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We have a Lister-Petters TR3 with Stanford 16.6kW generator charging a 24v 1150ah AGM bank with a Multiplus 24/5000. At max charge (120amp) and daily load demand, we have difficulty achieving a constant high SOC. Could we utilise the genny better by having an additional 120 amp charger in conjunction with the Multiplus 24/5000? The +/- leads from Multiplus to bank are 100mm2 x around 4 meters long. Thanks, joe
@joey, absolutely. Parallel charging a bank of that size only makes sense; technically you can pretty much hook up as many chargers as you like to the bank, so long as you don't exceed the manufacturer's recommended charge current... realistically for a bank of that size, I'd think you'd want to be charging around 250-280A, so if you're running two 120A chargers that at least puts you in the ballpark.
Also, for obvious reasons, you want to keep your charger output as close to the actual bank as possible to minimize voltage drop... 4m is 8m round trip, which is a long bloody way... though you do have the cable to deal with it, but if you can possibly mount a second charger closer to the bank, that'd help you out pretty significantly.
Hi Justin, thanks for advise. I am a Mech Eng and flying blind when it comes to electrics. Really appreciate it. Kind regards, joe
Hi again Justin,
I meant to mention that at bulk charge mode, the multiplus is only charging at 26.5v. At factory settings, I thought it should be charging AGM batteries at around 28.5vand 27.6v at float mode.
Hmmm yes that's rather odd, at default settings it should be bulk/absorption charging at 28.8v and 27.6 float, at least according to the manual... where did you acquire the unit? I'm thinking that perhaps your distributor changed the charge settings before shipping to you or something like that, but the likelihood of a distributor doing that without some direction to do so is pretty bloody slim.
Another question is how old the unit is, as it's very possible that the default settings are different on the older units that I'm not seeing a manual for.
