New to solar, New system for my work truck. Would like some setup help.

[Leo G]

Hi All, new to the site, new to solar. My system is pretty small. I have it on my work truck to run an inverter so I can use my woodworking tools.
Since I had the inverter installed I've had a 3 stage charger to keep the battery charged. I've just recently added some panels to the system.

Right now my system consists of:

3KW PowerTech On sinewave inverter (12v)
Xantrex Truecharge 10 TB (10 amp)
Vmaxtanks Vmaxslr125 AGM Deep Cycle 12v 125Ah
SolarEpic MPPT 10A Tracer 1215BN charge controller
MT 50 Remote meter
4@ Renogy 30 watt panels (in series)

The panels are on top of my truck boxes, they are fixed pointing straight up.

I setup and connected the system to the battery and panels. That night I charged the system with the AC charger.

So now I'm still tuning in the solar charge controller. From what I can see the designated stages are Charge, Boost, Float and Equalize. I'm actually unsure
of what the Boost stage is, it has a time limit from 10-180 minutes. Is this the Absorb stage?

So my battery gives me somewhat limited information on charging parameters.

https://www.vmaxtanks.com/SLR125-12V...tery_p_38.html

Of course I'm trying not to cook the battery since it's sealed and I can't refill it.

Right now I have the following settings:

Over voltage disconnect voltage: 15.1v
Charging limit voltage: 14.5v
Over voltage reconnect voltage: 14.7v
Equalize charging voltage: 14.3v
Boost charging voltage: 14.3v
Float charging voltage: 13.7v
Boost reconnect charging voltage: 13.2v
Low voltage reconnect voltage: 12.6v
Under voltage warning reconnect voltage: 12.2v
Under voltage warning voltage: 10.9v
Low voltage disconnect voltage: 11.1v
Discharging limit voltage: 10.6v
Equalize duration: 0 minutes
Boost duration: 20 minutes

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[Suprasoup]

The 3 stages are usually Bulk, Absorb, Float. Equalize is a 4th stage only used infrequently and not on AGMs usually. Ignore for your application.

Tracer MPPT Boost = Bulk and absorb. They just combined the two stages.

Vmax Charge voltage = Bulk and absorb. They just combined the two stages.

Vmax Charge =14.4v to 14.9v. Set your Boost to between these values.
Vmax Float = 13.5v-13.8v. Set your Float to between these values.


Install a battery isolator so you can use your alternator to charge the battery while you drive. It will do more in an hr to charge your battery than your solar system will do all day.

Do you use your system daily or every once in a while?

[Leo G]

Thanks Suprasoup. The battery manufacturer finally got back to me with the settings for the charge controller. They actually gave me settings for each of the parameters and there's about a dozen of them. It just took them about a week to get back to me. Slow response, great, thorough answers.

Thanks for the heads up on the boost, I really didn't know what to make of it.

I use my system randomly. Sometimes I don't touch it for a week and others I'll use it all day. The all day uses have become less frequent since I stopped servicing 18th century homes with only a dozen two pronged outlets in the whole house. Now it's more for convenience where I don't need to get out extension cords and can do some quick cutting off the back of the truck. It's nice to be able to run a compressor and fill up a low tire whenever I want.

I don't have it connected to the alternator. My last truck put a nice bulge in my battery case because I was using the alternator to charge it. If I need to fully charge it from a low state I'll just plug in at the end of the day using the Xantrex 10 amp charger.

[Leo G]

Here are the specs from my battery manufacturer for my specific charge controller.

Float: 13.5V-13.7V
Bulk: 14.4V-14.9V
A. Over voltage disconnect voltage: 15.5V
B. Charging limit voltage: 14.9V
C. Over voltage reconnect voltage : 14.7V
D. Boost charging voltage: 14.5V
E. Boost reconnect voltage: 13.2V
F. Low voltage reconnect voltage : 12.6V
G. Under voltage warning reconnect voltage: 12.2V
H. Under voltage warning: 12.0V
I. Low voltage disconnect voltage: 12.2V (This is a preference setting, you can set it lower if you need to. Cutting off between 12V-12.2V is preferred to avoid a full discharge)
J. Discharging limit voltage: 11.5V
K Duration of boost (minutes): 180Minutes