Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Mike, when you are here, look at my Link20 meter. It is very good for this kind of thing.
The LaMarche, which is an old ferroresonant charger if I am not mistaken, does not charge very efficiently. The charger in the inverter is almost certain to be a HFO type charger and much more efficient, with a flexible charging profile. If it can switch for different kinds of batteries, I would bet that it is.
What you might think about is adding better regulators to the alternators- external regulators that are programmable. They make the alternators much more efficient and will control them to shape a charging curve that is like the one a modern HFO charger puts out. I did this and (after my mysteriously blown alternator was repaired) I like the way the system performs. I had no problems with dead batteries with this system with the prior engines.
The best way to set up a boat's DC systems is to have both engines start from one bank of dedicated starting batteries and the house loads on a dedicated bank also. One engine charges the starting batteries, the other charges the house bank. They can be paralleled if need be, and there is an echo charger or combiner to keep them both charged if only one engine is running. This system is not that difficult to set up and it really does work better for all uses.
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Mike,
If you want to get all of the functionality out of the Outback, you need the Mate control module.
I was thinking he had that but yeah if you don't for not much money you will know what's going on.
Brian
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Before you start cranking up the charge rate for a faster charge. You had better look at the heat and the hydrogen that the battery is putting out at this fast charge rate . No battery likes heat and fast charges create heat.
Just a thought.
Bill
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Most of the smart chargers have optional temperature monitors which can be hooked up to the batt bank. The Outback has that functionality as I recall from the manual.
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
60amps at 32v with the outback should result in some fairly quick charging depending on your battery bank.
We use about 400AH in 24 hours (for the fridge mostly) AT 12Volts... at 32V that would be around 180AH... which your outback should charge in 3 to 4 hours or genset run time.
just make sure that you relay system doesn't get confused if it sees power coming from the inverter... probably not but make sure that doesn't cause an issue because when you're going to connect the input to the outback, it's going to go in pass trhu mode.
speaking of inverters, has anyone used Magnum inverters ? they have a nice 4000W true sine with built in transfer switches and dual inputs which a client is is considering. The specs look good, made in the US and 3 year warranty.
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Re this and batteries - I saw a great battery quote today:
"Very few batteries die of natural causes; most are murdered!"
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Mike
I found the controller that jcrlaw installed. It's called a flexnet dc. Here is the link:
http://www.outbackpower.com/FNDC.htm
FWIW, the Outback 3232 has a 45a charging circuit.
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Quote:
Originally Posted by
doc g
You definitely need to monitor the amp/hr drain by using an Emeter or Link 10 meter. You do not want to overdischarge those batts. You do not want to discharge them more than 50%. If you do you are killing that batt bank. An Emeter will allow you to monitor volts, amp/hr discharge and charge , amps being drawn/charged back into the batts real time and time to go (at that discharge rate ) . You can program all the parameters and also it keeps a history that can be useful. It also has a neat little graphical read-out that shows where you at a glance. Lead acid batts are not the best for inverter use as they cannot withstand the high charge currents that an AGM can and therefore take longer to charge back up .Personally I don't like the idea of using house /starting batts for an inverter. ................Pat
Pat - So I once left a 32V light on and completely discharged my house bank in the warehouse over winter. It was dead for about 3 days before I plugged in and recharged it. Did that hurt the batts? They're Rolls HHG25PMs (4 X 8V = 32V bank). I know that hurts non-deepcycle batteries, but I thought deep cycles batteries could take a full discharge occasionally.
Doug
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Every time you discharge a battery completely or near, you loose 20 percent of the battery's capacity. As Mike said, batteries don't just die we kill them.
BILL
Re: Battery charging rate - charger vs Alternator
Doug,
I can't answer your discharge question, but I do worry about leaving something turned on. So, while in storage, I always turn off all 4 of my main battery disconnects. It becomes routine to just reach in the ER and turn the house disconnect on and off as you come and go throughout the winter. It's cheap insurance against completely discharging a battery bank.