Good morning,
A client wants to install a Solar panel in the BlueBoat so to help charge the batteries during a Survey. Wondering if any has previous experience with this.
As usual, aSolar panel needs a regulator to charge a battery… So I came up with the following question:
How to balance the Ion 4S batteries? As I understood these regulators doesn’t have a balanced port…
Thank you
K. Regards
Victor J.
QSTAR
Hi @QSTAR -
You do indeed need to balance the batteries, especially when charging! I’d recommend a balance PCB connected to the battery harness, which allows all the cells to be balanced together (as long as their individual balance connectors are connected!)
You also need a solar charge controller that can be configured to charge the 16.8 max voltage, and not the standard 12/24V setpoint of cheaper controllers. This unit from Victron can be configured with a USB cable, and setup to charge to appropriate voltage.
We plan to have a guide on this process someday, happy to support directly int he meantime!
Hi Tony, thanks for your reply and information. That Balance PCB that you suggest; Must be connected directly to the “Charge Cable Connection” in the BlueBoat (to the 5 pin Molex), right?
Ok about the Controllerç
Thanks
Hi @QSTAR -
Yes, that balance board is connected to any of the balance ports on the battery wiring harness. All batteries in the BlueBoat should have their balance connectors connected as well!
Here are some settings I’ve used with the Victron solar charge controller and the 4S Blue Robotics battery:
Thank you Tony, interesting!
