Posted by Simonious Rex on April 5, 2016, 7:01 pm
If your group has any interest in either of these things I'd love to hear b
ack from you. If you've got suggestions on these ideas I'd really love to
hear those.
A coworker of mine has been making these and is thinking about making a bus
iness of it:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1214410980/garden-circles-a-new-raised
-garden-bed-for-every-g?ref=nav_search
The other items is a battery management system - it allows the hooking of a
ny batteries into a smart bus that optimally charges each battery while mak
ing the potential of that battery available to the bus.
Normally such systems put batteries in banks and some batteries tend to get
damaged by the resulting imbalances, this system is immune to that.
Here are what they look like right now:
https://goo.gl/photos/A8wyGunbpGWWFFDr9
https://goo.gl/photos/ymt8MsFXeRoePCbx5
(These are shots from my test bench) - final runs will look a little differ
ent, but not much. I could really use ideas and feedback on these boards i
n terms of capabilities and feature sets. I've got a pretty solid idea wha
t I think they should do, but it is in my best interest to include the func
tionality that potential customers want. :)
Feel free to hit me up with additional questions.. I really should try to p
ut together a proper document detailing the capabilities and usefulness of
such a board.
Posted by Jim Wilkins on April 5, 2016, 9:39 pm
If your group has any interest in either of these things I'd love to
hear back from you. If you've got suggestions on these ideas I'd
really love to hear those.
A coworker of mine has been making these and is thinking about making
a business of it:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1214410980/garden-circles-a-new-raised-garden-bed-for-every-g?ref=nav_search
The other items is a battery management system - it allows the hooking
of any batteries into a smart bus that optimally charges each battery
while making the potential of that battery available to the bus.
Normally such systems put batteries in banks and some batteries tend
to get damaged by the resulting imbalances, this system is immune to
that.
Here are what they look like right now:
https://goo.gl/photos/A8wyGunbpGWWFFDr9
https://goo.gl/photos/ymt8MsFXeRoePCbx5
(These are shots from my test bench) - final runs will look a little
different, but not much. I could really use ideas and feedback on
these boards in terms of capabilities and feature sets. I've got a
pretty solid idea what I think they should do, but it is in my best
interest to include the functionality that potential customers want.
:)
Feel free to hit me up with additional questions.. I really should try
to put together a proper document detailing the capabilities and
usefulness of such a board.
======================
I've been studying and experimenting with how to optimally charge 12V
lead-acid batteries, flooded and AGM. The details of the suggested
charging algorithms depend on the battery's internal temperature,
capacity and designed use, differ among manufacturers and change as
the battery ages.
How do you adaptively determine the maximum bulk charging current and
the proper absorption and float voltages, and decide when and how much
to equalize?
I read the label and look up the data sheet online. My universal
charger is a Variac-controlled transformer, rectifier and capacitor
with digital voltage and current meters, but no active regulator which
makes it immune to loss of AC power while connected to a battery. The
rectifier output automatically tapers down the current as the battery
voltage rises, so it can be left unattended, or bumped up as needed
when I walk by.
DC-DC converters with the SEPIC topology can efficiently raise or
lower individual battery voltages to a common level but they aren't
cheap at higher currents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-ended_primary-inductor_converter
John de Armond once referenced a good paper from the Bureau of
Reclamation on battery maintenance.
--jsw
Posted by Jim Wilkins on April 6, 2016, 2:59 pm
> ............
> The other items is a battery management system - it allows the
> hooking of any batteries into a smart bus that optimally charges
> each battery while making the potential of that battery available to
> the bus..........
>
> ======================
>
> I've been studying and experimenting with how to optimally charge
> 12V lead-acid batteries, flooded and AGM. The details of the
> suggested charging algorithms depend on the battery's internal
> temperature, capacity and designed use, differ among manufacturers
> and change as the battery ages...........
>
> --jsw
http://www.chargingchargers.com/tutorials/charging.html
"You talk to different engineers, even at the same company, you get
different answers."
After a week's trial I'm pretty impressed with the $0 Uni-T UT210E
clamp-on ammeter's 2A DC range, with reasonably stable 1mA DC
resolution. Being a clamp-on it can safely measure low charging or
leakage current in battery circuits that could easily fry a DMM's
current shunt, or are troublesome to reset after disconnecting such as
a newer vehicle.
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-look-at-the-uni-t-ut210e/
--jsw
Posted by Jim Wilkins on April 8, 2016, 1:03 pm
> John de Armond once referenced a good paper from the Bureau of
> Reclamation on battery maintenance.
>
> --jsw
The current link:
http://www.usbr.gov/power/data/fist/fist3_6/3-6.PDF
--jsw
> The other items is a battery management system - it allows the
> hooking of any batteries into a smart bus that optimally charges
> each battery while making the potential of that battery available to
> the bus..........
>
> ======================
>
> I've been studying and experimenting with how to optimally charge
> 12V lead-acid batteries, flooded and AGM. The details of the
> suggested charging algorithms depend on the battery's internal
> temperature, capacity and designed use, differ among manufacturers
> and change as the battery ages...........
>
> --jsw