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Old 10-30-2013, 06:26 PM   #22
janice142
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City: Madeira Beach, FL
Vessel Name: Seaweed
Vessel Model: Schucker mini-trawler
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,236
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJim View Post
Have you seen the ProStar go into equalize mode? Reading the book it indicates it does this every 25 days. I have tried to duplicate this using a power supply as the Solar input, powering it up/down 25 times. No such luck.

I have asked Morningstar how the Algorithm works, no response yet.
Hello Big Jim. The way it seems to work (observation versus the guide book) is that when it's sunny AND my refrigerator is shut off, then I pretty much count on several hours of absorption charging.

Normally when I go to bunk the batts are at 12.5 or 12.6, though sometimes I've taken them down to 12.4 .... these are the Walmart $75 car batteries with 115amp hours, though I do have one marine battery. 4 batteries, 450 amps. Roughly.

By morning my voltage meters show 12.3 or 12.4 however by 0900 or so they are back at 12.6 and rise continually during the day. Usually of late I have not been running my little Haier (A/C) reefer as I am just not comfortable with the power it uses and my battery bank capacity. So with the reefer off and voltage increasing about 1300 or so I hit 13.7 or 13.8 and notice the green flashing light (next to the yellow-red) indicating absorption charging.

Specifics: there is a 6' run of 8-gauge wire between the Morningstar ProStar30 and the batteries. The batts are .1 above what shows on my regulator. The flashing green continues and voltage increases until I see 14.01 where it just sits and flashes.

Finally as the sun goes down the flashing stops and the batteries go back to their normal 12.6. This repeats every day when the sun shines.

I've got 275 watts solar at present.
These are observations. The book doesn't tell us much, does it? I'm presuming you have the little paper thing they sent with the regulator. If not, I'd be happy to copy mine for you.

Have you learned anything about the versions? I know when I do a boot-up mine tells me the release number (1.8) ... It works so I'm not fixing it, but I do wonder if perhaps your version/release number is uncooperative.
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