Lcd Display And Backlight - BLUE SKY IPN ProRemote Installation And Operation Manual

LCD DISPLAY AND BACKLIGHT

The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) may be backlit for improved readability. Switching backlight ON increases IPN ProRemote power consumption from
roughly 0.25W to 1.0W. Backlight can be set for ON, OFF or AUTO from the Advanced Setup menu. The default setting of AUTO will cause backlight
to remain ON for one minute following the last key press. When backlight has turned OFF in AUTO, the first press of any key turns backlight ON only
without performing that key's normal function. The keys perform their normal function once backlight is ON.
CHARGE STATUS INDICATOR
An LED charge status indicator is provided on the face of the unit. The charge status indicator will be OFF when the charge controller is not charging, and
will be ON solid or blinking when the battery is being charged.
RAPID BLINKING • 0.2 SEC ON / 0.2 SEC OFF
REMAINING BATTERY CAPACITY
The IPN ProRemote provides a high accuracy indication of remaining battery capacity based on amp-hour counting. The resulting remaining battery
capacity computation is displayed as both Percent Remaining and as a Bar Graph. Note that the amp-hours from full counter and the associated
remaining battery capacity indication will show dashes (
to initialize amp-hour counting.
How Remaining Battery Capacity Works
A battery stores electrical charge in units referred to as "amp-hours" (AH). An amp-hour is the product of current (in amps) times time (in hours). 10
amp-hours could be consumed by a 10 amp load operating for 1 hour, a 0.2 amp load for 50 hours, or 100A load for
uses net battery current as displayed in the Top Menu Battery Volt/Amp screen to compute amp-hours which is displayed in the Top Menu Battery
Amp-Hrs From Full screen. As the battery is charged (positive current) or discharged (negative current) the IPN ProRemote keeps a running total of
how many battery amp-hours have been removed or restored. Discharge amp-hours are applied directly to the amp-hours from full counter causing
amp-hours from full to increase. Charge amp-hours cause the amp-hours from full counter to decrease, but are reduced by the Charge Efficiency Factor
to account for the fact that batteries are not 100% efficient at receiving charge. Additionally, batteries loose charge on their own due to self discharge
which is periodically computed and added to the amp-hours from full counter. Self discharge changes with battery temperature and will be corrected for
temperature if the accompanying charge controller includes a battery temperature sensor.
Counting amp-hours into and out of the battery and using charge efficiency and self discharge rate arrives at the amp-hours from full value displayed in
the Top Menu Battery Amp-Hrs From Full screen. This value is used with the battery's published "20hr rate" amp-hour rating to compute remaining
battery capacity. If the battery was 220 amp-hours and the amp-hours from full counter value was at –110 amp-hours, remaining battery capacity
would show 50%. The battery amp-hour rating is specified at 25C, but actual battery capacity changes with temperature. If the accompanying charge
controller includes a battery temperature sensor, the IPN ProRemote will correct available battery amp-hours based on battery temperature. Cooler
batteries have reduced capacity, and if the battery was at 0C, then actual battery capacity is reduced to 79% of 220 amp-hours and remaining capacity
would show 37%.
Charge Efficiency
Charge efficiency refers to how many amp-hours are absorbed by the battery compared to how many charge amp-hours are delivered. A charge
efficiency factor of 94% means that for each 100 amp-hours of charge delivered, the battery increases charge by 94 amp-hours. Charge efficiency is
typically very high when the battery is highly discharged, and becomes lower when the battery is near full charge.
The Charge Efficiency factor can be set to a Fixed number or can be set to automatically update based on past battery behavior. Most systems will
benefit from the Auto Adjust setting which is the factory default. In Auto Adjust, the IPN ProRemote will compute actual charge efficiency if the
battery was discharged at least 10%, and the accompanying charge controller is what brought the battery back to full charge. The Charge Efficiency
factor update rate is filtered so that it takes approximately 5 charge/discharge cycles to completely update the Charge Efficiency factor.
Accuracy
Remaining Battery Capacity will tend to be better if;
•
The charge controller delivers at least 3 amps per 100 amp-hours of battery capacity.
•
The charge controller is what normally brings the battery back to full charge.
•
The battery is fully charged by the charge controller often to minimize error build up resulting from the non-ideal characteristics of
batteries. The more the battery is cycled without becoming fully charged, the greater the error buildup.
•
Charge Efficiency Mode is set to AUTO ADJUST.
Blue Sky Energy | USA | www.blueskyenergyinc.com
CHARGE STATUS INDICATOR
OFF
CONTINUOUSLY ON
BLINKING • 1 SEC ON / 1 SEC OFF
BLINKING • 0.2 SEC ON / 1 SEC OFF
– – –
CHARGE STATUS INDICATOR
TABLE 1
) until the accompanying charge controller fully charges the battery which is required
Installation and Operation Manual
CHARGE MODE
CHARGE OFF
BULK
ABSORPTION
FLOAT
EQUALIZE
1
/
10
hour. The IPN ProRemote
4