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2.4 Charged-parameters
Based on increasing charge voltage and decreasing charge current, a
decision can be made whether the battery is fully charged or not. When
the battery voltage is above a certain level during a predefined period
while the charge current is below a certain level for the same period, the
battery can be considered fully charged. These voltage and current
levels, as well as the predefined period are called ‘charged-parameters’.
In general for a 12V lead acid battery, the voltage-charged-parameter is
13.2V and the current-charged-parameter is 2.0% of the total battery
capacity (e.g. 4A with a 200Ah battery). A charged-parameter-time of 4
minutes is sufficient for most battery systems. Please note that these
parameters are very important for correct operation of your BMV-501,
and must be set appropriately in the corresponding Functions.
2.5 Synchronizing the BMV-501
For a reliable readout of the state of charge of the battery, the battery
monitor has to be synchronized regularly with battery and charger. This
is accomplished by fully charging the battery. When the charger is
operating in the ‘float’ stage, the charger considers the battery full. At this
moment the BMV-501 must reckon the battery as full too, so that the
Amphour counting can be reset to zero and the state-of-charge reading
set to
100.0%
. By precisely adjusting the charged-parameters in the
BMV-501, the battery monitor can automatically synchronize with the
charger when the ‘float’ stage is reached. The range of the charged-
parameters is wide enough to adjust the BMV-501 to most battery
charging methods.
When the BMV-501 can’t be adjusted to the charging algorithm of the
installed charger, the user can always synchronize the battery monitor
manually when the battery is fully charged. This is achieved by pressing
both < and > selection keys simultaneously for three seconds. By
manually synchronizing the battery monitor, the CEF will not be
calculated automatically.
When the supply voltage to the BMV-501
has been interrupted, the battery monitor must always be
synchronized in order to operate correctly.
Please note that regularly (at least once per month) fully charging your
battery not only keeps it in sync with the BMV-501, but also prevent
substantial capacity loss of your battery that limits it’s life time.