Russ S, work van application, Vancouver, WA
1996 Dodge Grand Caravan (Manavan) work van.
Roof mounted, 318 watts of Canadian Solar, solar panel.
BlueSky SB3000i controller. Plus, Pro IPN remote and 500A
shunt.
2 amp auxiliary start battery charge circuit enabled to
maintain the start battery.
Giving a charging capability of 22 amps .
Quantity of 2- 6v Trojan 105 batteries in series for 225AH
of 12 volts.
I discharge overnight 32 amp hours running a refrigerator.
I run a Mean Well TS-1500 PSW Inverter
I live in a cloudy region.
I consume too much power for the limited sunlight available.
The solution I needed is to get my alternator to provide
bulk amps at it's limited voltage of maximum 14.4 volts ( less with temperature
compensation ) and finish charging with the higher settings of the BlueSky
3000i set to the charging parameters of the Trojan 105's which is 14.8v bulk /
absorption and 13.5v float.
Equalization voltage of 16.2v for 30 minutes every 20 days.
An alternator will not charge the Trojan 105's at the
parameters set by Dodge on my van.
Solar charging is augmented with the van's alternator
through the Perfect Switch Dual Rectifier, 200 amps.
One alternator input, two battery output isolation with
combiner feature.
Reason for this as the solution over a Diode isolator or
VSR:
- Alternator only puts out max of 14.4v computer regulated, temp comp'd.
- A diode isolator drops .6 to 1 volt.
- A VSR will connect in circuit, when the van is running, the house batteries and the start battery, charging to a maximum of 14.4v.
I used twin 6ga aircraft cables from the Power Gate to the
house batteries, so not even a 1/10 of a volt drop to the house batteries.
When the vehicle is shut off, the solar will charge the house
batteries to 14.8 volts. When the van is restarted, the VSR will connect the
batteries in circuit to the start battery and the house batteries will
discharge to the start battery, thereby wasting the solar charging of the house
batteries.
The DR200 Perfect Switch is amazing in that it allows charging to 14.8 volts from the solar
panel while driving because its comparator will disconnect it from the
alternator eliminating the solar side from back-feeding the alternator.
It
keeps the start and house batteries separate and lets the house battery take a
higher charge from the solar.
The combine feature allows me to connect the house and start
batteries in circuit for emergency. self-jump start situations. All with only 35 millivolt drop at 200a, not .6-1v like a diode heat-sink will do.
