Dual Bank vs One Bank SWs/Ripple [RE-wrenches]

[Jeff Clearwater]

<x-flowed>
Hi Kirk,

I was at a dealer training and joined a circle of wrenches talking 
about dual SW ripple.  I can't remember now who it was that was 
speaking but he said that 1) AC ripple from two SWs can cause 
harmonics that greatly accentuate the ripple effect and that 2) AC 
ripple can really harm the plates.  He based this on experience of 
two battery packs that died a premature death under these conditions.

I know from my few dual SW installations that you can get some weird 
charger cycling if you set both SWs to the exact same settings, and 
from that experience and per a thread a few years back on this list, 
I now set dual SWs so that one has a more aggressive charge routine 
than the other so that it leads and the other follows rather than 
fighting each other.  But that's a more macroscopic cycling issue 
than the supposed ripple problem.

Any other wrenches experience on this?  Xantrex, are you there?

Jeff


>Jeff,
>
>I've never heard of a "ripple" problem. Are you referring to the AC ripple
>riding on the DC after rectification? Why is this a problem when charging
>batteries......all chargers have an ac ripple component of some % to their
>DC output.
>
>Kirk
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jeff Clearwater" <clrwater at earthlink.net>
>To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 11:46 AM
>Subject: Dual Bank vs One Bank SWs/Ripple [RE-wrenches]
>
>
>>  Hey All,
>>
>>  I have a customer where we are doing an add PV upgrade to a
>>  battery/inverter/generator-only system.
>>
>>  Presently he has two 5548's  with each inverter fed from a separate
>>  battery bank.
>>
>>  I'm planning to combine the banks so I need only one charge control,
>>  one shunt and one KWhr meter.
>>
>>  Other than than having to set the SWs to work together per previous
>>  threads on this list - my concern is that I not downgrade by
>>  introducing the ripple problem.  I've heard that ripple can really
>>  shorten battery life considerably. He charges with a 10KW diesel so
>>  charging with just one SW doesn't really make sense.   Other Wrenches
>>  experience on this?
>>
>>  Thanks,
>>
>>  Jeff
>>
>>  - - - -
>>  To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>>
>>  Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
>>
>>  List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm
>>
>>  Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
>>
>>  Hosted by Home Power magazine
>>
>>  Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
>>
>>
>
>- - - -
>To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>
>Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
>
>List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm
>
>Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
>
>Hosted by Home Power magazine
>
>Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
>


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff Clearwater
Ecovillage Design Associates - Whole Systems Design
Community and Village Scale Renewable Energy & Water Systems

Cell: 720-480-8455
Office:  800-440-2523 (PIN-7071)
Fax:  720-528-7813
jeffc at ic.org

Council Member - Ecovillage Network of the Americas - http://www.ecovillage.org
Advisory Board - Living Routes - Ecovillage Education - 
http://www.livingroutes.org
Founder:  Ecovillage Research, Development, and Demonstration Program:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~clrwater/RDD/rdd.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9.bWljaGFl
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================


</x-flowed>