Instruction Manual

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might want to be “noted”, for example to turn off a generator. To activate these refer to Section
6.A, under P22, P24, P32, P33. .Section 7 describes in detail how the PentaMetric senses that the
batteries are charged.
6.E.3: Battery voltage high”
This results in an alarm when battery 1 voltage (AD1 or AD2) is greater than “battery high” voltage
setpoint or
battery 1 “battery % full” (AD22 or AD23) is greater than “battery % high” setpoint. To
set these, refer to Section 6.A, under P22, P24,P27, P29.
6.E.4: Time to recharge battery.
The purpose of this alarm is to remind you to recharge the battery if too much time has elapsed
since it was last charged. To maximize their life, lead acid batteries should not go too long between
being fully charged. By entering a “number of days” ( for example, “5”) in P37, and enabling this
alarm it will remind you to charge the batteries fully if more than 5 days have elapsed since the
PentaMetric sensed that the batteries were charged. The time entered here applies to both battery
1 and battery 2. Refer to Section 6.A, under P23, P25, P37 for setup information.
6.E.5: Time to equalize battery
With “liquid electrolyte” lead acid batteries it is often recommended to “equalize” a battery system
periodically—for example every 30 to 60 days. “Equalization” is a controlled overcharge of the
batteries. In some cases this is accomplished by the user initiating the process. Some inverters or
charge controllers may do automatic periodic equalizations—however this “alarm” would typically
be used to remind a user to equalize batteries when the equalization requires operator intervention
to accomplish. It is no more (or less) than a “timed alarm” that could be used for any purpose to
remind after a certain number of days have elapsed. You set the “number of days” by program
P36. Then after that number of days elapses the alarm occurs—after which you must manually
reset the time to 0. The display modes AD26 and AD27 view a timer which advances by 1.00 for
each passing day. While viewing AD26 or AD27 (“Days since equalized, for Battery 1 or battery 2)
the display can be manually reset to 0 using the reset button. It does not automatically reset when
batteries are equalized. The alarm will again occur when this number of days shown in AD26 (or
AD27) exceeds the number programmed in P36.
Section 7. How the PentaMetric keeps track of battery “state of
charge”
This discussion affects the following displays: Amp Hour1 (AD13), Amp Hour2 (AD14), Battery %
full (AD22, AD23), Days since charged, (AD24, AD25).
For the PentaMetric to properly keep track of “state of charge” data in the following program
modes must be correctly entered: Battery Capacity (P14 and P15), Battery “charged” criteria (P32
and P33), Efficiency factor (P34) and Self Discharge current (P35).
Overview of requirements for keeping track of state of charge. The PentaMetric can keep track of
the battery “state of charge” for up to two battery banks which share a common negative connection.
Each battery bank that is to be measured must have a shunt in series with the negative leg to monitor
all current in and out of the battery, as shown in figure 1. The shunt must be connected as shown to
the “Amps 1” or “Amps 2” channel. It is not possible to use Amps 3 channel for keeping track of battery
“state of charge”. The battery bank measured by #1 Amps and #1 Volts is defined as “Battery1” and
the bank measured by #2 Amps and #2 Volts is defined as “Battery 2”. The battery bank capacity (in
amp hours) must be entered in program P14 and/or P15. Also important is to set correct “charged
voltage” and “charged current” setpoints in program P32 and/or P33, and appropriate values of
“efficiency factor” in P34 and P35 as we will discuss in this section.
7.A: Details of how the PentaMetric keeps track of battery state of charge
Step 1. Initially the battery must be fully charged. The PentaMetric senses this by monitoring
the voltage (AD3) and charge current (AD10) to the battery. When the battery is fully charged
the “battery %full” display (AD22) will be set to “100%” and the “amp hours” (AD13) will be
reset to 0. When first charging a battery that is not well charged, the voltage will first begin to rise