This is a very basic question but it will be handy for me and maybe handy for others. The above victron product...the designation is 100 v max and 50 amp max. Good easy to understand... my question relates to the other side of the charger...it will charge at a profile voltage suitable to the particular selection made voltage, 13.8, 14v whatever. My concern is the ampage available on the output. Is it limited to 50 amps or does the smarts inside up the amps in proportion to the reduction in voltage achieved. Example I will send in 54 volts at 30 amps. Say it’s going to send a 13.8 volts charge in at this particular moment in time. Are the amps at that moment... (54x30)/13.8 = 117amps less efficiency derating? Or would it be 13.8 volts at 30 amps or 50 amps.
I have read the victron blurb and I can’t seem to spot it leading me to think if it’s not in their it will be a lower number. Marketing would not allow that kind of thing to be published!
Thanks
Mick
Mick and Trace living the good life!
Winnebago Alpine 2007
50 amps is the max output. So the 100v in reduced to charge a 10v battery with a max output of 50 amps would mean the max input at 100v would be 10 x 50 = 500w divided by 100 = 5 amps input at 100v. They have a little bit of tolerance as far as current limiting but the heat generated is huge and leads to an early death unless you add a fan to cool the heatsink.
Did that help? Basically, you need to base the whole calculation on the minimum voltage the controller will see on the charging side, multiply that by 50 amps and then calculate how many amps at the max input voltage the combined STC rated Vmp from each panel in series. Don't add in the losses through the MPPT controller because that is your safety margin for a higher than STC rated panel output occurring, and they do happen a lot more often than anyone realises. Cloud edge effect is probably the most common and the panel output can peak at up to 50% higher than STC rating for a short period.
Never design a cable run with a circuit breaker or fuse close to the max STC panel current output, cloud edge effect will trip it every time.
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
Yes, I’ve got it. I thought it was too good to be true that you can have a device that would not limit the current!!!
Cloud edging ...is that like the lensing effect through the equivilant of the minuscus of the cloud? I hadn’t even considered that...yes I can see how that would “focus” the input. Gee it’s not all mechano is it!
Mick and Trace living the good life!
Winnebago Alpine 2007
Oh and to round this one out I should give the background to why I asked the question.
I have 8 x 200w 12v nom panels. These are in three arrays, 2 and 3 and 3. To route these through to the battery I used a PL20 and the old linked SSR trick (that sounded like Maxwell smart!).
What I have seen so far is a max amps so far of nearly 20 amps from the 2 panel array. Of course this is when thevbatteries are sucking away charging.
Reciently I bought a Victron 712 Bluetooth gauge and I’m loving the fact that I have a lot of info right here on the phone. All the real useful information was only in the battery bin of the MH (CellLog and PL20 level info) and I was fed up of looking at the screens on my knees under the slideout.
So when I saw the Victron SmartSolar with the built in Bluetooth I was interested. BUT I’m not going to throttle the amps down to 50 for the Bluetooth app. But I could be tempted to put the 2 and 3 array on to one of them. But that does not give me the whole picture I would like.
Anyway, thanks again for helping ...as usual!
Mick
Mick and Trace living the good life!
Winnebago Alpine 2007
So when I saw the Victron SmartSolar with the built in Bluetooth I was interested. BUT I’m not going to throttle the amps down to 50 for the Bluetooth app. But I could be tempted to put the 2 and 3 array on to one of them. But that does not give me the whole picture I would like.
Can't do that. An MPPT controller will not function as designed is another charging source is connected to the battery. Victron do have a rather technical method of controlling multiple Victron MPPT controllers but not any other controller or charging source so the problem remains.
Morningstar have an MPPT controller that can be controlled by the T1 Lithium control system, one of our more recent additions to the list of controllers we can work with and both the PWM and MPPT Morningstar units. We don't use the Enerdrive method of triggering a high battery temp to cut back the charge rate because this is rather clunky and relies on the temp sensor lead remaining plugged in and connected properly so it remains within range or the controller simply ignores any over temp signal. With our method if the signal is lost the unit shuts down so no over charging is possible and it requires a shut down/reboot for it come back on line so a poor connection shows up real quick.
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
Hi Craig.
This will only tell me what’s going through the PL20 not what’s going through the other two SSLs. If there was some way of including their data in that, wow that would be cool. But they run independently of the PL20 (sorta)
But thanks for the suggestion
Mick
Mick and Trace living the good life!
Winnebago Alpine 2007
So when I saw the Victron SmartSolar with the built in Bluetooth I was interested. BUT I’m not going to throttle the amps down to 50 for the Bluetooth app. But I could be tempted to put the 2 and 3 array on to one of them. But that does not give me the whole picture I would like.
Can't do that. An MPPT controller will not function as designed is another charging source is connected to the battery. Victron do have a rather technical method of controlling multiple Victron MPPT controllers but not any other controller or charging source so the problem remains.
Morningstar have an MPPT controller that can be controlled by the T1 Lithium control system, one of our more recent additions to the list of controllers we can work with and both the PWM and MPPT Morningstar units. We don't use the Enerdrive method of triggering a high battery temp to cut back the charge rate because this is rather clunky and relies on the temp sensor lead remaining plugged in and connected properly so it remains within range or the controller simply ignores any over temp signal. With our method if the signal is lost the unit shuts down so no over charging is possible and it requires a shut down/reboot for it come back on line so a poor connection shows up real quick.
T1 Terry
Moderators...is like to report this post by Terry. It doesn’t give me the answer I wanted to hear so therefore I consider to be abusive. Isn’t that the way it works🤪
Mick and Trace living the good life!
Winnebago Alpine 2007
So when I saw the Victron SmartSolar with the built in Bluetooth I was interested. BUT I’m not going to throttle the amps down to 50 for the Bluetooth app. But I could be tempted to put the 2 and 3 array on to one of them. But that does not give me the whole picture I would like.
Can't do that. An MPPT controller will not function as designed is another charging source is connected to the battery. Victron do have a rather technical method of controlling multiple Victron MPPT controllers but not any other controller or charging source so the problem remains.
Morningstar have an MPPT controller that can be controlled by the T1 Lithium control system, one of our more recent additions to the list of controllers we can work with and both the PWM and MPPT Morningstar units. We don't use the Enerdrive method of triggering a high battery temp to cut back the charge rate because this is rather clunky and relies on the temp sensor lead remaining plugged in and connected properly so it remains within range or the controller simply ignores any over temp signal. With our method if the signal is lost the unit shuts down so no over charging is possible and it requires a shut down/reboot for it come back on line so a poor connection shows up real quick.
T1 Terry
Moderators...is like to report this post by Terry. It doesn’t give me the answer I wanted to hear so therefore I consider to be abusive. Isn’t that the way it works🤪
You wont last long here...no sense of humour.. .
Wobblybox on wheels
Pace Arrow. La de da, property in two continents..
We only ban the ones that report posts!!
By the way... no one understands T1!! You just nod & nod & nod!
No point replying anyway... his 12,000 batteries are always flat! (hearing aid) Told him to not use them in his/her toys!!
******************* BruceS
Mannum, SA
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