Distance from voltage regulator controller to battery?

O

Oscarpop

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 Jul 2011
Messages
1,053
Location
Kent
Visit site
I am considering installing a watt and sea 300 hydrogenerator.
The manual states that the voltage regulator should be placed as close to the battery as possible. Ideally within 2 metres.
I am not going to be able to do this , and the distance is going to be nearer 10m.

I understand that there will be some loss of current this way, but will there be any other side effects?

At the moment I have an airbreeze wind generator which has he regulator built into the unit. Thus there is about 12 m between regulator and battery. After 3 years, it hasn't seemed to be a problem.

All answers gratefully received
 
with long cable runs you loose voltage, that means that the battery will "see" a lower voltage than the regulator puts out, missing some charge opportunity. Thats for a "dumb" regulator. it appears that the Watt&Sea regulator is "smart", so on a long cable run it will think that the battery has a higher charge than it really does. However the volt drop is proportional to current, so its only when the battery has a reasonable charge that you might loose out (apart from energy lost in the wires)
So, what to do?
Reduce volt drop by either making the cables shorter or thicker.
Is it worth it?
Very tricky question. If you want to experiment and have some of the cable spare then try it with a single run and then with the cable doubled up, if you cant tell the difference, dont bother.
 
Not as much concern as the manufacturer might imply. Any volt drop that might appear on the feed wires to the battery will, as said make the battery apear a higher voltage than it really is. This will reduce the current so reduce the volt drop. In practice however the regulator should only start to throttle back the generator when the battery is full (so no concern) so any volt drop will again reduce the current so reduce volt drop. Just fit heavier wires to avoid any concern.
I can't imagine any other reason to specify maounting regulator near the battery. good luck olewill
 
There appears to be no battery sensing connection so as the others have suggested the problem with the longer cable length will be voltage drop between the converter and the batteries .

Increasing from 2m to 10m is a huge increase! Fives times will mean 5 times the voltage drop! Heavier cable is therefore called for to avoid this vots drop.

You dont say whether you have a 12 volt or 24 volt system.

For a 12 volt system and taking the maximum output of 44 amps as the basis for the calculations AWG 0 or 50mm² would be the ideal cable size to keep volts loss over 10m within acceptable limits.


For a 24 volt system taking the maximum current of 22 amps. A suitable cable size for a 10m distance is AWG 6 or 15mm².
 
Agree Vic. 44amps is a pretty optimistic charge current I would think froma small water generator. I don't know but might have guessed at 4 amps more likely. good luck olewill
 
Thank you all.
It appears that I should mount this unit near to the battery and that I will induce a significant voltage drop with the controller near the unit.
In response to why I am doing it this way: I am a little time pressed and already have the cabling in place from the stern of the boat to the batteries from another hydrogenerator ( which I will keep as backup). This way provides a quick and neat solution.
As we have a millionth things to do before crossing the pond, I was going to do it this way .
I may still do it, and accept that while the outcome may be sub par , I can always do it as directed later on.
Thanks you one and all, and yes I have posted a similar question here. So thanks for the input on that, and sorry for the confusing double posts :)
 
VicS said:
For a 12 volt system and taking the maximum output of 44 amps as the basis for the calculations AWG 0 or 50mm² would be the ideal cable size to keep volts loss over 10m within acceptable limits.

For a 24 volt system taking the maximum current of 22 amps. A suitable cable size for a 10m distance is AWG 6 or 15mm².
Click to expand...

You're quoting outputs for the 600W unit, but the OP said he's fitting the 300W unit, so he could safely halve the cable sizes you're suggesting.
 
pvb said:
You're quoting outputs for the 600W unit, but the OP said he's fitting the 300W unit, so he could safely halve the cable sizes you're suggesting.
Click to expand...

You're right. I downloaded the manual and looked it up too but managed read the wrong page !

But they still say 40 amps for the 300watt model!

Confusing/ badly written...... and probably wrong for the 300 watt model ???

pages 44 and 45 at http://www.bruceschwab.com/uploads/ws_manuel_gb_cruising_v3-a5.pdf

So then instead of AWG 0 or 50mm² use AWG 3 or 25mm². for a 10 m run
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top