morningstar remote meter - solar panel

[knotflying]

I am on my shakedown cruise and figureing things out. The directions on the remote meter are fine, but nowhere does it have any information on the acceptable range that each of the numbers should be or a definition as to what they mean. Can anyone out there tell me.

Thanks!
Mike & Jessica Rizzo

 

[PhilR]

I second the request.

Phil

 

[knotflying]

I called morningstar and got a full explanation of what each of the numbers
mean. I thought it was interesting that the gentleman on the phone had to also
get the information from someone, so I don't feel too stupid.
The solar display (little sun) 1st window will show the current amps going to
the batteries. If your batteries are topped off then the current solar charge will be zero.
The second window is the cumulative kilo amp hours produced since
you set your unit to zero. The third window is the maximum charge at any given
time since you set to zero.
The battery displays- first window is current voltage in battery. Second is the
cumulative amp hour charge since starting at zero the third window is the
minimum voltage of the battery since set to zero and the fourth is the maximum
voltage since set to zero.
Same info for battery 2 display.
The temp display- the first window is ambient temperature at controller and
second window is temperature in battery compartment if you have a remote sensor.

Mike Rizzo

 

[pricelowe]

I was going to post what does the data mean and was glad I am not the only person who thought they were stupid. The info that you provided in your post was great but, given what the data now means, what is excellent, good, average, not so good?

Do you happen to know?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[knotflying]

That is a loaded question. The most important is your current voltage and the lowest voltage. Voltage can be interpolated into battery condition. Here is what I use:

Avoid below 40% SOC
Voltage State of Charge
12.60 100%
12.50 90%
12.42 80%
12.32 70%
12.20 60%
12.06 50%
11.90 40%
11.75 30%
11.58 20%
11.31 10%
10.50 0%
Going below 40% SOC hurts your battery. So if you see that in your history you know you did some damage. The amperage high or low will show you how your panel has performed in the past from the time you reset the meter. This will be based on light conditions. Your current amperage will tell you how the panel is charging currently. You can calculate how much amperage you are using and see how the panel is currently doing and this will tell you if you are gaining amperage. A panel of 135 watts at full delivery puts out 11.25 amps. This will rarely happen because of clouds and sun intensity etc.

I hope this helps.

 

[Red Raven]

It's worth noting here that the SOC numbers listed apply only to a battery fully at rest with no load and not being charged. During daylight there will always have some charging occurring from the solar panel which will raise the voltage. When the refrigerator (or other high current items) is running the voltage will be lowered due to the batteries internal resistance. Often you will have a combination of both loading and charging occurring at once making the net effect hard to determine. Even when the refrigerator is between cycles the voltage does not recover fully before the next time it starts back up. To get the best SOC estimate, wait till dark, turn high current systems off, wait 30 mins and then check. You'll be surprised at the difference in readings. We have a Xantrex battery monitor which determines SOC based on total Amp hours in and out but over the life of a battery it's capacity decreases so you can't always fully trust the battery monitor either without re-calibrating. I'm always checking one measurement against the other and every time I get to the bottom of the difference I learn something new. :geek:

 

[Chimo]

I've learned a lot from this thread! Thanks everyone.I am still very much in the learning stage with this boat and the systems but I do find this Morningstar very helpful. I wasn't clear on the % figures so that is now a lot clearer. Do the same numbers apply for AGM as for flooded?

I was on a mooring overnight last week and Wednesday was a really great sunny day. Here's a couple of things I noted. Just after I stopped the engine the numbers for the battery banks were still settling down from being charged, around 13.6. They settled down to about 12.63 (relying on memory here ). The maximum numbers logged were showing about 14.3 from charging at the dock and on the trip down. I reset everything to zero. During the day bank 2 (engine) stayed around 12.62, as did bank 1 (house). The house batteries showed ah used for the fridge and these were more than compensated for by ah produced by the panel. All good stuff. I've learned to start the engine for a couple of minutes when I go on inverter and use either the microwave or the outlets. I heated some beans for supper, 2.1/2 mins in the microwave, and shut off the engine again. The Morningstar showed engine battery had dropped to 11.9 for the start but recovered very rapidly to 12.6. Overnight with the fridge and the anchor light running the house bank used some ah but by the time I dragged myself out of bed the sun had done it's job and the panel had produced more than had been used and both banks were showing 12.62.

With the info. here it seems that everything is working as it should. Thanks again. 🙂

 

[knotflying]

You will find that if you either keep a written or mental record of things a trend will prevail. When you see things change from that trend then you need to address a possible issue. Here is what I keep in mind:
When on charger or running the engine I am usually at or slightly below 14,6 v.
When on the hook for about an hour I drop down to 12.85 or so
When it gets dark I am down to 12.6 V
In the morning before sunrise I am usually around 12.39V
When the sun is up and bright the Morningstar meter will register around 13V and variable amps will show as far as charging.
I usually use an electric percolator to make my morning coffee and do two batches and place them in the thermos. I strart the engine, use the inverter, perk the coffee as I shave, brush teeth and other things. By that time coffees are perked, water is warmed in the hot water tank and a little bit more than surface charge has been put in the batteries.