8.0 Using a BMK
94
© 2012 Magnum Energy, Inc.
8.0 Using a ME-BMK
This section discusses how to set up and monitor Magnum’s Battery Monitor Kit
(ME-BMK) using the ME-ARC remote. It also covers other BMK menu options
that are available using this remote. Use the mini-index below to direct you to
the appropriate section.
8.1 BMK Setup
p. 94
8.2 Monitoring the BMK
p. 95
8.3 BMK Menu Maps
p. 98
8.1 Setting Up the BMK
Use the ARC remote’s SETUP button to establish the charge ef
fi
ciency and amp-
hour size settings for your battery monitor (ME-BMK).
SETUP: 05 BMK Setup
This section provides information about charge ef
fi
ciency and how to manually
access/adjust this setting and the amp-hour setting.
•
05A Charge Eff
–
This menu enables you to manually access and adjust
your battery’s charge ef
fi
ciency. The charge ef
fi
ciency setting allows the
battery monitor to calculate the battery’s charge ef
fi
ciency. Normally, the
ME-BMK battery monitor automatically calculates the battery’s ef
fi
ciency.
Default setting:
Auto
Range:
Auto, 50%-97%
Info:
The factory default
Auto
setting allows the charging ef
fi
ciency
to be automatically calculated. In most circumstances, the
Auto
setting will determine the best charge ef
fi
ciency.
CAUTION:
If you do not know your battery’s charging ef
fi
ciency,
leave it at the factory default setting. If the setting is manually set
but incorrect, the state-of-charge (SOC) information will become
more inaccurate with every charge.
What is charge effi ciency?
When a certain amount of energy is removed or
discharged from the battery, this removed energy will need to be returned to
keep the batteries at a 100% state-of-charge. As batteries are being charged,
they lose energy—either in the form of heat, or while gassing. This loss of energy
while charging means the battery will not be fully charged if you only return
the current that was removed. To compensate for the battery’s inef
fi
ciencies
while charging, a charge ef
fi
ciency setting is provided. The charge ef
fi
ciency
setting compensates the AH I/O (Amp-Hours In/Out) reading by ensuring the
AHs returned to the battery are greater than the AHs removed.
For example, if your AH I/O display reads
000
and you begin powering a
25-amp load for two hours, the display will show
-050
. This indicates that you
have discharged 50 AHs (2 x 25) from the battery. If the charge ef
fi
ciency
setting is set to
95%
, then as you begin charging and return 50 AHs, the
AH I/O reading will be less than zero, indicating that the AHs removed have
not been fully returned. The 95% charge ef
fi
ciency setting requires 52.5 AHs
(50/95) to be returned before the AH I/O returns to 0.
How do I access the charge effi ciency setting?
Press
the ARC’s SETUP
button, rotate the SELECT knob to the
05 BMK Setup
menu, and then press the
SELECT knob again to access the
05A Charge Eff
menu item (see Figure 8-1).
