800.261.3602
Revised 05/19
Battery Type Selection Switch
Flooded Lead Acid (wet) battery(s): Set both DIP switches (1 & 2) to the open position, then
power the controller by connecting the black ground wire to the ground spade connector.
Battery equalization automatically occurs when the battery voltage drops below 12.1VD C for
the 3
rd
time in a 14 day period or once in a 28 day period. The controller blinks the charge
type LED blue when the equalization flag has been set, and when conditions are met it then
will run the equalization routine, turning the charge type LED on solid blue, to bring the
internal cells of the battery to an equal state to reverse the effects of being discharged below
12.1VDC.
Lifeline ® AGM battery: Set both DIP switches (1 & 2) to the closed position, then power the
controller by connecting the black ground wire to the ground spade. Lifeline recommends
using a minimum of a 3 stage charger to fully charge their batteries. The Lifeline setting uses a
specific algorithm that follows Lifeline’s charging recommendations. The Lifeline AGM
batteries can be conditioned* (equalized) when the battery is showing symptoms of capacity
loss due to extended time in a partial or low state of charge as a result of limited charging
current. The PVCM40D-MPT’s Lifeline algorithm monitors the battery condition and will
perform a conditioning charge, provided the following requirements and conditions are met:
MINIMUM Imp of 12 Amps (2x-100 to 160 Watt solar panel), and must complete a full charge
cycle. Conditions to set conditioning flag which will cause the charge type LED to blink Blue
are: Battery voltage drops below 12.1VDC or the controller fails to complete its charge cycle 3
times in a 14-21 day period. Conditioning will only once in a 21-28 day period. If solar panels
don’t produce 10+Amps of charging current during bulk charge, the conditioning routine is
not activated, during that days charging routine. It will retry the following days charge
routine.
Other Brands of AGM batteries: Set DIP switch 1 to the closed position and switch 2 to the
open position, then power the controller by connecting the black ground wire to the ground
spade. This AGM algorithm is configured for most types of AGM batteries, requiring a
minimum of 3 stage PWM charger with slightly lower charging voltage thresholds than those
of Lifeline batteries. This setting does NOT perform any battery conditioning.
Sealed/gel batteries: Set DIP switch 1 to the open position and switch 2 to the closed
position, then power the controller by connecting the black ground wire to the ground spade.
The sealed/gel battery algorithm is configure for the average sealed/gel rechargeable battery,
recommending a 3 stage PWM charger with charging voltage thresholds. It does NOT perform
a battery conditioning.
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