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Page 9 User Guide LBS-1250-FPP_1.32
Battery User Guide
V1.2 April 2018
3.1 Solar Panels
The FPP can be charged with a 12V solar panel such as a folding solar panel, solar blanket or
flexible solar panel. The battery can be charged with either regulated or unregulated solar,
via the following connections:
1)
Either of the grey Anderson plugs, or
2)
Battery terminals using alligator clips or ring terminals.
Unregulated solar (raw solar panel output) uses the BMS to function as a PWM solar
controller. Used in this way, the BMS will disconnect the solar panel from the battery when
the battery becomes full. However, care should be taken because the Voc (open circuit
voltage) of the solar panel may then be present at the loads, which may provide up to 20V or
more in sunlight (for a 12V solar panel) to any connected loads.
It is recommended to use regulated solar (a solar panel with its own solar charge controller)
which can be connected as shown below:
3.2 DC Source
The FPP can be charged from a DC source such as a vehicle alternator / start battery via the
black Anderson connector, by flicking the black DC Charger switch to IN (meaning DC input).
The DC charger contains a Voltage Sensing Relay (VSR) function that turns off charging if the
input voltage goes below 12.8V and only turns on charging again once the input voltage goes
above 13.3V. This is designed to prevent drawing power from the vehicle start battery when
the engine is not running (which would deplete the vehicle start battery). These voltage
setpoints are adjustable and can be tuned to suit factors such as cable size and length.