excess solar energy

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SternWake said:
Know how many times I turned the switch to off with the engine running, and destroyed my alternator?

Zero.

According to my Blue Sea Marine catalog, SOME of their battery switches come with an "Alternator Field Disconnect" feature that protects the vehicle alternator from damage if the switch is turned to OFF with the vehicle running.

Without this feature, the diodes in the alternator (which convert the alternators raw AC output to DC) would be instantaneously destroyed if you turned the switch to off with the vehicle running.

As always, the more you understand how things work, the better you can make choices and the safer you are.

Regards
John
 
I never hooked up the alternator field wires to my old switch which had that option, I just never turned it off with the engine running.

My new Blue seas 6007 switches do not have the AFD option. I guess the option of having a self destruct button is certainly a risk.

If the alternator was not making a lot of current when loads removed, there is a chance that the diodes would not blow.

Think of how many fools out there pull a battery cable with engine running on a modern vehicle to 'test' the alternator and it still works afterward.

When the alternator is making 80 amps and all loads are removed by pulling the battery cable/ switching the battery switch to off, poof goes the diodes. DC voltages can go into the 100's and destroy vehicle electronics during an alternator load dump too.
 
Sternwake, so basically you have agreed this would be a viable way to recover all the lost excess solar available in the sun. Right?

Your one caveat is it introduces the possibility of human error. But my thinking is, what is the worst that happens? You could forget to turn in back to A but by then you will have charged B so you aren't without power. And I'm assuming that you are tuned into your battery bank which I think is true for mot of us with a controller with a meter. But if you aren't, what's the worst that can happen? Your A bank goes low one time before you notice it.

Now I'm totally agreed that the consequences of human error if you are hooked up to your starting battery are unacceptable. You might be stuck in the middle of nowhere walking 10 miles for help.

Tuscan, I would recommend a marine grade A-B switch. It will cost at least $30 but they are made to such higher standards they will not fail you.

Nothing designed for boats is "bad news" It simply isn't acceptable to be stranded in the middle of the ocean with no power in a hurricane because your A-B switch failed.
Bob
 
Pretty much Bob. I'd not really fear too much putting the switch to BOTH for charging. When going from battery A to battery B one has 2 options A-off-B or A-Both-B.

One should likely not go A-OFF-B, as this might present the same load dump situation which will blow the diodes in the alternator. I always fret about disconnecting my solar during daylight hours, and try not to. When i have, and expected my battery monitor should power off instantly, sometimes it stays on for a minute or two and freaks me out a bit.

The reason i say to go both and not move the switch entirely to the other battery, is that time is needed at ABSV to get the battery to 100%. The amps required to hold ABSV start tapering as soon is it is reached, and "wasting" available solar power, but it can take hours for it to actually max out the SG, which is the daily goal. Cutting ABSV short will cause the battery to be undercharged, and this desire not to waste a solar watt by this method will just contribute to premature battery demise.

But bringing a depleted battery into the solar electron mix will likely drop the voltage below ABSV and take X amount of time to get the depleted battery levelled off with the primary battery and then both can spend time at ABSV together. But likely it will not be for long enough to reach 100% and maximum Specific gravity, and the waste no solar electrons by this method can be detrimental to battery life as opposed to just wasting the extra power and holding the battery at ABSV for the time required. This can be 2 to 5 hours. Duration at ABSV depends on the battery, depends on the initial charging rate, depends on the depth of the previous cycle, depends on the temperature, depends on the health of the battery, depends on the Moon phase and possible presence of Locusts!!!!! :)

All in all, this desire to not waste any solar power can lead to issues or mistakes along with the extra cost involved by implementing methods to not waste the extra.

My flooded group 31 needs ~ 2 hours at 14.9ABSV and then a 15.3v finishing charge applied for a few hours more to return SG to near maximum. I pretty much need 16V to max out SG but this is hard on the battery, so 99.5% reached after a few hours at 14.9absv then a few hours at 15.3v finish is the compromise I have made with my voltage adjustable system when cycled nightly.

When the battery is not drained the night before, I do not need to give it the 14.9 or 15.3 for hours and hours, and I change the setpoints and durations way lower. But to get to near 100% cycle after deep cycle, the 14.9/15.3v hours long regimen is keeping my battery doing tarzan yells and thumping its chest like a meth addled gorilla.

Anything less after a deep cycle, and it becomes a drunk Capuchin Monkey afraid of its own shadow.

Depending on the state of charge of the secondary battery, it might force the primary battery into Capuchin Monkey territory.

I am NOT recommending 14.9 and 15.3 for every flooded battery. These values were determined by much observation, experiments and tools and desire and curiosity to measure the results of different voltage setpoints. If I could not adjust the voltage setpoints and used the 14.2v and 13.2v default setpoints of my solar controller, this battery would have failed completely 6 months ago.



Most all AB both switches are 'make before break', but there is break before make switches and these are not desirable for our purposes.
 
This "extra" solar is not a concern. Extra solar is not wasted after your battery is charged. it is still all around you and available when your battery needs it again. It is like thinking if you don't collect it it will run out like a can of gasoline. If you have an extra battery for "extra" solar, that is like having a bank that is too large for your solar to always fully charge. You are doing damage to the battery by not being able to keep it fully charged when there is no "extra" solar.
 
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