i'm wondering if it is bad for my pylontech batteries to be in bulk charging mode all day? i have my immersion heater set to turn on at 99% charge and off again at 97% charge, but this tends to keep the smartsolar charge controller in bulk mode and it rarely goes into float, would it be a good idea to lower the bulk charge voltage? at moment its set at 52v bulk and 51v float, maybe i could lower it to 51v bulk and 50v float?
hopefully someone with more experience can help.
Thanks
Hi @lief ryan, please fully read and understand the Community Guidelines when posting and refrain from "@" tagging specific users (as per the "Many Answers" section of the Guidelines).
I've edited your question accordingly, and I'm sure you'll get some thoughtful answers as soon as people have time in their busy days to address it; in the meantime, I might recommend contacting your battery manufacturer with this question, as -although I'm sure someone will post a thoughtful answer here in reasonably short order- your question is more specific to your Pylontech batteries than any Victron product.
Cheers!
thanks for your reply and sorry for the @tag
the question would be relevant to most lithium batteries although the voltages might be slightly different.
thanks agin.
No worries! In reality I have a free moment, so I'm going to weigh in briefly below in just a second here
@lief ryan, it looks to me as though, under the circumstances you describe, the charge controller is basically passing current straight through to your immersion heater (basically, your batteries are full and the current to power the immersion heater is skimming right through the top from the controller) so I wouldn't be concerned about the setup in the least unless you start noticing temperature buildup. Keep a close eye on your battery terminal temperature and the wire, connector, and controller temperatures while this is happening to be sure that everything is staying within spec'd temperatures... as long as nothing is overheating, I see no reason why this isn't fine.
thanks, the only thing i'm concerned about is the batteries spending too long at the elevated voltage.
i'm entering my second year running the system now and it all seems good, but i would like to extend the life the system as long as i can :)
Hmmm Pylontech recommends charging between 52.5v and 53.5v per the user manual, so I certainly wouldn't drop the voltage any lower... if anything, dial it up a half-volt to stay at their low-end recommendations.
That's just me, though... I tend to follow the manufacturer's recommendations on things because I assume they know what their components like to see... your 52v isn't hurting anything, I'm sure, you're likely just never truly seeing a full charge.... and there are some who believe that's a good thing. I'm not one of those people, but I also don't think you're doing any harm at your current v.
