How to... Always on LED Light Setup?

Obieone said:
He's pic is of this one, not the normal Optimate.2.
optimate-battery-charger.co.za

OptiMate 2 DUO, 2A Battery Charger & Maintainer for all 12/12.8V Cars, Motorcycles and Powersport Batteries - Optimate Battery Charger Shop

Description OptiMate 2 DUO is the 'ALL IN ONE' general purpose battery charger and maintainer that assures batteries are always ready to perform. automatically adapts to the connected battery type – Guarantees healthy lithium or lead-acid batteries! Ideal for batteries found in Harleys, Cars...
optimate-battery-charger.co.za optimate-battery-charger.co.za
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Ye, that's the one I'm looking at.. The Optimate 2 DUO - TM-550 5-Step 12V / 12.8V 2A - Charger & Maintainer
 
Petec said:
10Watt 12volt Direct Current.
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That charger will work, but as others have said pretty expensive solution, also think about if you want to add more lights in the future, you might want a beefier system. The reason I went with overspeccing my system is you have enough headroom to cope with whatever stage of loadshedding comes your way and the solar panel is large enough to charge the system fully during the day without having to worry about Eskom.
 
Obieone said:
That charger will work, but as others have said pretty expensive solution, also think about if you want to add more lights in the future, you might want a beefier system. The reason I went with overspeccing my system is you have enough headroom to cope with whatever stage of loadshedding comes your way and the solar panel is large enough to charge the system fully during the day without having to worry about Eskom.
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I would definitely get a stronger charger (10A at least) and a bigger Lithium Battery (20AH or so).

Then +-2Hrs later the battery is full if it is nearly fully discharged (which shouldn't really be done).

6Hrs of Backup (@50% DoD for the battery) for both Floodlights.
 
The_MAC said:
I would definitely get a stronger charger (10A at least) and a bigger Lithium Battery (20AH or so).

Then +-2Hrs later the battery is full if it is nearly fully discharged (which shouldn't really be done).

6Hrs of Backup (@50% DoD for the battery) for both Floodlights.
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Why would you need 2 hours to charge? You have from sunrise to sunset to recharge.
 
The_MAC said:
I am assuming the original setup without solar and worst case scenario i.e. Stage 6
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I didn't mean solar, just that the lights wont be used during the day, so the charger has the whole day to recharge but I hear you on the stage 6 though.

You should get 4 hours out of a 7Ah battery with 10W x 2 lights. Battery is 89.6Wh (12.8V x 7). A 2A charger would need 3.5 hours.
 
wingnut771 said:
I didn't mean solar, just that the lights wont be used during the day, so the charger has the whole day to recharge but I hear you on the stage 6 though.

You should get 4 hours out of a 7Ah battery with 10W x 2 lights. Battery is 89.6Wh (12.8V x 7). A 2A charger would need 3.5 hours.
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Yeah, I wouldn't run the battery flat.
 
The_MAC said:
Ya, but you said 4Hrs, which is not realistic.

And stage 6 is easy 5-7Hrs off in the evening, with short 2-3Hr breaks in between
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Well, it’s actually 4.5 hours but I said 4 so you don’t run it dead.
 
Petec said:
10Watt 12volt Direct Current.
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Perfect so then u are looking at 1.56a for both running
3hrs would be just under 5ah so the 9ah battery would work perfect can do 4hrs no problem and still have like almost 40% capacity reserve

Or like wingnut said even a 7ah would do as you would use 90% of capacity for a 4hrs stint , he said 3hrs so would use 66% of 7ah capacity
 
Petec said:
EH? I'm confused then :)
That charger has the following spec: Charging AMPS: 2A (constant current)
So, I assumed that's its max charging rate.
Or is my maths wrong? :)
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your math is right ,for a standard charger ,optimate doesnt work like a standard charger ,they work on a program ,as it states its a maintainer ,so the program decides if it wants to charge at 500 ma for 5 hours then 2 amp for 3 hours etc .you can do better with a standard lith ion battery charger like maybe the Bosch units ,same price .also depending on the battery it may have a max charge rate ,be certsin of that ,otherwise the bms will just waste the excess as heat and clamp your 10 amp charger to 2 amp .but if your heart is set on an optimate go for it ,very good maintainers probably the best on the market .
 
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leon.davibe said:
Perfect so then u are looking at 1.56a for both running
3hrs would be just under 5ah so the 9ah battery would work perfect can do 4hrs no problem and still have like almost 40% capacity reserve

Or like wingnut said even a 7ah would do as you would use 90% of capacity for a 4hrs stint , he said 3hrs so would use 66% of 7ah capacity
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hahaha ,on a 10 watt china led youre gonna get 5 watt of light and 5 watt of heat ,and another 5 watt just because its made kak .
 
soulie said:
your math is right ,for a standard charger ,optimate doesnt work like a standard charger ,they work on a program ,as it states its a maintainer ,so the program decides if it wants to charge at 500 ma for 5 hours then 2 amp for 3 hours etc .you can do better with a standard lith ion battery charger like the Bosch units ,same price .also depending on the battery it may have a max charge rate ,be certsin of that ,otherwise the bms will just waste the excess as heat and clamp your 10 amp charger to 2 amp .but if your heart is set on an optimate go for it ,very good maintainers probably the best on the market .
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My one charges at 4A (never goes to 5A max for some reason, maybe battery resistance?) constant current until bulk voltage is achieved, then pulses during absorption, then drops to bits of 1A for float (maintenance).
 
wingnut771 said:
My one charges at 4A (never goes to 5A max for some reason, maybe battery resistance?) constant current until bulk voltage is achieved, then pulses during absorption, then drops to bits of 1A for float (maintenance).
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battery resistance is how the charger determines what composition its made of .optimate does have a specific lith only charger as well ,because it stays at 4 amp means the charger program likes that value to charge at ,other may be 3 amp etc .ie put your charger onto say a lalela and it may charge at 5a or 2amp .
 
Yea worst case scenario you would be able to get almost 6hrs with two 10w led's
On that 9ah

And if only used at night the charge rate is almost irrelevant , even the slowest charger will get it full for the next night
 
Yup, that's what I was thinking. Even through 2 sessions of 4h load shedding during the day, it will still be able to get the battery good to go for the evening,
 
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