hymer battery charging

[snail]

hi, 2005 hymer, elektroblock multi stage charger, dt 201 op panel, max amp setting at 156, should this be raised? maybe to 200amps to equal the batteries?

 

using lead acid 2x 100 amp batteries, e/block switched to this type, when at 156amps, on volts showing 14.2

 

am i losing out because of this 156 setting and charging closing down early, or is it to avoid gassing, does exactly the same on or off ehu, as with solar 130 watt panel wired through shcaudt control unit and e/block

 

snail

[lennyhb]

Final charging voltage of an Elecktroblock is 14.3v if set to lead acid once this voltage is reached it will maintain it for one hour then reduce to 13.8v.

The battery capacity of the DT201 is programable for capacities between 50 - 495 amp/h.

[snail]

Hi Lenny, thanks i am aware of the range to set dt201 to and know the code and how to set it, but asking what it should be set to

 

snail

[lennyhb]

I would assume 200 amp/h, I don't think it has any effect on the charging as that is derived from the battery voltage. I think the amp/h setting is a hang over from the DT200 panel where the state of the battery can be displayed in amp hours remaining.

[snail]

thanks lenny, i can't quite get to grips with it althuogh i have all the manuals, it not clear to me, which is why i am hoping someone else will have already gone through this issue and can advise me

 

snail

[Brambles]

http://www.hymerclub.co.uk/control%20panel%20201.pdf

 

Apart from reading other pages on battery settings, page 13 is of interest and explains why the display is showing 156 and not 200.

It also uses 80% depth of discharge to calculate remaining capacity. For most flooded batteries this is too high and 60% would be better. 80% for gel is ok, and for cheap budget bateries use 50%. However the manual implies this 80% is fixed.

[snail]

thanks for your reply brambles, i do have the manual you haved linked me too, just trying to get my head round it, i have just accepted it for the last 5 years! only being in the winter sun for the last 7 months i was told by several people that i was not ultilising the full potential of my batteries. i now see that this 156 is the nominal setting which should be 80% of my 200amp batteries ie 160, so i deduce that i just leave it alone and ignore the fred bloggs types who have completely differant set ups to me,

 

thanks for help

snail

[Brambles]

I found the manual confusing as well. I would not worry about the setting too much as really makes no difference to how batteries are charged and used. It basically gives a guide though as to how much you have used. Not so sure the 156 is really meant to be 80% of the 200, I suggest the unit is slowly decreasing the nominal Ah's as the batteries are cycled. As these figures are all a bit wild anyway as not all batteries are the same. One might give 12.85 volts when fully charged and another might give 12.75volts.

As usual these manuals are wrritten by engineers and then possibly tweeked by marketing guys who speak plain english but then lose the meaning so useless for engineering types like me to understand and useless for Joe Public as they are niether techical enough nor plain laymans terms, but a hybrid.

 

But like my posts - I try to dumb down and lose what I am really trying to convey!!!!!!

[lennyhb]

Brambles - 2013-04-14 11:02 PM

 

http://www.hymerclub.co.uk/control%20panel%20201.pdf

 

Apart from reading other pages on battery settings, page 13 is of interest and explains why the display is showing 156 and not 200.

It also uses 80% depth of discharge to calculate remaining capacity. For most flooded batteries this is too high and 60% would be better. 80% for gel is ok, and for cheap budget bateries use 50%. However the manual implies this 80% is fixed.

 

Probably due to the fact that Hymer always used to fit Gel batteries as standard new Hymer's now have AGM batteries.

 

Like I said the capacity setting is not used on the DT201 panel only on the DT200.