Page 108
©
2014 Magnum Energy, Inc
.
Using a PT Controller: Operation/Monitoring
10.2
Operating/Monitoring the PT Controller using the ME-ARC
This section provides the PT menus under the ME-ARC’s CTRL and METER buttons that determine
how to control and operate the charge controller.
10.2.1 Operating the PT Charge Controller
The charge mode is automatically activated and begins when acceptable PV power is connected
to the PV input of the controller. When the controller is actively charging, the display may show:
Bulk Charging
,
Absorb Charging
,
Float Charging
, or
Equalizing
.
CTRL:
04A PT CHG Ctrl
Generally, the
PT CHG Ctrl
menu is left in the
Multi-Stage
selection. To change this selection,
press the CTRL button and rotate the SELECT knob to the
04 PT Control
menu, and then press
the SELECT knob to enter this menu.
Default setting:
Multi-Stage
Range:
Multi-Stage, Charger Off, Start Float, Start Bulk, Start EQ (5sec)
• Multi-Stage
– This charge pro
fi
le causes the charger to automatically operate through the
multi-stage (Bulk, Absorption, and Float) charge cycles. When PV is connected and charge
mode begins
¹
, the battery voltage is monitored to determine the charging stage. If the bat-
tery voltage is low, the charger begins Bulk charging. If the DC voltage is high, the charger
skips the Bulk and Absorb charge stages and goes directly to the Float charge stage.
Info:
Unlike the inverter/charger, the PT controller’s multi-stage charge pro
fi
le does
not go silent. Once the Bulk and Absorption charge stages are complete, the controller
enters the Float charge stage (or, the Constant Current and Constant Voltage modes if
battery type CC/CV is selected).
Note¹
–
When the charge mode begins, if the
06A Battery Type
selection is
CC/CV
the char-
ger enters Constant Current mode.
• Charger
Off
– The
Charger Off
selection stops the controller from charging. Even if PV is
available on the PV input, the controller is not allowed to charge. To resume charging, select
a setting other than “
Charger Off
”.
• Start
Float
– This selection restarts the Float charge cycle from any stage in the charge cycle
as long as the controller is actively charging.
Info:
The
Start Float
selection automatically returns to the
Multi-Stage
setting once the
PT controller status displays as “
Float Charging
” on the ARC remote.
Info:
If battery type
CC/CV
is chosen, the
Start Float
selection transfers the charger to
Silent mode (remote displays “
Float Charging
”)—unless “
Hold CV Chg Volts
” is selected—
then, the charger enters Constant Current charge mode (displays “Bulk Charging”).
• Start
Bulk
– This selection restarts the Bulk charge cycle from any stage in the charge cycle
as long as the controller is actively charging. The
Start Bulk
setting is useful when an addi-
tional charge cycle is required to bring the speci
fi
c gravity of the batteries to the proper level.
Info:
The
Start Bulk
selection automatically returns to
Multi-Stage
once the PT’s status
displays “
Bulk Charging
”.
Info:
If battery type
CC/CV
is chosen, the
Start Bulk
selection transfers the charger to
Constant Current mode.
Info:
If you have to continually restart the bulk cycle in order to fully charge the
batteries, check the charge settings from the
SETUP: 06 PT Setup
menu to ensure the
batteries are fully charged at the end of a regular multi-stage charge cycle.
CAUTION:
Frequently restarting the Bulk charge cycle may result in overcharging of
the batteries.
