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Post by PeoriaTim on Jul 23, 2018 20:14:26 GMT
My 20 amp Rover shows I have a 100% battery charge (two 6V Trojan T105 RE; wired in series for 12V) at the end of the day, but even with no load on the batteries (and inverter turned off), battery charge quickly drops to 90% within a couple of hours. If I then put even a slight load on the batteries (28 watt TV for 10 min), battery charge shows something like 65% charge. Fully charged, my batteries should provide 225 amp hr at 12V, so can't understand why such a small power usage would discharge batteries so quickly (batteries are new).
Can anyone explain the large fluctuations on the Rover display?
Also, when I do put a load on my batteries (through the inverter), Rover doesn't show any power (amperage) coming out of the batteries, but should be showing the amps being used. Can figure out why.
Rover manual isn't very detailed.
I would appreciate any input that might help me understand these two issues.
Thanks, Tim
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Post by tattoo on Jul 23, 2018 22:29:11 GMT
My 20 amp Rover shows I have a 100% battery charge (two 6V Trojan T105 RE; wired in series for 12V) at the end of the day, but even with no load on the batteries (and inverter turned off), battery charge quickly drops to 90% within a couple of hours. If I then put even a slight load on the batteries (28 watt TV for 10 min), battery charge shows something like 65% charge. Fully charged, my batteries should provide 225 amp hr at 12V, so can't understand why such a small power usage would discharge batteries so quickly (batteries are new).
Can anyone explain the large fluctuations on the Rover display?
Also, when I do put a load on my batteries (through the inverter), Rover doesn't show any power (amperage) coming out of the batteries, but should be showing the amps being used. Can figure out why.
Rover manual isn't very detailed.
I would appreciate any input that might help me understand these two issues.
Thanks, Tim
I can't wait to hear what Renogy has to say about the percentage question?
No Solar manual is very detailed.... Why I don't know....
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Post by tattoo on Jul 24, 2018 13:48:23 GMT
I guess the Admin doesn't know the answer to the % question... So I'll answer it for them....
Forget about the % of the charge of your batteries... It means nothing it shouldn't even be there.... It's a waste of time to even worry about it...
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2018 0:59:05 GMT
My 20 amp Rover shows I have a 100% battery charge (two 6V Trojan T105 RE; wired in series for 12V) at the end of the day, but even with no load on the batteries (and inverter turned off), battery charge quickly drops to 90% within a couple of hours. If I then put even a slight load on the batteries (28 watt TV for 10 min), battery charge shows something like 65% charge. Fully charged, my batteries should provide 225 amp hr at 12V, so can't understand why such a small power usage would discharge batteries so quickly (batteries are new).
Can anyone explain the large fluctuations on the Rover display?
Also, when I do put a load on my batteries (through the inverter), Rover doesn't show any power (amperage) coming out of the batteries, but should be showing the amps being used. Can figure out why.
Rover manual isn't very detailed.
I would appreciate any input that might help me understand these two issues.
Thanks, Tim
What solar panels are connected to the controller? The percentage displayed is not necessarily the actual percentage of the battery, it's more of a rough figure. Also, the Rover only shows Amps and volts going into the battery, not from the battery. |
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Post by tattoo on Jul 27, 2018 2:02:16 GMT
What solar panels are connected to the controller? The percentage displayed is not necessarily the actual percentage of the battery, it's more of a rough figure. Also, the Rover only shows Amps and volts going into the battery, not from the battery. LOL it's a rough figure all right.... It's useless and it should say so in the manual.......... |
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Post by Bubba on Jul 27, 2018 12:40:39 GMT
Can anyone explain the large fluctuations on the Rover display?
Thanks, Tim
I believe the % is based on charging voltage so let's consider a full battery. Full batt of 12.6v before the sun comes up, display 60% or so. The controller is gonna try to get the batt to 14.6v, when it does the true SoC is still 100%, the display maybe 100%. The controller holds 14.6 for 2 hrs and the battery is consider near 100%, display might show 100%. Controller drops voltage to float of 13.8, the battery is still 100%, display = ??%. Sun goes away and battery drops eventually to 12.6, 100%, display might show 60%. So note the above the battery was always 100% even though the voltage ranged from 12.6v to 14.6v. Display % ranged 60-100%. Now imagine a 12.2v battery that is truly 50%. Controller charges and voltage gets to 12.6 while charging, this is not 100% (myabe 60%), continue to 14.6v and batt is 80% or so, the controller maintains 14.6 for 2 hrs and is considered 100%, then float of 13.8v. So various voltage can mean either hi or low SoC depending on what is going on, charging/discharging/idle. Easier to ignore or lean what different reading mean at different times. Early morning reading before sun charging is what I use to estimate battery Soc |
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Post by tattoo on Jul 27, 2018 12:56:10 GMT
Or a Hydrometer if it's possible or a voltmeter or gauge.....
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Post by PeoriaTim on Jul 27, 2018 15:21:11 GMT
Or a Hydrometer if it's possible or a voltmeter or gauge.....
Good explanations, and I do appreciate the input. Looks like I probably need to focus on the state of charge early in the morning before the sun comes out. I also have a quality hydrometer that I plan to use this weekend to correlate to what Rover is saying for state of charge. I'll post back to let everyone know what I find.
I am using one 100W polycrystalline panel just for daily charging. Should I get into a true emergency situation and need more power, I have a second 100W panel I will hook up in series (Rover can handle the higher voltage since MPPT).
I thought Rover could tell the amps coming out of the batteries, but apparently this is not correct. Thanks for the clarification.
So far, happy with Rover, but needs more explanations like the ones discussed. I think users could get confused on state of charge and make errors. Starting to think that hydrometer is only good way.
One other thing...when Rover goes to equalize batteries, manual says not to have load on at the time. Seems there should be a warning or something to users that lets them know Rover about to go into equalization mode and in equalization mode so they can quickly remove loads. Not sure what happens if load on batteries when this happens, but users need to be aware (flashing red light or something).
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Post by Guest on Jul 27, 2018 16:47:45 GMT
Or a Hydrometer if it's possible or a voltmeter or gauge.....
Looks like I probably need to focus on the state of charge early in the morning before the sun comes out.
I meant I used voltage reading (not SoC%) in the morning to see where the batts stand, Knowing they get to Float at some pt in the day means to me they got charged the most they can for the controller setting. Equal, 2 things, they want it happen and loads may prevent it, 2. depending on how high the voltage, some sensitive stuff may not like the high voltage. A quality hydrometer dip can't be beat! |
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Post by tattoo on Jul 27, 2018 17:15:21 GMT
My batteries have the same load on them that they have all the time at equalization and doesn't seem to bother my CC at all....
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