This is a continuation/update of a now two year old post.
Thanks to the Raspberry Pi 3b, I have detailed logs per minute of information. Now I have a lengthy menu of graphs to review. This menu of graphs replaces the functionality of a remote meter. I iswireless as well.
Lets review this morning.
The first thing in the morning, I want to see how things went overnight. Here is the graph for this morning.
My conclusion is that the system is working well and therefor there were no problems that need to be addressed. This took about 3 minutes for me to view on my mobile device. I am done for today.
Why?
1. The blue line(V_Batt) shows the bank began the night in excess of 13V. As you can see, the blue line starts off the top of the graph. This is systems normal and the bank ended well charged yesterday.
2. The blue line stayed above the green line(2 Hrs). This means the charging time for Absorption is set to one(1) hour. The downward spikes are the ICECO 12V fridge cycling. If the fridge were not running, the ending Volts likely would have been above 12.8V. This is the seen as Volts at the top of the blue line between fridge cycles. There is a static 3A draw for misc electronics.
3. If the bank volts had dipped below the green line, the ABS time would have been set to 2 hours.
4. If the bank Volts had dipped below the yellow line(~ ABS, the float would have been cancelled and the ABS would run until sunset.
The green and yellow line's Voltage settings are the main triggers that allow catch-up if the bank had been used heavily enough beforehand to pull the low Volts down. These values were determined through extensive testing and analysis of finishing Amps between APR 2017 and JAN 2018.
HTH;
John
Thanks to the Raspberry Pi 3b, I have detailed logs per minute of information. Now I have a lengthy menu of graphs to review. This menu of graphs replaces the functionality of a remote meter. I iswireless as well.
Lets review this morning.
The first thing in the morning, I want to see how things went overnight. Here is the graph for this morning.
My conclusion is that the system is working well and therefor there were no problems that need to be addressed. This took about 3 minutes for me to view on my mobile device. I am done for today.
Why?
1. The blue line(V_Batt) shows the bank began the night in excess of 13V. As you can see, the blue line starts off the top of the graph. This is systems normal and the bank ended well charged yesterday.
2. The blue line stayed above the green line(2 Hrs). This means the charging time for Absorption is set to one(1) hour. The downward spikes are the ICECO 12V fridge cycling. If the fridge were not running, the ending Volts likely would have been above 12.8V. This is the seen as Volts at the top of the blue line between fridge cycles. There is a static 3A draw for misc electronics.
3. If the bank volts had dipped below the green line, the ABS time would have been set to 2 hours.
4. If the bank Volts had dipped below the yellow line(~ ABS, the float would have been cancelled and the ABS would run until sunset.
The green and yellow line's Voltage settings are the main triggers that allow catch-up if the bank had been used heavily enough beforehand to pull the low Volts down. These values were determined through extensive testing and analysis of finishing Amps between APR 2017 and JAN 2018.
HTH;
John
A thunderstorm just rolled in and it got dark enough to convince the controllers to switch to night charge state.
Notice that at 10:00AM, the blue line changed from Bulk(5) to Night(3).
HTH;
John
Notice that at 10:00AM, the blue line changed from Bulk(5) to Night(3).
HTH;
John
Good Morning!
It won't take long to report success.
Analysis:
The 12.79 over night Volts look good.
Analysis:
There was 1hr of ABS on 5/8 as scheduled. This is good.
Analysis:
More than the base load of 48Ahs were returned to the bank. This is good.
Conclusion:
Good, good, and good.
I am done for today, and done for at least a week when I check back to see if I have had a weekly CHARGE.
HTH;
John
It won't take long to report success.
Analysis:
The 12.79 over night Volts look good.
Analysis:
There was 1hr of ABS on 5/8 as scheduled. This is good.
Analysis:
More than the base load of 48Ahs were returned to the bank. This is good.
Conclusion:
Good, good, and good.
I am done for today, and done for at least a week when I check back to see if I have had a weekly CHARGE.
HTH;
John
time2roll wrote:
I would not be concerned as long as the voltage is getting to 14+ by mid afternoon.
If the voltage stays above the green line... why is the controller not limiting the absorption time or going to float?
Maybe I am misreading the graph.
The battery Voltage has not reached the ABS set-point for 4 consecutive days.
The 10-day history if the ABS set-point(regulation) is shown in the graph below:
and the 10 day history of battery Volts is shown in the graph below
.On the the days 5/4-5/7, the battery volts have been below the set-point(regulation) Volts. The controllers cannot begin ABS until the battery Volts reach the set-point Volts. Accordingly, Float cannot begin until the ABS has completed its daily-set-time in ABS.
IOW, the controllers were in Bulk for the last 4 days.
HTH;
John
Good Morning!
Analysis:
The 12.79 over night Volts look good.
Analysis:
Still looking for ABS. This could be bad.
The controllers never were able to raise the battery Volts to the ABS set-point for four days. My personal rule is to charge the batteries no less than once each 7 days. I will explain more below.
Analysis:
The Ahs look good as they are staying above the base load of around 48Ahs daily. Now you see why I posted the NOAA weather info.
Overall Analysis:
The project started out on 5/4 with a high Watt draw to see what I could get out of the solar panels during the draw. The inverter tripped due to low Voltage after about 4KWh were drawn(SWAG). At that point, I decided I might as well track the solar system's progress in recharging the bank. After the trip on 5/4, the solar system accumulated 37.4Ahs.
When I use the term charge, I mean it as taken from the battery's specifications, not some marketing mumble speak, loosey goosey term such as boost or storage that you may find in some charger's specs. This definition of charge also encompasses the one half of one percent rule(.5%) found in the Lifeline manual under paragraph 5.4.
IMHO, the battery has not been charged, neither per my battery's specs, nor met the .5% rule, for four(4) days. I ignore the wonderful over night Volts of 12.79! My batteries are not charged, yet.
HTH;
John
Analysis:
The 12.79 over night Volts look good.
Analysis:
Still looking for ABS. This could be bad.
The controllers never were able to raise the battery Volts to the ABS set-point for four days. My personal rule is to charge the batteries no less than once each 7 days. I will explain more below.
Analysis:
The Ahs look good as they are staying above the base load of around 48Ahs daily. Now you see why I posted the NOAA weather info.
Overall Analysis:
The project started out on 5/4 with a high Watt draw to see what I could get out of the solar panels during the draw. The inverter tripped due to low Voltage after about 4KWh were drawn(SWAG). At that point, I decided I might as well track the solar system's progress in recharging the bank. After the trip on 5/4, the solar system accumulated 37.4Ahs.
When I use the term charge, I mean it as taken from the battery's specifications, not some marketing mumble speak, loosey goosey term such as boost or storage that you may find in some charger's specs. This definition of charge also encompasses the one half of one percent rule(.5%) found in the Lifeline manual under paragraph 5.4.
IMHO, the battery has not been charged, neither per my battery's specs, nor met the .5% rule, for four(4) days. I ignore the wonderful over night Volts of 12.79! My batteries are not charged, yet.
HTH;
John
time2roll wrote:
Looks to be working as designed. Should see float soon. I see no reason to count and track amp-hours once you know this is working. Now you can focus on camp activities instead of managing charge level of the battery.
The Raspberry Pi 3B tracks for me. I just click on WWW links to see the graphs. No more time use than pushing buttons on a remote meter.
Thank you for your comment. Of course, I agree! ๐
Actually, I am still waiting for ABS.
Over night looks good, both controllers will schedule 1 hour ABS.
No ABS yet!
Lots of Ahs.
NOAA wrote:
REST OF TODAY
Decreasing clouds. A slight chance of rain
showers and isolated thunderstorms in the late morning and early
afternoon. Highs in the upper 70s. South winds 10 to 20 mph.
Chance of precipitation 20 percent.
Will post status daily until an ABS charge is completed. Then I will be ready to believe Float.
HTH;
John
Good Morning!
Here is the 5/6 overnight status of yesterday's(5/5) solar charging.
What this says to me is that the 5/6 overnight low bank Voltage rose by .425V since the same time 5/5. 12.357 - 11.932 = .425
The 12.357 is below the orange line(12.4V trigger) and there will be NO float today. There is a chance of some ABS.
The Ahs from solar on 5/5
The solar controller ws in bulk all day 5/5.
The missing Ahs left over from the 5/4 draw-down test are being replaced as designed. I am done today! ๐
What is interesting to me, is that I do not know how many Ahs are missing.
HTH;
John
Here is the 5/6 overnight status of yesterday's(5/5) solar charging.
What this says to me is that the 5/6 overnight low bank Voltage rose by .425V since the same time 5/5. 12.357 - 11.932 = .425
The 12.357 is below the orange line(12.4V trigger) and there will be NO float today. There is a chance of some ABS.
The Ahs from solar on 5/5
The solar controller ws in bulk all day 5/5.
The missing Ahs left over from the 5/4 draw-down test are being replaced as designed. I am done today! ๐
What is interesting to me, is that I do not know how many Ahs are missing.
HTH;
John
time2roll wrote:
You went below the orange line so the solar ran at max voltage all day with no float.
That is all you can do except to add more solar.
IIRC I think my lines are drawn at 12.5 and 12.0
I apologize, I need an addendum:
On the morning of the 4th, the controller(s) were automatically set for 1 hour abs. Basically, the controller(s) were unable to do this due to my testing.
This graph shows that the solar charger(s) stayed in bulk all day yesterday(5/4).
And, this graph shows that the bank never reached 14V yesterday(5/4).
HTH;
John
