Hi,
On my boat I have a 1kW alternator which charges my small(er) 12V AGM starter battery. My house bank is a pair of 210Ah 12V lead carbons in a 24V config.
So, since on long runs the starter battery is charged up within minutes, I want to use the potential of the alternator to send power to my 24V house bank. I got a 12/24-10 Smart Orion. The idea being that when it senses the 12V starter battery is full, it sends 10A at 24V to the house bank until that itself is full.
I also have a SmartSolar 20A sending power to the 24V house bank, and that's been working fine.
The problem I'm getting is:
- the solar charger is charging the 24V bank in Bulk (it rarely fills them up entirely as I use plenty of power on the move)
- the Orion 12/24V seems to be determined to almost immediately switch to Float. Nothing actually seems to be flowing into the house bank.
- the Orion is set to Charger, not Power Supply, and I chose the Gel AGM Preset 1, and the input voltage is reading 14.4V, which sounds about right since that's what the alternator will put across the starter battery terminals when the engine is running at high revs. The output voltage reads 27.6V, which seems reasonable and should surely charge the house bank. But, the SmartSolar measuring the votlage across the house bank terminals is only around 24.7-25V - so not full. A full AC charge or topped up solar charge gives around 26V on the housebank. As I said, the Orion is on Float, so despite the batteries having room, the unit doesn't seem to want to switch onto Bulk and actually start sending charge.
Perhaps the high voltage from the alternator (higher than chargers would offer the 12V system for example) is making the Orion panic? It goes without saying that when the engine is shut down, the starter battery settles back to 12.8V (full, I think)
Any ideas? Thanks.
