Product Manual

Operation
900-0161-01-01 Rev B 27
Battery Charging
IMPORTANT:
Battery charger settings need to be correct for a given battery type. Always follow battery
manufacturer recommendations. Making incorrect settings, or leaving them at factory default
settings, may cause the batteries to be undercharged or overcharged.
Charge Current
Batteries or battery banks usually have a recommended limit on the maximum current used for
charging. Often this is calculated as a percentage or fraction of the battery capacity,
represented by “C”. For example, C/5 would be a DC amperage figure that is 1/5 of the total
amp-hours of the bank.
Any chargers must be set so that the peak charge current does not exceed the recommended
maximum. If multiple chargers are present (including other chargers besides the Radian), this
calculation must accommodate the total combined current. The Radian’s charger may need to
be set at less than maximum. The system display can be used to change charger settings.
IMPORTANT:
Although the recommended current is generally represented in DC amperes (Adc), the
Charger AC
Limit
setting is measured in AC amperes (Aac), which use a different scale. To convert the
recommended DC current into a usable AC figure, divide the DC figure by 4 and round up. The result
can be used as a charger setting for the Radian inverter.
Examples
:
1. Bank consists of 8 x L16 FLA batteries in series. Recommended maximum charge current is 75 Adc.
75 ÷ 4 = 18.75 or 19 Aac.
2. Battery bank consists of 12 x OutBack EnergyCell 200RE VRLA batteries in series/parallel.
Recommended maximum charge current is 90 Adc.
90 ÷ 4 = 22.5 or 23 Aac.
The maximum DC charge rate for Radian models is specified in Table 12 on page 57. The
actual
Charger AC Limit
setting is available in the
AC Input and Current Limit
menu of a
MATE3-class system display. See Table 17 on page 63. These numbers are also summarized
in Table 2 below.
NOTE
: This table does not match the calculations above due to other
factors in charging.
Table 2 Charge Currents for Radian Models
Model Maximum DC Output (sent to battery) Maximum AC Input (used from source)
GS8048A 115 Adc 30 Aac
GS4048A 57.5 Adc 15 Aac
Charge Current for Multiple Inverters
If Radian inverters are stacked, the master inverter
Charger AC Limit
setting is used by all
other inverters. Divide the total AC current by the number of chargers used and program the
master with the result. The master will operate all chargers with this setting to achieve the
maximum total charge current. The system display has a global
Charger Control
command of
On
which enables all available chargers.