several different threads here. Now, to answer your question, we'll need more data:
What are you disconnecting?
Does the disconnect device need to be bistable (ie, are you running charge sources through it as well, or only loads?)
What is your battery bank nominal voltage?
What current rating do you need?
Are you needing only LV disconnect, or also HV?

There are a number of viable alternatives, but we need to know what your system looks like and your intended usage to be able to recommend the best one for you.

 

[shaymcquaid]

Your response make me feel lazy
I appreciate your time.?

I am disconnecting a largish 24v battery bank that is charged by a “all in one unit” in a school bus conversion.
The “all in one”will stop charging with programmable parameters. However, the DC side is another story.
I have sixteen 3.2v 280aH in a 24v configuration.
I’m trying to insure my bank doesn’t go below a healthy state of charge.

 

[Justin Laureltec]

Your response make me feel lazy
I appreciate your time.?

I am disconnecting a largish 24v battery bank that is charged by a “all in one unit” in a school bus conversion.
The “all in one”will stop charging with programmable parameters. However, the DC side is another story.
I have sixteen 3.2v 280aH in a 24v configuration.
I’m trying to insure my bank doesn’t go below a healthy state of charge.

LOL! No worries at all, sometimes you gotta ask the question first to find out what other information you need to give!
If you're only disconnecting DC loads, then the Battery Protect is actually perfectly appropriate for you - that's what it's designed for. It can't be used to disconnect an inverter or an inverter/charger (this is why Will's website says not to use it in several of the configurations that used to be shown), and reverse current must not be allowed through it (Vout>Vin=a lot of bad things), but if you're just looking to have a programmable disconnect method for your DC distribution panel, it's a great way to do that.

A more robust -and somewhat similarly priced- alternative is the Sterling ProLatch-R, which is bistable (reverse current = okay) and actually can be used to disconnect inverters and inverter/chargers. It's a horrible bloody pain in the righteous butt to program though, so it's hard to recommend if you don't actually need the increased robustness... which honestly it doesn't sound like you do.

 

[John Frum]

LOL! No worries at all, sometimes you gotta ask the question first to find out what other information you need to give!
If you're only disconnecting DC loads, then the Battery Protect is actually perfectly appropriate for you - that's what it's designed for. It can't be used to disconnect an inverter or an inverter/charger (this is why Will's website says not to use it in several of the configurations that used to be shown), and reverse current must not be allowed through it (Vout>Vin=a lot of bad things), but if you're just looking to have a programmable disconnect method for your DC distribution panel, it's a great way to do that.

A more robust -and somewhat similarly priced- alternative is the Sterling ProLatch-R, which is bistable (reverse current = okay) and actually can be used to disconnect inverters and inverter/chargers. It's a horrible bloody pain in the righteous butt to program though, so it's hard to recommend if you don't actually need the increased robustness... which honestly it doesn't sound like you do.

I just read the Sterling product description and I would never have guessed that its is a low voltage disconnect.
My eyes just glaze over before the end of the first paragraph.

 

[Justin Laureltec]

I just read the Sterling product description and I would never have guessed that the it is a low voltage disconnect.
My eyes just glaze over before the end of the first paragraph.

Dude... I hate Sterling manuals and product descriptions SO MUCH. They're almost all written by Charles Sterling Sr. and he spends half the manual talking about why you need the thing that you clearly probably already have because you're obviously reading the manual for it . And their programming steps are freaking horrid. I literally had to write our own manual for programming the thing to make it even remotely feasible for anyone other than Charles Sr. himself.
The products themselves -with a few exceptions- are robust as hell... IF you manage to get through programming without smashing them with a hammer in sheer rage at the uselessness of the manual.

 

[John Frum]

I have not been sleeping well lately.
Thanks to Charles Sr. I should be good now.

 

[Justin Laureltec]

I have not been sleeping well lately.
Thanks to Charles Sr. I should be good now.

Next time I talk to him I'll be sure to let him know he's helping insomniacs across America