Setec DRIFTER Owner's Manual - New Battery Installation
New Battery Installation
The DRIFTER unit is a smart battery monitor in that it is able to learn the actual
battery capacity and thus provide more accurate “Time Remaining” feedback to
the user. When an existing battery is replaced by a new one, the capacity of the
new one is likely to be much higher.
Fitting a new battery and doing nothing else will result in the “Time remaining”
display initially being quite inaccurate. As the battery is charged and discharged
during normal use, the DRIFTER unit will learn the battery capacity of the new
battery.
Accelerated Capacity Learning
This procedure should only be used when an existing battery has been replaced
with a new battery.
The general method the DRIFTER uses to quickly learn the battery capacity is to
measure the Amphours required to flatten a fully charged battery. (“Quickly” is a
relative term; we suggest you allow one to two days for this process.)
The detailed process we recommend is as follows:
1.
Enter the Setup Mode and view the Battery Capacity parameter. It should
be set to the manufacturer's rated capacity for that battery. e.g. 80 Ah
2.
Charge the battery until the State of Charge reads 100%. This indicates
the battery is fully charged.
3.
Stop charging the battery. i.e. remove the 240V power.
4.
Switch on loads (e.g. lights, TV etc.) until the battery is being discharged
at 10% – 20% capacity rate.
e.g. If you have an 80 Ah battery, 10% of 80 is 8, 20% of 80 is 16.
So, adjust the loads until the battery current
reads between 8A and 16A.
Note: When discharged at the 20% rate, the discharge time will be
approximately 5 hours. At the 10% rate, the discharge time will be
approximately 10 hours.
5.
Wait until the battery has gone flat.
If you are using the DRIFTER with a Geniusseries power supply or a
SETEC STseries power supply, this will not damage the battery. Those
power supplies have a low voltage disconnect which protects the battery
from discharging to a damaging level. With these products the flat battery
state will be indicated by the battery current dropping to zero and there being
no power to lights etc.
If using with a power supply without a low voltage cutout, you must monitor
the battery voltage
and, when it reaches 10.5 V, turn off the loads.
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