Just to give a restart/review for this extensive thread:
1. If you cannot charge your batteries fully if you limit your charging to the current and voltage limits the battery manufacturer recommends, you are screwed. :People with very low sun hour numbers (high latitude, for example) will need to use batteries such as AGM which will accept charging at a higher rate.
2. If you can stay withing the battery manufacturer's parameters but end up tripping the inverter as a result, then a voltage dropping diode may work for you, but an elegant solution will use a relay to switch the diode out of the circuit when the batteries are not being charged. The extra power to actuate the relay (Normally Closed contacts in parallel with diode) can easily be spared during charging. No diode drop and no relay drain when pulling down the batteries after the PV has cut off.
1. If you cannot charge your batteries fully if you limit your charging to the current and voltage limits the battery manufacturer recommends, you are screwed. :People with very low sun hour numbers (high latitude, for example) will need to use batteries such as AGM which will accept charging at a higher rate.
2. If you can stay withing the battery manufacturer's parameters but end up tripping the inverter as a result, then a voltage dropping diode may work for you, but an elegant solution will use a relay to switch the diode out of the circuit when the batteries are not being charged. The extra power to actuate the relay (Normally Closed contacts in parallel with diode) can easily be spared during charging. No diode drop and no relay drain when pulling down the batteries after the PV has cut off.
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