Weird input current graph

[sirhc]

Well the reason I say 80% for our switches is we designed and build the DC power supplies so we know their ability and our AC power supplies we purchase are rated as convection cooled but we provide forced air cooling.

To be convection cooled and rated at 400 watts at 55C they are oversized, our 400 watt will push 500+ watts before it craps out.

Our 250 watt will push in excess of 350 watts before it craps out because it is oversized for derating to achieve specified rating at 55C

You guys now me, I like to OVER BUILD not build close to the edge as evident with RF Armor over the years.

[lligetfa]

Seeing as the original topic has been covered, I will indulge in the sub-topic that derailed this thread.

Many people off grid are using the switch connected directly to the battery bank and then a solar or wind charger connected to the bank. I would assume it would work the same way if your using an AC charging unit.

I think a lot has to do with the charge controller. When drawing power directly from the batteries, how does the charge controller know what portion is going to the load and what is going to charge the battery? There needs to be enough amps to recover a discharged battery and still satisfy the load.

I think some DC supplies have charge circuit outputs that are separate from load outputs so the smart charger is not fooled by the load.

[sirhc]

My Minnkota charger is intelligent and will start off trickle and then step up as needed, it is a 3 or 4 stage charger.
So yea the battery drains a little it steps up and either recovers or it steps up again.
The battery will continuously discharge and recharge in a cycle but newer AGM batteries are designed for this behavior and I get 5 plus years out of my Optima Blue Top batteries.

Also in this configuration the switch has the ability to discharge the batteries all the way to dead in an emergency and when power is restored it will charge at 10A per battery which will recover a dead battery.

Of course with the switch you can limit the Depth of Discharge if you like and only override that limit in an emergency if you like plus by supplying the switch wit a constant power you negate half the features in the switch like turning OFF unimportant links as the battery level drops.

[Eric Stern]

The graph glitch will be fixed in the next release.

[dcshobby]

Thank you guys for the quick response and solution.