Advice required please, i have a 80 w panel, 10 amp regulator to a 110 a battery, on a sunny day the regulator allows 17 v through to the battery terminals, will this cook the battery?
Solar panel charging
- Thread starter SteveP
- Start date
Parksy
Moderator
Hi Steve
The regulator should only allow about 14.4 volts through to the battery to prevent damage.
What sort of regulator are you using and where do you measure the 17volts?
The regulator should only allow about 14.4 volts through to the battery to prevent damage.
What sort of regulator are you using and where do you measure the 17volts?
On the subject of solar panels i have read that the panel should be attached to a usage or battery source at all times ie should not be left generating energy with nothing connected.
Is this advice correct?
Is this advice correct?
Parksy
Moderator
As far as I know that's correct Michael. Whenever I disconect my battery I cover my panel to prevent it from generating.
Hi Parksy, voltage measured at the battery terminals, the regulator is fitted to the panel, it is a 12/24 v 10 amp
Parksy
Moderator
The figure of 17v seems rather high, are you using a multimeter to measure the voltage? If you are, try measuring the voltage at the output terminals.
Output terminals?
Voltage from panel to regulator 21v, regulator to battery 17v, battery terminals 17v, all using a multimeter.
Voltage from panel to regulator 21v, regulator to battery 17v, battery terminals 17v, all using a multimeter.
Parksy
Moderator
The output from the regulator will depend on the state of the battery at any given time and also to some extent the amount of power (voltage) that is being generated. A fully charged battery should be 14.4 volts so a reading of 17 volts seems high to me.There is often a label on the regulator which shows the maximum power output.
Constant overcharging will shorten the life of your leisure battery
Constant overcharging will shorten the life of your leisure battery
Hello Steve.
The voltage at the solar panel terminals to the regulator at 21V seems entirely plausible.
The function of the regulator will be to reduce the voltage and to limit the currenet fed to the battery to prevent over charging.
The value of the voltage across the battery terminals does seem high, and I have to ask what might seem a silly question but is the battery connected?
The voltage at the solar panel terminals to the regulator at 21V seems entirely plausible.
The function of the regulator will be to reduce the voltage and to limit the currenet fed to the battery to prevent over charging.
The value of the voltage across the battery terminals does seem high, and I have to ask what might seem a silly question but is the battery connected?
If it is a PWM controller it is quite possiblyy correct as they give very short rapid pulses to charge the battery with any surplus dumped to a sink in the regulator. I'm not sure how your volt meter is interpreting the pulses.My regulator gives 14.6V average over 10 mins on boost charge and 13.6 V on float charge. The higher voltage is to charge the battery fully and as it is pulsed it should do no harm to the battery. Standard caravan chargers are limeited in their output as a continuous high voltage can cause gassing etc but unfortunately they don't fully charge the battery. Out of interest did you have a load on the battery when you were measuring the voltage.
Thanks for the replies, Prof John, yes the battery was connected, Graham, yes the battery had a load on it, although only a radio or other small appliance at the time.
My reason for asking is the 110 amp liesure battery does not hold, what i think is a good charge( 2 years old), last summer i checked the voltage at the battery teminals, as the voltage reading LCD in the van showed 17 v. I am putting 2+2 together and thinking the regulator has fried my battery, i have bought another battery and dont want to fry this one
My reason for asking is the 110 amp liesure battery does not hold, what i think is a good charge( 2 years old), last summer i checked the voltage at the battery teminals, as the voltage reading LCD in the van showed 17 v. I am putting 2+2 together and thinking the regulator has fried my battery, i have bought another battery and dont want to fry this one
Hello Steve,
I can understand your thinking, but without checking the regulator, it is not possible the guess whether the regulator fried the battery, or whether the battery was faulty anyway.
Graham makes a very valid point about the the way the regulator may work, if it is PWM then it may well cause the meter to show a higher reading.
It might be more appropriate to contact the supplier or manufacture of the regulator to see if they can throw any light on what voltages there should be.
I can understand your thinking, but without checking the regulator, it is not possible the guess whether the regulator fried the battery, or whether the battery was faulty anyway.
Graham makes a very valid point about the the way the regulator may work, if it is PWM then it may well cause the meter to show a higher reading.
It might be more appropriate to contact the supplier or manufacture of the regulator to see if they can throw any light on what voltages there should be.
I think the most likely explanation is that the battery was discharged to flat at some time and the plates became damaged and now the regulator is trying to hit it with as high a pulse charge as it can to get some life back into it, much like a Ctek type of charger would. As John says you will also need to check the spec of your charge controller but if it is a cheapo Chinese one then don't hold your breath trying to find out much detail.
With no or little load on the battery a voltmeter is not a good indication of the battery condition as it could simply be capable of holding only a very small amount of charge and discharging it completely in a very short period of time.
With no or little load on the battery a voltmeter is not a good indication of the battery condition as it could simply be capable of holding only a very small amount of charge and discharging it completely in a very short period of time.
The regulator is a generic cheapo i think, ive bitten the bullet and bought a better quality one, hopefully to save the new battery!
Any thoughts on how to save/ recover a partially fried battery?
Any thoughts on how to save/ recover a partially fried battery?
Hello Steve,
There are some excelent battery chargers on the market, (ctek) that use several differnt charging tecniques to help recover and maintain some batteries. BUT they are quite expensive, and if your battery is really fried, then sadly it wont help. It will probably be cost effective to get the battery checked by a specialist.
If you intend to change the regulator then I think it is advisable to get advice form a reputable solar panel company.
There are some excelent battery chargers on the market, (ctek) that use several differnt charging tecniques to help recover and maintain some batteries. BUT they are quite expensive, and if your battery is really fried, then sadly it wont help. It will probably be cost effective to get the battery checked by a specialist.
If you intend to change the regulator then I think it is advisable to get advice form a reputable solar panel company.
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