ExplOregon
Member
Hi Vic,
My battery is a Deka Intimidator Group 24 79aH AGM.
It's what was factory installed from FWC.
Regarding number 3, ya I was also wondering about that. You bring up a good point. I might need to re-sync after a full charge. Since the solar panel isn't hooked up when in storage/parked, I also have a Noco Genius 10 wired in to charge and then maintain my battery when parked. I've noticed that charging from the alternator doesn't get me back up to 100% SOC even after a long drive. It will get in the 98-99% range. So I just use the Noco to top it off and maintain.
I haven't plugged in the Noco unit since installing the MPPT. For a test, this weekend though, I drew the battery down to 94% then plugged in the solar panel to see: 1) how many watts it would bring in on a sunny day at noon 2) how quickly it would charge the battery 3) if it could get the SOC to 100%.
Regarding test 1: at the beginning, it was pulling in ~90Ws in full sun. There were big clouds coming in and out so the wattage was jumping around a bit.
Test 2: the panel was able to get the SOC to 99% in about 1.5hrs. I noticed that MPPT switched from bulk to absorption. At that that point, the cloud cover was constant and I was pulling in about 8-12W, which sounds about right given the cloud cover and the switch to absorption from bulk state.
Test 3: I ended up having to leave and couldn't leave the panel laying out so I wasn't able to see if the panel would get the SOC to 100%.
Sounds like I should draw the battery down again, but this time, plug the Noco unit it to bring it back up to 100% and then do a re-sync.
Sidenote: I accidentally left the kill swtich/power knob on overnight. The SOC dropped from 99% to 96%. I was surprised to see the SOC drop so much considering that the only thing drawing a current overnight would have been the CO monitor. No lights, fan, heater, etc were running. Is there a chance that I have some "vampire" current being sucked out somewhere or does a 3% drop in SOC overnight seem reasonable?
My battery is a Deka Intimidator Group 24 79aH AGM.
It's what was factory installed from FWC.
Regarding number 3, ya I was also wondering about that. You bring up a good point. I might need to re-sync after a full charge. Since the solar panel isn't hooked up when in storage/parked, I also have a Noco Genius 10 wired in to charge and then maintain my battery when parked. I've noticed that charging from the alternator doesn't get me back up to 100% SOC even after a long drive. It will get in the 98-99% range. So I just use the Noco to top it off and maintain.
I haven't plugged in the Noco unit since installing the MPPT. For a test, this weekend though, I drew the battery down to 94% then plugged in the solar panel to see: 1) how many watts it would bring in on a sunny day at noon 2) how quickly it would charge the battery 3) if it could get the SOC to 100%.
Regarding test 1: at the beginning, it was pulling in ~90Ws in full sun. There were big clouds coming in and out so the wattage was jumping around a bit.
Test 2: the panel was able to get the SOC to 99% in about 1.5hrs. I noticed that MPPT switched from bulk to absorption. At that that point, the cloud cover was constant and I was pulling in about 8-12W, which sounds about right given the cloud cover and the switch to absorption from bulk state.
Test 3: I ended up having to leave and couldn't leave the panel laying out so I wasn't able to see if the panel would get the SOC to 100%.
Sounds like I should draw the battery down again, but this time, plug the Noco unit it to bring it back up to 100% and then do a re-sync.
Sidenote: I accidentally left the kill swtich/power knob on overnight. The SOC dropped from 99% to 96%. I was surprised to see the SOC drop so much considering that the only thing drawing a current overnight would have been the CO monitor. No lights, fan, heater, etc were running. Is there a chance that I have some "vampire" current being sucked out somewhere or does a 3% drop in SOC overnight seem reasonable?