Need a reasonably priced method of equalizing charging.

[somawheels]

I have a 24v off-grid system with a pwm solar charger, inverter, and generator.
I dont currently have a way to give my 800AH battery bank an equalizing charge, as the highest voltage I can set my chargers to is 29.2V.
Can anyone recomend a relatively cheap equalizing charger/method?
Thanks

[littleharbor]

Buy a charge controller with equalize function.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

Solar seldom has enough time in the day to do an equalizing charge. Get a charger to be powered by the generator that can do the equalize charge when needed.

WWW

[jflorey2]

Good option above. You can choose a time (once a month, twice a year, whatever) that you can both run a lot of your big loads (water pumping, washing big laundry loads) and do an EQ charge. You may benefit from a good charger/inverter if your current inverter is not exactly what you want. As always best to check SG before doing an EQ charge to avoid unnecessary electrolyte loss.

Note that if you cannot find a 24 volt charger you can use two 12 volt chargers as long as they are electrically isolated from their input (most AC chargers are.)

[SunEagle]

Make sure that charger can accept the type of battery chemistry (FLA, AGM, GELL, etc.) you are using. Not all chargers work with AGM since they were designed for FLA type batteries.

[sensij]

You have posted about pieces of your system in a number of threads. Could you post a summary of your design and equipment selection? It would not be hard for piecemeal advice to sound good for each question, but be misapplied when considered as a whole.

[SunEagle]

You have posted about pieces of your system in a number of threads. Could you post a summary of your design and equipment selection? It would not be hard for piecemeal advice to sound good for each question, but be misapplied when considered as a whole.

I also noticed the OP multiple posts with only part of the information.

[somawheels]

My system: It is all 1 phase 230v.
24v Inverter/charger/solarcharger PIP 2424HS (3KVA) http://www.mppsolar.com/v3/pip-hs-series/
It has a 30A AC powered charger and a 50A PWM solar charger.
Deisel generator: 4KVA
I have an 420 AH flooded lead acid battery bank (24v).
I currently have two 80w 12v panels hooked up. I will soon be getting a 2.5Kw worth of 24v panels.

The inverter charger is cheap and some people have reported failures, while some say they are very good for the price and think people only get problems because they do things incorrectly or push the inverter to it's limits too often.
I only installed it 2 days ago, so cant really say.

[Mike90250]

Run the generator early in the morning to BULK and start the ABSORB part of the cycle, Then let the solar finish absorb and do the EQ (most solar controllers can do EQ.) It might take 2 days of generator time, to complete this if you pull the batteries down low every night.

[somawheels]

sadly my charge controller doesn't have an equalizing function.
Why is solar better for EQ stage?

It might take 2 days of generator time

, Will it take the same amount of time as if the generator was on?

[jflorey2]

Why is solar better for EQ stage?

It's not "better." However, if your bank is discharged AND you don't have much in the way of loads, then you need a lot of power during bulk and absorb; during absorb power required starts tailing off. If you complete most of absorb charge on generator power and then shut down the generator, AND you don't have much load on the system, then you can finish the absorb and/or start the equalize charge with solar alone. Equalize doesn't take a lot of power.

The reason this works a bit better than generator all the time is that you can fully load the generator during bulk and the beginning of absorb and get the most use out of that runtime, then shut it down when it is outputting only a fraction of its rated power (generators are less efficient running at fractional loads.)

All that being said, if you do have loads you can put off, then you can run the entire charge-EQ cycle on generator, relying on the deferred loads to use most of the power from the generator.

[somawheels]

Equalize doesn't take a lot of power.

Is it possible that I can use a lower power charger for equalizing, thus being more economical?
Apparently The batteries should be charged at a current of only 2% of their 20hr AH rating (as a rule of thumb) until voltage or SG stops rising. (about 2.6v per cell)
So if i wanted to equalize charge my battery bank I would have to use an mppt charge controller (which i don't have) or use the generator with an equalizing charge.

Would a 20A battery charge be able to provide a 16A equalizing charge?

[jflorey2]

Is it possible that I can use a lower power charger for equalizing, thus being more economical?

Again, provided you are not using any significant loads at the time - yes.

Would a 20A battery charge be able to provide a 16A equalizing charge?

Maybe. Depends on the mfr's specs. I have used 60 volt switching power supplies as chargers for 48 volt battery packs; you just trim the voltage down to the desired charge voltage, and it is often easier to find switchmode power supplies than dedicated equalizing chargers. The important part there is to find a power supply that will run while in current limit.

[somawheels]

So when voltage is manually controlled, do you apply a constant voltage to the batteries, or would you have to keep turning up the voltage incrementally as the battery charges.

[sensij]

Equalize is a constant voltage stage. You might find this thread helpful:

https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...t-can-equalize

In other threads, you can see that some trial and error may be necessary to figure out exactly what equalize voltage will get you to the targeted specific gravity.

[somawheels]

Right, so If i get this 32V 5a power supply to my battery bank (while no loads are on it), I will be able to perform an EQ charge. 5A is to low for me. like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CPS-3205-0...sAAOSwT4lWRplY

I need a 10a one, But that is just an example.