MORNINGSTAR CORPORATION
33
4.0 OPERATION
32
4.0
BATTERY SOC LEDS
Three (3) battery “state-of-charge” (SOC) LEDs indicate
the level of charge on the battery. The SOC indication is
based only on battery voltage setpoints, which only provides
an approximation of the actual state-of-charge of the battery.
Table 3 lists the SOC LED indications.
SOC
LED
Indication
Battery Status
Load Status
Green
Fast Flashing
(2 Flash / sec)
Full Battery:
Equalize Charge
Load On
Green
Med. Flashing
(1 Flash / sec)
Full Battery:
Absorption Charge
Load On
Green
Slow Flashing
(1 Flash / 2 sec)
Full Battery:
Float Charge
Load On
Green
On solid
Battery Nearly Full
Load On
Yellow
On solid
Battery Half Full
Load On
Red
Flashing
(1 Flash / sec)
Battery Low
LVD Warning
(Load On)
Red
On solid
Battery Empty
LVD
(Load Off)
None
No LEDS On
Battery Missing
Load Off
Table 3. Battery SOC LED definitions
NOTE:
An error condition exists if multiple Battery SOC LEDs
are flashing. See Section 5.1 Error Indications for more
information.
4.2 Battery Charging Information
The SunSaver has a 4-stage battery charging algorithm
for rapid, efficient, and safe battery charging. Figure 9
shows the sequence of the stages.
NIGHT
NIGHT
BULK
CHARGE
ABSORPTION
FLOAT
EQUALIZE
VOL
T
AGE
TIME
Figure 9. SunSaver charging algorithm.
Bulk Charge
In this stage, the battery voltage has not yet reached
absorption voltage and 100% of available solar power is
used to recharge the battery.
Absorption
When the battery has recharged to the Absorption voltage
setpoint, constant-voltage regulation is used to prevent
heating and excessive battery gassing.
Float
After the battery is fully charged the SunSaver reduces
the battery voltage to a float charge which is sometimes
called a
trickle charge.
Depending on battery history, the battery remains in the