Renogy Rover 40amp MPPT Controller

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I've also included a picture of where my van is parked and of the weather conditions when I took all the photos. Also, I have no loads connected to the charge controller, only to the battery.  Please let me know if anything looks strange.

 
 
That 100% screen is an indicator of what percentage of the panels are receiving any form of light, being overcast or direct full sun. At least that's what renogy says. The only way to get a read for the capacity of the battery it with a trimetric meter. We are just depending on the voltage reads for now.
 
The pictures show 1.19 amps at 13.2 volts.  Was the voltage 14.8 earlier?  What was the current at 14.8 volts?  Might it have been more than 1.19 amps?  AGM batteries are full when the asborb level (14.8 volts) is held and the charge current taken by the battery drops to 1 amp per 100 amp hour of capacity.  

The only thing in the pictures that says the battery is full is the 13.2 volts meaning the controller wants the float level because the controller thinks the battery is full.  If all loads are connected to the battery and if that means the controller can't discern the difference between load current and charge current then the controller can't know full.
 
TheKarmaVan said:
The only way to get a read for the capacity of the battery it with a trimetric meter.
There are many reliable SoC battery meters.

Yes Bogart's Trimetric is a good one.

On FLA hydrometer works well.

Measuring amps dropping at tail end of a full charge will also at least tell you Full.



Sent from my HUAWEI ALE-L04 using Tapatalk
 
This is from my 20a Rover.  40a same manual.

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Thanks everyone! I'm going to have a go at connecting my PC and manipulating the settings. I'll report back soon.
 
John61CT said:
There are many reliable SoC battery meters.

Yes Bogart's Trimetric is a good one.

On FLA hydrometer works well.

Measuring amps dropping at tail end of a full charge will also at least tell you Full.




I agree with using something like the Trimetric. I use one and it not only measures the electricity being used it also tracks the incoming charge as well. If you were just using your van for weekend trips it might not be worth the money. But if you are full timing or close to it then something like the Trimetric is an amazing tool to have. You configure it to your batteries Ah size and it will track all of your usage. It can then give you a very accurate state of charge display in percentages. After running my fridge and Maxxfan all night I can look in the morning and see that I am around 90% SOC.

With an AGM you can't use a hydrometer and I don't think just glancing at current voltage will really tell you accurately what the SOC is. And with something like the Trimetric battery monitor it is super easy to just look at the monitor and know where you are at.

As to the question of can your battery fully charge while using solar and while your lights and appliances are running. I think it is more of a simple equation of electricity coming in versus electricity going out. If you have 10 amps coming in and 8 amps going out your battery will accept the leftover 2 amps and keep charging. If you have 8 amps coming in and 10 amps going out then your battery will be losing the 2 amps per hour.

My battery might start out at 85-90 % SOC in the morning because it was using electricity all night but by noon I could be back to 100% and stay there all day because I have more then enough coming in to run everything and still have plenty to recharge the batteries.
 
Case in point.  I'm using two 55 Ah Duracell AGM batteries due to fit and weight.  Batteries + doesn't show specs that I can tell of so I searched the WKDC12-55P part number that seems to fit a lot of different labels but oh well on that and that eventually led me to here,  http://www.tempestbatteries.com/html/td55-12.html Better than nothing I suppose. Hopefully, Mighty Max can give accurate info.
 
14.4V until under 2A should be fine, ideally 30-40A, no equalizing.

13.8V float when in use, 13.5V in storage.
 
That's where I'm at using the Rover 20a , except for the 30-40 amp part and nice thing is the Tempest spec of <22a is geared toward my battery so its not just a generic spec, and back that up with a Samlex shore charger set to three stage.  This is why I'm leaning that something is amiss with the OP's situation and would like to know all has been checked before tweaking parameters.  Just my hang up.
 
Yes of course solar won't get you the high-amp benefits.

So in that context periodic "shore power blasts" become more important.

As with monthly equalizing for appropriate chemistries.
 
This may be a dumb question but will my charge controller go into an equalizing phase on it's own every month or so I need to set that up?
 
Also, if I were to incorporate shore charging what equipment would you recommend? Please include all necessary items. I've yet to research shore power and need the info. Thank you!!
 
I avoid any charge source that does this automatically, or at least can't disable it.

Every mfg has their own protocol, IMO should only be done manually.

And therefore the charge source needs to allow you to set a custom voltage setpoint.

And you really should be able to watch current Amps acceptance decline in order to know when to stop.

Irrelevant for AGM these days only Lifeline recommends conditioning.

But for FLA really should do monthly.
 
Sterling ProCharge Ultra and ProMariner Pronautic P allow you to set custom charge profiles as per your bank mfg specs.

How big is your bank and what model batts?
 
I'm hoping that when the controller is set to SLD, the equalization is cancelled. Renogy should answer this for realz.
 
TheKarmaVan said:
Also, if I were to incorporate shore charging what equipment would you recommend? Please include all necessary items. I've yet to research shore power and need the info. Thank you!!

1.  converter of some kind; examples at amazon (buy through Bob's search box)
2.  extension cord
3.  some kind of shore power inlet to get power through the walls/floor/bumper of your van
 
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