Howdy all,
Our system is a fully off grid setup with generator to do backup and battery management when the sun isn't around long enough. Our batteries are SLA, the inverter is a Sunny Island 6.0.
During Winter the generator is used numerous times to do Boost Charges when the sun can't manage this. The system is configured so that the batteries must achieve a full boost charge every 10 days. If it doesn't then it will call upon the generator to do this. This is all fine.
My problem with the system is that it isn't smart enough to kick in the generator to finish off a charge which has been started via Solar. It appears the day counter is aligned to when the last EQ charge happened which is meant to happen every 30 days. Instead what will generally happens is once the 10 days has exactly clicked over then the generator will start any time of night. Then it will proceed to do a 6 hour charge.
The noise of the generator isn't really an issue given our remote location but it's the waste of fuel that bothers me. Why couldn't the system be configured that once solar input had reduced to a point for a certain period and given the time of day, then engage the generator to finish off. Often the finishing off time is only a couple of hours at most.
During Winter I did start to monitor the day count when a Boost did complete but the counter that is displayed is for doing an EQ charge and not Boost so it doesn't reset once a Boost Charge has been achieved. I wish the counter shown was the Boost counter.
I'd really appreciate any ideas for fixing this issue or some suggestions.
Steve.