[RE-wrenches] Xantrex C-40 Drifting

[Drake]

Hi Steve,

The battery bank consists of four, 415 AH in a 
Full River AGM deep cycle batteries wired  in a 24 volt series.

That is a new concept to me. Does the battery 
bank charge itself through its own chemical 
reaction? Would there be any issues with gassing 
in the VRLA batteries? Would you recommend doing 
anything about this situation, like change charge controllers?

Thanks,

Drake

Drake Chamberlin
Athens Electric LLC
OH License 44810
CO License 3773
NABCEP Certified Solar PV
740-448-7328
<http://athens-electric.com/>http://athens-electric.com/


At 07:10 PM 5/18/2015, you wrote:
>Content-Language: en-US
>Content-Type: multipart/related;
> 
>boundary="_004_414D424906AE60489EF1829E1EFA55712C9C56F2sbcexchsbcdomai_";
>         type="multipart/alternative"
>
>Hey Drake,
>
>How large is the battery bank?
>
>I’ve seen this before on VRLA’s with a couple of 
>companies controllers. Usually this will happen with small battery banks.
>
>Best way to explain it is when the battery bank 
>is charging and you remove the charge, the 
>battery is a chemical reaction
 it’s still 
>charging for a short period of time even though 
>you have removed the source.
>
>
>
>
>Steve Higgins
>Technical Services Manager
>P: +1.902.597.4020
>M: +1.206.790.5840
>F: +1.902.597.8447
>Surrette Battery Company
>Exclusive manufacturer of
><http://www.rollsbattery.com>
>[]
>
>
>From: RE-wrenches 
>[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Drake
>Sent: Friday, May 15, 2015 7:10 AM
>To: RE-wrenches
>Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Xantrex C-40 Drifting
>
>I was thinking of a Blue Sky or a Morning Star replacement.
>
>The Full River AGM L-16 batteries recommend a 
>29.4 absorption, very high for a maintenance 
>free battery. I've triple checked this one.
>
>At 09:30 AM 5/15/2015, you wrote:
>
>HI Drake,
>
>Iv'e never seen this happen. Â
>But have you considered a small morningstar or similar?
>
>A question, you list 29.4v, that seems high?
>
>jay
>
>
>
>On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Drake 
><<mailto:drake.chamberlin at redwoodalliance.org> 
>drake.chamberlin at redwoodalliance.org> wrote:
>I have a Xantrex C-40 that won't keep its 
>settings. It is important that it does because 
>it is for a maintainer array (80 W) on an AGM 
>battery bank, on an AC coupled backup system. 
>Not only could high voltage damage the 
>batteries, but when the voltage goes over 30 
>Volts, the AUX relay opens and the grid tie inverter is isolated from the grid.
>After numerous sessions of reprogramming, 
>Xantrex tech support sent me a new unit. The 
>problem persisted as before. A new temperature 
>sensor helped, but the settings still drift. It 
>seems that rebooting the charge controller helps 
>for a day or so, but then it drifts again.
>The potentiometer settings are way below the 
>calculated setting for 29.4 V, but it still 
>peaks in the high 30s. I check the temperature 
>compensated voltages on the Outback Mate, and 
>the temp compensated voltage runs high.
>In a related side issue, the AUX relay of the FX 
>inverters is not based on temperature 
>compensated voltage, which makes setting AC 
>coupling charge set points more problematic.
>Has anyone experienced a C-40 CC that drifts in 
>its settings. What would be a good (inexpensive) 
>charge controller to accurately control 80 W of PV?
>Thanks,
>Drake
>
>
>
>--
>Jay Peltz
>Peltz Power
><mailto:jay.peltz at gmail.com>jay.peltz at gmail.com
>_______________________________________________
>List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
>List Address: 
><mailto:RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
>Change listserver email address & settings:
><http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org>http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org 
>
>
>List-Archive: 
><http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html>http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html 
>
>
>List rules & etiquette:
><http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm>www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
>Check out or update participant bios:
><http://www.members.re-wrenches.org/>www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>This email and its attachments have been scanned 
>by mailWatch E-Mail Firewall for viruses, spam, 
>and malicious content. The information 
>transmitted in this email is intended only for 
>the entity or person to which it is addressed 
>and may contain confidential/privileged 
>material. If you received this in error, please 
>contact the sender and delete the material from 
>any computer. Any review, retransmission, 
>dissemination, or other use of this information 
>by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
>List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
>Change listserver email address & settings:
>http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
>List-Archive: 
>http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>
>List rules & etiquette:
>www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
>Check out or update participant bios:
>www.members.re-wrenches.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20150518/7e6732e1/attachment-0002.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 6d6db2.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 11941 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20150518/7e6732e1/attachment-0005.jpg>