question

camil avatar image
camil asked

Almost no time of absorption

Hi all, I come where with few questions regarding my setup as I suspect something is going wrong.

The setup :

250W solar panel along with a AGM 12v/120aH charged by a mppt 100/20 victron blue solar.


That battery is new and was nu'ot fully charged when I got it, voltmeter was indicating 12,75v, Wich was not so bad to me.

The next day I connect it to the system to let it charge full. After a very little time, it appears to be full according to the charger and gets to floating mode.

Looking in the app, it seems that absorption was 8mn before to reach float mode. This sounds very awkward to me as it was a crappy weather day and I got only 50wH from the panel that day.

I tried to run few small charges at night and it seemed to lose voltage quite quickly, therefore I think the charger was not taking it to 100% charge...

Anyone has a clue ?

I can provide datasheet from the battery and screens from the app if more datas are needed


battery chargingAGM Batteryfloat
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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·

Please show us the battery settings from the MPPT.


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6 Answers
camil avatar image
camil answered ·

screenshot-20231123-180937.png


(This on the demo page because I am not next to my charger now)

I also moved the voltage of absorption and float on the advise of someone else, according to the value of the battery itself : cyclic use 14,4v-15v


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kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

The voltage shown is high.

Normal for AGM is absorption 14.4, float 13.8. Setting the voltage too high can damage the battery.

When a fully charged AGM is off charge, resting voltage should stabilise at about 12.7V.

It's a good idea to set equalisation voltage to the same as absorption, or lower as a safety precaution, in case you turn it on accidentally.

Initial impression is that it's working correctly, was more charged than you thought.

However it would be good to see what's also set when you switch on expert mode.


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camil avatar image
camil answered ·

Here is the expert panel

screenshot-20231123-205114.png

Ok what you are saying makes sense... Although the guy who sold it to me made the measurements with me and told me that 12,75vbfor that one might be low and was supposed to be around 13v


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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
Unless you have a battery manufacturer specification, best to stick to defaults. Looks good now.
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camil avatar image
camil answered ·

According to the datasheet I have, the float voltage is at 2,27v @ 20°c I guess it is a 6 cells battery (like most of 12v even though the datasheet don't mention it)

So 2,27v*6=13,6v

So that's the given value for float voltage I guess.


But then how to explain than thick battery charges like 20% of it's capacity out of a 50wh day of sun ?

Here are the records of the app since I setup that new battery.

screenshot-20231124-103532.png

Here is the label of the battery seating both voltage for storage and cyclic use

img-20231120-172244.jpg


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kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

Looks really good. Can see your changes worked.

You're within the maker's values. Generally absorption is better towards the lower end of the acceptable range.

The bars have three regions, shown by the shading. Clicking on them brings up descriptions/numbers. But the lower region is bulk charge. Middle, absorption, top float.

The battery is barely dropping below float overnight, so very little use, borne out by the power stats. This means that the charger can charge up to absorption voltage, then have a variable absorption period, then switch to float.

Remember also that power in W is a rate. Total power is Whours. Rate multiplied by time.


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camil avatar image
camil answered ·

Ok thanks a lot for your highlights !

I still know little for now about electricity but I'm really fascinated by it

Have a good one

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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
Bon chance!
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