Honda 2000 to inverter-charger ...

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Victron products in North America are 60 cycles. 50 cycle is available on special order. It is not adjustable.

Both Victron and Magnum are excellent products, the best 2 in my opinion.

A bit off topic but for best solar charging as you are living aboard with constant loads turn the float function off on the BlueSky solar controller. Premature float will not exist.

The BSE SB6024H has only two modes - 1x 3-stage, or 2x 2-stage, including one (bulk/acceptance) without float. The other is bulk/float

They have been beyond helpful, down to jots and tittles in making sure that we can have it performing to its top potential. I've been working with Ryan Gurin, who has responded to emails and even made phone calls at weekend and well-outside-normal-business hours.

Never has the suggestion of disabling float come up. I doubt that it would be recommended (but then, I have been mistaken about nearly anything having to do with our batteries and charging system so far, so, hoonose. I'll ask him.

But as never actually (or rarely) achieving full charge is what did in our prior batterie$, and we just simply can't run the Honda nonstop (the effect of being on shore power for days, which eventually DOES fill us up), and overcharging, should we get that lucky, is also fatal to batteries, I'm inclined to think that floating via solar is our best bet, particularly since our KISS is unregulated. We've turned it off here at the dock, but they're panting to have us get out of their daily space (we're considered permanent, let alone what has turned into a monthly client), so the moment we do it will be turned on again.

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Also make sure all chargers are set at the correct absorption voltage for your batteries. Not sure about the L-16 but it is likely the same as the T-105 at 14.8 volts.

Trojan gives only bulk and float (14.82 and 13.50) setpoints, and wants 16.20 for equalization (which drives the Balmar crazy; even the failing Xan I/C kicks it into the error notice mode - I can't imagine why an equalization mode isn't part of their smarts).

So, unfortunately, the solar can't deliver that (15.8 tops), but I =can= set the other points accurately. I'm trustful that the new solar will make a huge difference in the number of times that we have to run the Honda, but that's also dependent on some other mechanism than the Honda for achieving fully floated out, Balmar-reading C=100, status. When the wind isn't up, that's the solar...

So far, between cabling and batteries and the new solar (including frame work), I've got about 5 boat bux invested - and that's without the incremental cost of the dock we've been on for what is now months - probably another 2-large. The kitty is gasping, so I may have to delay (short of actual failure) a new charger and deal with the inefficiencies of the current installation.

But that time will come, and, given our usual realities, at a very inconvenient time and place, so knowing in advance which way I'll jump is still very useful.

Thanks for all the responses so far!

L8R

Skip

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

Victron has published a White Paper on exactly this; didn't see it referenced in this thread: https://www.victronenergy.com/upload...paper%20GB.pdf

Also, in re equalizing with a Multi-Plus, yes there is a feature embedded:

Hi, Scott!

My bandwidth and computer are somewhat limiting, so I didn't really 'get' all that with the video - but I get a bit nervous when it finishes with "good luck trying this" - regarding actually equalizing.

This is really more a comment for someone else, as I don't have the real estate to mount this unit (just checked), so, as much as it might be a good fit electronically/electrically, I can't use it.

The current one is
height 184 mm
width 216 mm
product weight 18 kg

so a Magnum would be rather heavier. And, much to my surprise, though I have no interest in dialing it down, I found
charging current 10...70 A DC adjustable - bypass/charge mode
efficiency > 90 % peak - invert mode.

I don't recall ever seeing a discussion about that in all the manuals - installation and use - that I've been plowing through for the last many weeks as we try to sort out our total rehab of the batteries setup. I'll have to look again.

And:
input current
0.35 A DC no load - search mode - invert mode
157 A DC rated current - invert mode
11.2 A AC maximum charge rate - bypass/charge mode

So, it pulls a max 11.2A from the Honda...

As to the Xan TC40, a marine electrician (Electrical) who lives here but is the electrical guy for Hartge Boatyard, an upstart with only barely over 150 years in business, very much likes it and thinks it's bulletproof (so far so good in my installation, nearly 10 years old), whereas he doesn't much like the TR1512-120-60, which is what we've been talking about, mostly.

OTOH, while I haven't looked in a while, I think that to merely start over with the same thing is right about a boatbuck (Xantrex TR2412-120-60 1.5 kW Trace Series TR Inverter/Charger - ML Solar @ $929), instead of well into the middle of another.

Sigh. It's a boat...

L8R

Skip

[john61ct]

I really have gone off Xantrex after talking to a few authorized service centers about the (lack of) central support, general perception of poor CS attitude.

Picking them up at bargain-basement prices basically treating them as disposable, fine, the units themselves are great.

But if I were spending big money it would be on a top notch vendor with good support.

[skipgundlach]

As it happens, here in Vero there is a very competent service center - Lamplighter Marine - who have worked on that unit (two separate boards, unfortunately, both, in the end, being a major portion of the cost of a new one, but far enough less than - one at a time - we did, in fact, replace them...

[john61ct]

Yes, didn't mean to disparage the independent shops, it's Xantrex corp doesn't make it easy.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Yes, didn't mean to disparage the independent shops, it's Xantrex corp doesn't make it easy.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Wow!!! whose are those? I found L16 in various AHs from 325 to the low 400s (mine were the highest I found, other than Rolls, which wouldn't fit into my bank).

Skip

S/V Alchemy persists in quoting his L-16 batteries at the 100 hour rate, a rather meaningless number. The actual rating at the 20 hour rate is 395 AH.

[smac999]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Little thread drift here but food for thought ....... I purchased a Xantrex 40 due to price considerations and after installation did a corrosion analysis. (I'm an ABYC Certified Corrosion Analyst) and found a 27kilohm leak from AC to DC. My best friend and dock neighbour just retired as President of IEEE and is one of this planets premier electrical engineers. He looked at it and said it was a design flaw within the charger. No leak is good but 27kilohms is not life threatening so I let it go while I pondered spending more money on a better charger. The Xantrex died after six months. When I ordered a better (more expensive unit) through another buddy (ABYC Certified electrician) he told me he replace 5 or 6 of those units every month.

.

the older true charges are pretty bomber. the newer true charge 2's I have replaced lots. which one did you have?

[skipgundlach]

New in 2007 for us; I have no idea about Boatpoker, of course.