© 2012 Magnum Energy, Inc.
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8.0 Using a BMK
How should I adjust the Charge Effi ciency Setting?
The charge ef
fi
ciency
setting allows the battery monitor to calculate the battery’s charge ef
fi
ciency.
The charge ef
fi
ciency can be calculated automatically using the
Auto
setting,
or can be manually programmed (see Figure 8-1).
The battery monitor is shipped with the charge ef
fi
ciency set to
Auto.
This
allows the battery monitor to automatically calculate variables that affect the
charging ef
fi
ciency such as battery type, battery age, and how the batteries
are maintained—which is not always constant. With the
Auto
setting, the
ef
fi
ciency is recalculated each time the batteries reach a 100% state of
charge. This setting can also be manually adjusted from 50% to 97% if the
battery’s charge ef
fi
ciency is known. When using a setting other than the
Auto
setting, the battery monitor will use the manual setting to calculate the AH I/O
display. For example, if you set the charge ef
fi
ciency to 90% and 100 AHs are
removed from the battery, the
AH Net
display would read “
000”
only after 111
AHs have been returned to the battery.
Again, if the charge ef
fi
ciency is manually set and inaccurate, the SOC information
will be more inaccurate with every charge. For this reason, continually monitor
the AH I/O reading under the ARC’s METER
button.
To access the AH I/O reading:
press the METER button, turn the SELECT
knob until the
04 BMK Meters
menu appears, and then press the SELECT knob.
Turn the SELECT knob until the 04E
AH In/Out
display appears (see Figure 8-1).
After several charge and discharge cycles (below 80% SOC), the AH I/O reading
should be slightly positive when the
SOC
display reads
99%
.
To view the SOC display:
press the METER button and turn the SELECT knob
until the
04 BMK Meters
menu appears. Press the SELECT knob, and then turn the
SELECT knob until the
04B SOC
display appears. If the AH I/O reading is below
000 (negative number) when the
SOC
display reads 99%, then increase the charge
ef
fi
ciency setting. If you
fi
nd that the AH I/O reading is substantially above zero
when the
SOC
display reads 99%, then decrease the charge ef
fi
ciency setting.
• 05B AmpHour Size
–
This setting is used to calculate the battery’s
SOC reading.
Default setting:
400 AH
Range:
200-2500 AH
CAUTION:
It is important that the
AmpHr Size
setting is correct or
else the calculations used to determine the battery’s
SOC
display
will be inaccurate.
How do I access the AmpHr Size setting?
Press the ARC’s SETUP button,
turn the SELECT knob until the
05 BMK Setup
menu appears, and then press
the SELECT knob to display the
05A Charge Eff
menu item. Turn the SELECT
knob to the
05B AmpHour Size
menu—the current AHs size setting displays.
Press the SELECT knob to access the
Set AmpHr Size
function.
To adjust the AmpHr Size setting:
From the
Set AmpHr Size
function screen,
turn the SELECT knob to adjust the AH size setting. Press the SELECT knob to
select and save the new setting.
8.2 Monitoring the BMK
Use the ARC remote’s METER button to monitor battery bank information and
to determine the status of your battery system.
