- Joined
- Jul 15, 2012
- Messages
- 2,178
I've been taking a look at many options for my leisure battery install and recently came across this:
http://www.amperorassociates.co.uk/r-power-resources/z-reference-Power_PI_battery_charger_MPPT.html
For the price (£170) it sounds quite good DC to DC charger it has the following features:
- 4 stage charging
- 25 amp charging at 14.5volts
- 2 x 100w solar/wind inputs
To find out more I emailed their customer support who came back with:
Our Power Integrator is designed to charge the vehicle battery from a solar panel input when the engine is stopped, it will charge the starter battery at 1A and stop when it reaches 12.5V anything that is generated above that or when the starter battery is above 12.5Volts will go into the leisure batteries. When the vehicle is running the alternator is fooled into thinking the starter battery is low and the voltage and current is diverted into the PI and through the four stage charger, as the batteries charge level comes up the amps going into the battery reduce till they are full.
Q:You mention that the PI will shutdown when the start battery "vehicle battery being lower than 10.5V" is:
A:This voltage is set to turn the PI off if the battery has developed a fault only.
Q: this voltage too low?
A: This voltage level is stops the PI try to charge a faulty battery.
Q: what is the maximum battery bank size the unit can charge?
A: We would recommend the maximum 240Ah we recommend the batteries are a matched the same make, model and size.
A question I have for you guys ... is their claim possible about tricking the alternator and effectively be able to 4 stage charge the main start batteries? I can't see how this works seems how it all just sits inline.
http://www.amperorassociates.co.uk/r-power-resources/z-reference-Power_PI_battery_charger_MPPT.html
For the price (£170) it sounds quite good DC to DC charger it has the following features:
- 4 stage charging
- 25 amp charging at 14.5volts
- 2 x 100w solar/wind inputs
To find out more I emailed their customer support who came back with:
Our Power Integrator is designed to charge the vehicle battery from a solar panel input when the engine is stopped, it will charge the starter battery at 1A and stop when it reaches 12.5V anything that is generated above that or when the starter battery is above 12.5Volts will go into the leisure batteries. When the vehicle is running the alternator is fooled into thinking the starter battery is low and the voltage and current is diverted into the PI and through the four stage charger, as the batteries charge level comes up the amps going into the battery reduce till they are full.
Q:You mention that the PI will shutdown when the start battery "vehicle battery being lower than 10.5V" is:
A:This voltage is set to turn the PI off if the battery has developed a fault only.
Q: this voltage too low?
A: This voltage level is stops the PI try to charge a faulty battery.
Q: what is the maximum battery bank size the unit can charge?
A: We would recommend the maximum 240Ah we recommend the batteries are a matched the same make, model and size.
A question I have for you guys ... is their claim possible about tricking the alternator and effectively be able to 4 stage charge the main start batteries? I can't see how this works seems how it all just sits inline.