Full Product Manual
7
the charge controller will reduce the voltage charge to smaller quantity, while lightly
charging the battery. The purpose for this is to offset the power consumption while
maintaining a full battery storage capacity. In the event that a load drawn from the battery
exceeds the charge current, the controller will no longer be able to maintain the battery
to a Float set point and the controller will end the float charge stage and refer back to bulk
charging.
Equalization: Is carried out every 28 days of the month. It is intentional overcharging
of the battery for a controlled period of time. Certain types of batteries benefit from
periodic equalizing charge, which can stir the electrolyte, balance battery voltage and
complete chemical reaction. Equalizing charge increases the battery voltage, higher
than the standard complement voltage, which gasifies the battery electrolyte.
WARNING: Once equalization is active in the battery charging, it will not exit this
stage unless there is adequate charging current from the solar panel. There should
be NO load on the batteries when in equalization charging stage.
WARNING: Over-charging and excessive gas precipitation may damage the battery
plates and activate material shedding on them. Too high of equalizing charge or for
too long may cause damage. Please carefully review the specific requirements of
the battery used in the system.
WARNING: Equalization may increase battery voltage to a level damaging to
sensitive DC loads. Ensure that all load allowable input voltages are greater than
the equalizing charging set point voltage.
Lithium Battery Activation
The Rover MPPT charge controller has a reactivation feature to awaken a sleeping lithium
battery. The protection circuit of Li-ion battery will typically turn the battery off and make
it unusable if over-discharged. This can happen when storing a Li-ion pack in a discharged
state for any length of time as self-discharge would gradually deplete the remaining
charge. Without the wake-up feature to reactivate and recharge batteries, these batteries
would become unserviceable and the packs would be discarded. The Rover will apply a
small charge current to activate the protection circuit and if a correct cell voltage can be
reached, it starts a normal charge.
CAUTION: When using the Rover to charge a 24V lithium battery bank, set the system
voltage to 24V instead of auto recognition. If auto recognition is accidently selected the
Rover will allow you to change it to 24V when the Lithium battery activation feature is
activated. In the activation interface press and hold the enter button to trigger the system
voltage selector. To change the system voltage, press the Up or Down buttons then long
press Enter to save the selected system voltage.