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Hugh,<br>
This is good advice from an installer who installs lots of small and
12V systems for mobile applications such as RVs. (Please correct us
if I'm wrong, Larry.)<br>
<br>
I'll add two small pieces to Larry's good advice:<br>
- Blue Sky Energy also makes a 3024iX, which I believe is a 24V
version of the good unit Larry recommends.<br>
- The larger units have had reliability issues for us - the Solar
Boost SB50 and especially the Solar Boost SB3048. They were the
first good MPPT controllers on the market, starting around 1999. We
replaced many C40s with these, beginning about a decade ago. But too
many have failed years later, and we stopped installing them several
years ago. It's been a real disappointment, too, because Blue Sky is
one of those great, responsive companies that we want to support, as
they have provided good support to us when we've needed it. The
iX/IPN Pro set may be completely free of the reliability issues we
have experienced.<br>
Allan<br>
<br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Allan Sindelar</b></font><br>
<small><a href="mailto:Allan@positiveenergysolar.com"><font
color="#000099" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><u>Allan@positiveenergysolar.com</u></font></a></small><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic
Installer<br>
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional<br>
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician<br>
<b>Positive Energy, Inc.</b><br>
3201 Calle Marie<br>
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507<br>
<b>505 424-1112</b><br>
<a href="http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/" target="_blank"><u>www.positiveenergysolar.com</u></a><o:p></o:p></span></font>
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<br>
On 4/26/2011 11:49 AM, Starlight Solar, Larry Crutcher wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:010f01cc043a$43ec84d0$c400a8c0@shuttle"
type="cite">
<title>Re: [RE-wrenches] AGM battery charging, more details</title>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Hugh,</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">The Blue Sky Energy 2512iX, IPN
Pro, temp sens. and shunt is about $420 online. This
combination provides the very best in fully programmable
battery charge control for systems under 40 amps. There is no
equal for the IPN Pro battery monitoring that I can find. I
have tried them all and put the BSE in the top of the class.
We have sold over 1000 Blue Sky controllers and will
continue selling until something better is available. </font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">If you are looking for a lower
cost solution, make sure you use a 3 stage controller with
temp compensation. We sell the Samlex America SCC-30AB (about
$200) as a low cost 3-stage charge alternative to the Blue Sky
product.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Will your diversion load control
charge in multiple stages? Holding high voltage on an VRLA
battery will shorten the life or may cause thermal runaway.
You must, according to every manufacturer, reduce the voltage
once the battery is full. "Who actually follows these
guidelines?" I hope everyone as the customer is paying you to
do it right. Sure, an AGM can survive alternative charge
methods but after recycling more than 70 tons of batteries at
our little store, I am a believer in proper battery charging
and maintenance.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Larry</font></div>
<blockquote style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px;
margin-left: 5px; border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);
margin-right: 0px;">
<div style="font: 10pt arial;">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(228, 228,
228); font: 10pt arial;"><b>From:</b> <a
moz-do-not-send="true" title="hugh@scoraigwind.co.uk"
href="mailto:hugh@scoraigwind.co.uk">Hugh</a> </div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>To:</b> <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
title="re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org"
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches</a>
</div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>Sent:</b> Monday, April 25,
2011 11:06 PM</div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches]
AGM battery charging, more details</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>.........My questions to the Wrenches List is: "What
hardware do wrenches use to regulate the charge on an AGM
battery?" Does everyone use this Blue Sky Energy device? Is
it possible to use AGM batteries with a conventional diversion
controller such as the Morningstar Tristar, and if so how do
you determine the transition from 2.45 V/cell to 2.3 V/cell?
Morningstar offer a timed transition, but without knowledge of
current or of SOC this is rather less precise.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Both of the charging methods in the agm-faqs linked below
(and in the Fullriver document) require measurement of the
charging current to determine the correct transition from one
stage to the next. Measurement of dV/dt is also suggested in
the case of constant current charging. Who actually follows
these guidelines, and can AGM batteries operate successfully
without?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>thanks!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Hugh</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
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