Re: Battery charging with intermittant power source

rebel wrote:

On Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:41:18 -0800, Scott Ronald <scottm361@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Hi I am wondering about the best way to charge lead acid batteries from
a source that cannot be relied on for constant power such as wind, or
solar. So far I am looking at 2 ways to do this:

Cycle charging
For this method I need a constant current, until the charge voltage is
reached, then maintain the charge voltage for a time, or until the
current drops to a minimum, after which I drop to a float voltage.
The difficulty with this is that the charge cycle can be interrupted at
any time, and might be restarted when the battery is partly or fully
charged.

Floating
For this I would set the current limit to the maximum battery charging
limit plus the battery's output current, and set the regulation voltage
to the lead acid float voltage. From the reading I have done on this
topic I believe that this will shorten the service life of the battery.

(a) Attend to what Ed said.

(b) Are you thinking of flooded cells, SLA/VRLA or ... ?

(c) Why do you think your "cycle charging" approach is compromised by the
intermittent source?

Lead acid batteries are best charged with a constant voltage source.
Charge current depends on the state of the charge of the battery.
It works similar in a car.

Jan
.

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