The ACR (usually) opens at 13.3 V (maybe at 13.5 V, I don’t remember). It is possible that the solar battery does not provide enough voltage to make ACR pass the current.
If the battery being charged does not reach that level, the ACR will not close the circuit to the other bank. Marek From: Rick Brass Sent: 23 November, 2020 23:06 To: 'Stus-List' <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Subject: Stus-List Re: Solar power in ACR environment Two comments, Charlie. If I recall correctly, the Blue Seas ACR only passes current if there is a specific voltage difference between the battery with higher voltage (or charging source) and the battery with lower voltage. I don’t recall the exact parameters, but it is in the installation instructions. If your house or MPPT controller is at 100% charge and floating around 13+ volts, there may not be enough differential for the ACR to close and charge the start battery. If you started the engine to return to your slip, and ran it for more than a few minutes, I don’t see why your start battery should only be at 90% after 9 days. If you only use the start battery to start, my experience with automobiles and industrial equipment tells me it is probably never lower than 93-95% charge. Certainly it should not be discharged to only 90% in just 9 days. Maybe the Victron needs to be recalibrated? Rick Brass Washington, NC On Mon, Nov 23, 2020, 21:50 Charlie Nelson via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote: My boat has a house bank and a starting battery with an ACR controller so that the ‘banks’ are ‘equalized’ when a charging source is available—shore power or engine alternator. I added a solar panel to maintain the batteries without the hazards of leaving the boat on shore power charging when I am not on board. Per local advice, I ran the solar power output controller (MPPT) current thru my cigarette lighter(with the appropriate circuit breaker in the ‘on’ position) and it appears to be working since my house bank (which powers the cigarette lighter) looks like it is 100% charged per my Victron battery monitor after 9 days without a battery charger or running the engine. OTOH, my starting battery voltage sagged over these 9 days of this test to about 90% of maximum per the Victron battery monitor. My understanding of the ACR is that it should distribute charging current to keep both battery banks ‘equalized’ so the lower charge state on the starting battery doesn’t make sense to me. My questions to the list are: 1. Should the ACR be equalizing the charging source current as I discuss above, even when this current might be significantly less than my shore power Xantex 40? 2. If so, why is my starting battery ‘down’? 3. If not, what am I doing wrong? I could hook up the solar directly to the starting battery but with the ACR, this seemed unnecessary (if I understand how an ACR works.) Charlie Nelson 1985 C&C 36XL/kcb Water Phantom Sent from AOL Mobile Mail Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com<http://mail.mobile.aol.com> October is the time to show your appreciation with a small contribution to this list to help offset the costs. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
October is the time to show your appreciation with a small contribution to this list to help offset the costs. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
