Using Tubular Batteries with offgrid solar

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bigbrovar

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Hi guys I have a small solar offgrid system with 2 Luminous inverlast Tubular battery. My solar charge controller is a victron energy mppt 150/45A controller. The problem I am having is trying to find the right charge voltage for Luminous and tubular batteries generally. I could not find any documentation online for the recommended voltage for absorption, float and equalization. I do not want to set a charge voltage which would lead to over charge or under charge of batteries. I would appreciate if anyone where can share with me an their experience.
greetings from Nigeria
 
6pack said:
It's there in the inverlast catalog:
https://www.luminousindia.com/downloads.html

They have mentioned charging voltage and amperage according to battery model and capacity.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the recommended voltage charge was not included in the catalog, just the starting current for bulk and finishing current for absorption.

Most deep cycle flooded acid batteries go through the 3 stage: Bulk, Absorption and Float. The last two stages requires constant voltage required to over come increased battery resistance, the number of voltage require differs for each battery setup. I have been unable to find one recommended for Luminous Tubular Batteries or Tubular Batteries generally.
 
I am guessing you have a 24v system, while I have a exide tubular battery the general idea is the same. In my apc smart ups/ and hobby chargers it only charges to the set desired voltage and when the voltage of battery reaches the set voltage,the charger inside gradually reduces the current.So based on my experence with exide battery for the past 7 years a float voltage of 27v to 27.3v should do great.You can put both the absorption and float voltage as same.
If you observe the water level decrease faster then it means your float voltage is higher(summer temperature accelerates this).
 
adder said:
I am guessing you have a 24v system, while I have a exide tubular battery the general idea is the same. In my apc smart ups/ and hobby chargers it only charges to the set desired voltage and when the voltage of battery reaches the set voltage,the charger inside gradually reduces the current.So based on my experence with exide battery for the past 7 years a float voltage of 27v to 27.3v should do great.You can put both the absorption and float voltage as same.
If you observe the water level decrease faster then it means your float voltage is higher(summer temperature accelerates this).
Click to expand...

hmm I think 27.3 might be too low for a flooded acid battery especially at absorption state. I currently use 29.1.. I just saw some documents from exide that recommend 14.4 for constant voltage stage
 
29v will kill the batteries fast whether its flooded or not.Fyi i use exide flooded tubular batteries with 27.5v average (this rises to 28v plus when temperature is below 20c and drops below 27v if the ambient room temperature is above 35c.

Exide 14.4v is typically bulk charge after which charger voltage will have to be reduced.Which most chargers do.
 
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