Charge controller settings

[Sunking]

I'll dig in some more with Magnum on this. I know that the display on the ARC shows the voltage and 0 amps at idle. I'm looking at putting in some sort of a meter to measure watts at least on the output legs and possibly on the input as well.

Output is not what you want to know as that is only a partial picture. Stop and think you could leave the Inverter on for a day with nothing connected and you burn through 650 watt hours and no indication it was used. You want to know what is leaving the battery.

[Diesel Pro]

I'll dig in some more with Magnum on this. I know that the display on the ARC shows the voltage and 0 amps at idle. I'm looking at putting in some sort of a meter to measure watts at least on the output legs and possibly on the input as well.

[Mike90250]

According to specs:
Power consumption search is 6watt
Power consumption inverting (no load) is 27watts

My inverter is 2x the power, and about the same losses, on a much larger system.
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Helvetica-Light]Idle Consumption

[bcroe]

Wait a minute. Is that what he is doing? If so STOP THAT.

I have been telling some of the old car people that, but they don't want to hear it. Some 40s vehicles get partially converted
12V, but some parts are still 6V. Bruce Roe

[Sunking]

According to specs:

Power consumption search is 6watt

Power consumption inverting (no load) is 27watts

I would assume inverting no load is what it is doing while idle and just running loads like microwave clock and TV vampire loads?

Wow that is horrible. That means everyday you burn up 650 watt hours doing nothing. That will take at least a 300 watts panels doing nothing except to keep the Invert Light turned on. Basically to just keep the Inverter Light on you need a 300 watt panel and a 24 volt 135 AH batter. Want to charge a cell phone, you are going to ned more battery and panels wattage.

Is that a problem for you?

[Diesel Pro]

According to specs:

Power consumption search is 6watt

Power consumption inverting (no load) is 27watts

I would assume inverting no load is what it is doing while idle and just running loads like microwave clock and TV vampire loads?

[Mike90250]

> I think that the Magnum is rated 25w in standby

I hope not, that seems huge

[Diesel Pro]

The heat in the cabin is set as low as it goes. Temps should be just above freezing so long as the pilot does not quit which I am pretty sure I have fixed. I was planning to leave the inverter on and in standby mode as that the little bit of waste heat would be welcome inside. I'm looking to get back and check things out this weekend again hopefully with some time.

Still concerned that the voltage dropped so bad with no load to speak of. I think that the Magnum is rated 25w in standby and the little gryphon fan is only like 1watt. Now with all off and some sun we'll see how things go this week. Decent sun yesterday and so far today.

[Sunking]

You will be ok, unless its a sunny week. Bring some distilled to top off the batteries, you are likely to gas a lot.

Ditto and if it is cold I doubt they gas as gassing voltage goes up as temps drop.

[Mike90250]

You will be ok, unless its a sunny week. Bring some distilled to top off the batteries, you are likely to gas a lot.

[Diesel Pro]

Update: Stopped up to cabin last evening right to plow snow as light was failing. No time to do anything with the hydrometer, but that is irrelevant at this point as the batteries are low. Snow is cleared from the panels as well.

V= 23.8 when I arrived. Sun has not been out much at all the past couple of weeks.

I shut down the breaker feeding 24v to the inverter and disconnected my fan so zero load.

I set the absorb voltage to 27.6

I set the float to 27.5 which is the highest it would go. My logic was to set a bit higher for now and then adjust back down next weekend.

[Sunking]

Gotta read the fine print sunking

You are right, my bad, I did not pick up "one". Blew right by it. So OP if you are doing that, STOP, there is a better way.

I suspect the fan is not needed, especially if you switch to Float Charge. But having said that if you are not comfortable without a fan the solution is simple. Buy your fan some company, an identical fan (voltage - current) wired in series so you end up with a 24 volt Fan. Muffin Fans are cheap, less than $5. Just disconnect them when you leave.

[Bala]

First sun in a week and a half!

Checked Sunday and voltage was a weak 23.7v and panels barely pushing 200 watts. This voltage is at or maybe a bit lower than it was a week earlier when I left which is cause for concern. Previously it would run in the 25.6 range. I did watch it run a 1hr EQ and also saw it running at absorb and kept the absorb going to a relatively low amperage, but I did not make notes so on a good sunny day does well.

My battery fan is tiny 1.10watt .09a Gryphon. It is wired directly to only one battery. I know this is not optimal, but figured that the load is quite insignificant.

Good to know on the microwave clock. I have the microwave unplugged this week. The clock is handy if a guy wakes up in the night etc, but if it's not accurate I may have to do something about it. I was hoping that the Magnum would tell me what the inverter out watts were like my killawatt, but apparently not. Even the DC monitor shows amps and that sits at 0 when at rest. I have not set the search watts and not sure if I want to. Seems that if I do it clicks in and out which is plenty annoying so I disabled search.

Gotta read the fine print sunking

[Sunking]

Running even small items off one battery in a series usually causes problems.

Wait a minute. Is that what he is doing? If so STOP THAT.

[Bala]

Running even small items off one battery in a series usually causes problems. If you leave that fan connected you will likely find that battery will not be balanced with the others